A recent article in MediaPost captures one of the more interesting issues in branding today. When do you draw the line on user generated content that impinges on your brand? There have been a number of notable infringements that could be interpreted as helping or hurting established brands – remember the 2003 VW Polo television spot with a terrorist-like figure that parks in front of a busy restaurant and blows himself up (contained in the car)? Or maybe the “enjoy Cocaine” t-shirts in red with Coca Cola script?

Brian Murphy, attorney with the media law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz in New York had a lot to say at the recent Association of National Advertisers conference. One of his most salient comments was “What brands have to learn, is to play nice with consumers in the IP sandbox.” and set “guardrail rules of engagement with UGC programs that allow consumers to participate in branding.”

Now that all of us can publish-then-filter content, there are bound to be lots of ways that consumers can, and will, infringe on copyrights and brands. But it would be ludicrous for the owners to go after everyone. Murphy also makes the point that his advice to clients is to avoid actions unless the infringer really crosses the line to defamation.

More often than not, it seems to me, brands can benefit from the additional buzz created in the public by mashups and parodies on their IP…until they cross the line.