I am going to be filming a rather large video series on a 6502 retro hardware project I have been working on for several years and intend roll it out like a mini series / case study.
Think along the lines of... Jim Butterfield meets Halt and Catch Fire.

In my script, a fictional company (mine) is backed by one of the home computer companies in 1980 to manufacture a unique 6502 based synthesizer to go head to head with the Fairlight CMI.
I want this company to be Commodore and would like to do a few shots that emulate meetings in their boardroom and other scenes (not using any actual names of people).
it would also be cool to use the old familiar Commodore Logo on my final project as if it was rolled out of their R&D lab in the 1980s.

I see that Commodore is actually still up and running as an Italian company rebranding laptops, so I am not sure if this is a good idea.
This is just a personal project and no hardware will be produced for sale, but I am going to be putting several years of hard work in to this and expect a good amount of traffic to my various sites.
The last thing I want is to be 2 years into my 30th episode with 100k subscribers and then have someone send out a legal letter saying "shut it down, that's our brand".

Anyone with knowledge on this kind of thing have any advice?
Is it fine to mention a company of the 80's in a fictional work if they still carry the brand logo today?
Should I just scrap the Commodore scenes altogether and make up another fake company with a similar name instead?

It was quite a shock to find that company using the C= logo and brand when I did some checking as to who owned it today.

Cheers!
Radical Brad

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Agreed, only a lawyer can give you worthwhile advice, and different lawyers might give different advice. You then have to figure out what to do with that advice - figure out what the stakes are and how much you care - it sounds like you really wouldn't want to be scuppered, and that's perhaps your answer.

Perhaps a friendly graphics designer can create something which looks 80s and does the job.

Thanks for the comments.

I thought about it again last night and have decided it's not worth the risk and will just make up a fictional 80's company to fit.

Welcome to The Admiral Computer Corporation. We have vertical integration, a CMOS version of the 6502, and produce the famous VIC-40 home computer.
Our founder John Leimart is very interested in meeting with you to discuss a potential partnership. Together we could dominate the music industry.

Cheers!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I like it, thanks!
VIC-02 it shall be.

I chose the VIC-20 to push that 1980 date. In my hardware, I am using the keyboard form a VIC and a drive mechanism from a VIC-1541 drive. My video circuit and main OS computer is a derivative of the PET, using mostly logic and a 6502. All of these parts will be licensed from said fictitious company using their supplier network. At one point, there was even a deal with Sequential Circuits for the piano keyboard they once sold.

Because of having these parts available in volume, taking on Fairlight by offering a more affordable and more powerful synth would have been completely feasible back in the day.

I have decided on the name Jacques Leimart as the president of Admiral Computers. Commodore fanboys (like me) will know who that is right away!
I also like your idea for hacking the old chicken head logo into something with the same cheesy flavor.

Ps,
Thanks for dropping by my little forum - seen your name pass by the other day!

Cheers,
Brad

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http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

It's going to be fun now that I can take some liberties with names!

If there's some way to easily edit together 2 versions, release the version with "Commodore" everything. Then, if someone gets a bug up their nose about it, swap it out for the legally distinct version, even if it's just badly overdubbed clips. IIRC, an episode of Quantum Leap about evil 1980s D&D ended up badly overdubbing "Demons and Dragons" or something over every verbal mention, and still aired it.

The claimed C= "rights" are split between multiple small companies in multiple countries, some of which are very doubtful according to some in the scene who have delved into the matter. The trademark is probably less muddled, though, but I'm not sure how big these fish actually get.

In any case, if you're doing a clear parody of Commodore, that'd be protected.

But then again, I might be a bit of a rabble-rouser in such matters.

(Also, "Commode Odor" is the best pun I remember from the annual Speccy flamewars of yore)

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WFDis Interactive 6502 Disassembler
AcheronVM: A Reconfigurable 16-bit Virtual CPU for the 6502 Microprocessor

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Cast your eyes over Adrian Black's youtube channel; I think he's done something recently regarding replacing the video with VGA (something with a Pi Pico I believe).

Neil

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Although, in his most recent video, Adrian is somewhat surprised that a modern copy of an IBM CGA card has the same video artifacts as the original...

Neil

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I considered that as well, but then remembered an experience I had last year on Youtube.
I had posted 2 versions of my Portable Chicken Coop build with different background music. Both were "royalty free - full use".
My music is retro synth style, so I wanted a more country tone. Since that style is not at all in my wheelhouse, that is why I used it.

The first video hit over 5 million views in a few months and then I received a message that I had to "royalty share" due to a claim.
Seems the trend is to claim that the music is completely public domain and then try to snag up royalties once a video does well.
Since I hate trickery, I deleted the video even though it had almost 11 million views. I am like that.

Luckily, the second video is also reaching 3 million views, so it still has some traction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6GIX1BuhtM

Anyhow, I will not take any risks now with my publications.
I expect that my Synth Build Series will easily rocket to over 10 million views in short time once I start releasing it.
I don't want any bumps, so any musical ambience will be of my own design and all branding and logos will be my own works of fiction.

Going to play it safe on this one.

Brad