The short version
- The Jayne’s Baby Bank logo, with the words “JAYNE’S BABY BANK & CHARITY SHOP”, is a registered UK trade mark: number UK00003910000.
- The artwork at its centre closely matches a design sold on Shutterstock, the stock image library: a baby curled inside a heart.
- Shutterstock’s licences do not cover logos. Its own help page says not even its strongest licences, Enhanced and Premier, allow an image to be used as a logo or a trade mark. For that, the image has to be bought outright.
- We have seen no evidence that the image was bought outright, from Shutterstock or from the artist.
- We make no legal finding. Whether the mark is sound is a question for an intellectual property solicitor.
In this article
The logo for “JAYNE’S BABY BANK & CHARITY SHOP” is registered with the UK Intellectual Property Office as trade mark UK00003910000. The artwork in it raises a question: where did it come from?
The two images
On the left is the artwork from the registered logo. On the right is a design sold on Shutterstock, a well-known stock image library. The two are very close.
What Shutterstock’s licence allows
Shutterstock sells royalty-free licences, which cover a wide range of uses. A logo is not one of them. Its help page on logos and trademarks says that not even its strongest licences, Enhanced and Premier, allow an image to be used as a logo, as part of a logo, or as a trade mark.
There are two ways round it: buy the image outright, so that Shutterstock acquires the copyright from the artist and grants the buyer exclusive rights, or have a new design made by Shutterstock Studios.
The register
We have seen no evidence that an exclusive licence was bought, from the artist or from Shutterstock. Without one, there are questions about the mark itself. An image being on public view on a stock site does not give anyone the right to put it in a registered trade mark.
We make no legal finding here. The point is due diligence: anyone registering a mark built on stock artwork needs to hold the rights to that artwork first.
The same mark comes up again in our later reporting. In March 2025 we noted that it still reads “Charity Shop”, in Class 36, charitable fundraising, while the shop was moving away from the charity shop label. In May 2025 we looked at a post accusing a church-run charity of infringing it, in The Wall of Shame. And this is not the only picture we have traced to someone else: see the stolen fox image. The Sherlock Dossier lists every trade mark application we have found.
A free alternative
To start the new year, our design team is pleased to offer a fully royalty-free alternative logo for community use:
Sources
- UK Intellectual Property Office register: trade mark UK00003910000.
- Shutterstock: the design’s listing, and its help page on logos and trademarks.
- The side-by-side picture puts the artwork from the registered logo beside the Shutterstock design, mirrored so the two face the same way. Nothing else has been changed.
- Our later reports on the mark: the charity shop label (March 2025) and The Wall of Shame (May 2025). Every trade mark application we have found: the Sherlock Dossier.
- This article is based on public trade mark records, image licensing policies and a visual comparison. It is for information only. It is not legal advice and draws no legal conclusion about trade mark infringement or licensing. Anyone who needs the legal status of a trade mark should consult a qualified intellectual property solicitor or licensing expert.
…Sherlock
