I'd like to co-opt the logo of a company that has not been used in 20+ years. Advice please?

This company was purchased 5 years ago by another company in the same field. By this time, the original company had used at least 4 other logos and the logo in question was not used at all during that time.The original company's trademarks expired. I have to assume the new company owns the rights, but is that a fair assumption if the purchased company stopped using their logo 20 years prior?I'd like to co-opt the logo of a company that has not been used in 20+ years. Advice please?
I bet dollars to doughnuts the new company owns all logos and has protected them. We have a newspaper here that has protected the names, logos, all copyrights and represenatations and uses therof of a rival newspaper that closed in 1980, and they are protecting them forever.I'd like to co-opt the logo of a company that has not been used in 20+ years. Advice please?
Your assumptions are correct and prudent, assume that the logo in question is still protected under applicable trademark or fair-use law.


Do a little detective work starting with the US Patent and Trademark Office. It's a gold mine of a website, and it's free.


Do some scouting around the corporate sites too, some business entity searches in the states where the company was situated. Again, free!


Don't forget sites like Forbes and even (GASP!) Yahoo business, you never know what will pop up on Google too.


Trust your instincts, and by all means don't do any co-opting or ';creative borrowing'; until you're certain there's no cease and desist letters headed your direction.

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