Earlier quoted context omitted.
They might be, but when you're using someone else's trademark to accurately represent their business, it may not be a trademark violation within itself. So for example, if I took Hacker News' Y but used it to link to Hacker News itself, that may not be a trademark violation as I am not either hurting the brand's reputation or misleading people into thinking an association exists with the brand. But ultimately it is u…
The thing to do is check how the trademark owner feels. I believe Visa and MasterCard are fine with using their logos to show they're accepted (those stickers every store has are surely legal?), but remember that Microsoft don't let you use the word Windows in a product name, except in the form "for Windows".
Re: Icons of all main payment operators and methods
#41I think those stickers every store has are distributed by the Visa and Mastercard (or some vendor who has a direct association with them). In any case, it seems like a different situation if the source of the material is ultimately the business itself. In the case of this post, it's a third party with no formal association making use of the logo.