No, "fair use" dictates we can talk about brands. (See wikipedia on "fair use")
For instance, we can talk about how big Walmart stores are, without interfering on their intellectual property right to that brand.
However if I were to start making t-shirts with Walmart on it, then yes, I could be sued.
I'm talking about steemit all the time. No problem. I just don't need to use their logo to do that.. and in my opinion it's better not to re-broadcast their logo when I do talk about them.
To be safe i will just use the following word Steem(it) - so I can sleep easy.
But on Steem(it) if you are posting an article about Steem(it) and make money from that article. then that is commercial gain.
Yes, it is a commercial gain.
So is the New York Times newspaper. (they sell the paper)
...but fair use has a long definition of how you can use it (even if if there is a commercial gain.) See, once you enter legal land, there are very "technical" differences between 100% correct, and not 100% correct. I don't like going into legal land, so I'd rather divert my attention into talking about STEEM, the blockchain most of the time.