I knew a cuemaker from Texas that was buying foootball team stickers at the college in his town and putting them on cues and selling the cues and the college told him to quit doing it. Whether they were right or wrong he quit.
Because he was in effect making a new product that should be a licensed product. Copyright and trademark law is murky on these points.
But essentially it's like this, for personal use if you buy a licensed logo in the form of a decal or a patch then you can decorate any item with it. What you cannot do is make a line of Harley Davidson saddlebags using Harley patches for commercial sale.
So then it brings up the question of WHO is allowed to attach your sticker to an item. Only yourself or can you designate someone to do it?
The answer is that you can designate someone to modify your stuff, or even make you a new thing and put the sticker on it because that is substantially the same as if you did it your self for your own personal consumption. That is fair use and covered in case law.
I cannot however advertise that I will make a Harley case with a Harley logo as an ongoing item using the loophole that the logo must be consumer-provided. I can however tell my customers that if they want the Harley logo on the case we can use whatever personal options would be available to them. In other words if they can take their case to a laser engraver and have the logo done then we offer that.
Now, your mileage may vary. Whether you are 100% in the right or not it comes down to what the rights holder cares to do when you use their logo. But generally if it's a private sale where you aren't advertising your ability and willingness to do logo'ed gear you will be nearly 100% safe from being hassled over it.
Most people will cave in if they are approached by the holder of the trademark and told to stop doing whatever they are doing. I suggest that people look up fair use and adhere to it as best they can. Generally for one off projects no one really cares.
