Is this legal?

[mac_girl]

What if somebody made a game that inside the game was a mini game of buying and selling on ebay: is it legal to simulate ebay inside a game? I would guess it is not, but what if you changed a letter and called it abay? or ebaye? is it legal then to simulate it?

Thanks.

[BeyondCloister]

Trading games (all eBay is really) have been around for years.
Just use a completely different name (such as Flog It and Buy It) to save any problems.

[Leroy]

Unless you're game is directly parodying the company in some fashion, it is illegal. However I would tell you that you should go ahead and use it anyway. I tell you this because unless the project you're referring to is being published by EA or something, nothing will happen to you. If worst came to worse, and some nazi lawyer over at ebay decided he wanted the logo removed, he would send you a cease and desist(meaning pull the logo or face the threat of legal action), but it would be vain to imagine such a scenario.

Just change ebay to lbay or whatever you like, and you're covered by fair use.