I Logo NY vs. NC
by Bennett Holzworth, (6 comments)
I stumbled across this broadcast news story the other day. A t-shirt designer in North Carolina is “in hot water” with New York City. He is selling the above “I Love NC” t-shirts and the New York State Department of Economic Development isn’t happy. It appears that the “I Love New York” folks are becoming pretty defensive of Mr. Glaser’s most famous logo. I understand the validity in defending your brand, but it seems funny that they would go after this small time t-shirt designer in North Carolina.
The interview with the designer is pretty laughable. He better find a lawyer if he is going to try to defeat New York with comebacks like, “there’s no theft … what did I steal?” Come on. You are going to have to come up with a better case than that. It is obviously a rip-off. Why not approach it from the angle of a parody or maybe even the fact that so many other people have copied it before you? Maybe even argue that it is now a part of the national graphic vocabulary, since it has been copied so many times. It won’t be easy, since it is a registered trademark. The least this “designer” could have done was use a typeface that more accurately copied the original.
One more thing that made me laugh was the common hype of local news. With exaggerated terms like “clothing designer” and “fashion feud”, they really make it sound like a bigger story than it is. Why not just approach it as the big city going after the small time thief. That always sells and is a little closer to reality.
I tracked down the t-shirt designer’s website and he had a link to an article with a little more information than the broadcast story. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Comments (6)
Nate said:
The best part of this is the linked news story where the writer keeps typing [heart symbol] every time there’s a [heart] in the [logo]. It’s obvious from the [site] that the [clothing {designer}] doesn’t know jack about the grander world of design and copy[right] l[aw].
[2] a certain extent, the [eye] [throb] [the big apple] mark is becoming a apiece of americana. Like grand[ma], apple pie and [flag-emblazoned crap]. Eventually even Mickey Mouse will loose his copyright protection, much like Dra[cula] and Pinno[chio]. The I [organ] New York logo may eventually be the same. No[one] can [?] its effectiveness, and it has [b]come so iconic that it was bound [2wo] spawn parodies.
[Q}uestion though; there have already been a million parodies of this mark. Why the big f{vowel]cking deal now?
Posted on May 17, 2005
Matthew said:
In other logo rip-off related news!
Playstation released info on the new Playstation 3 on Monday, product images and tech specs. They also released the new logo for the game system. Link to logo
I noticed if you view the Spiderman 2 The Movie site, the font is the same in both logos. I realize that Sony makes both PS3 and Spiderman movies but come on be a little more creative than that.
Posted on May 18, 2005
Donovan Beery said:
I think the problem with the rip-offs now, is it sounded like the person doing the rip-off was also applying for a trademark.
If you make your money creating knock-off items, why trademark them? So others won’t knock-off your knock-off?
Posted on May 18, 2005
Fred Andres said:
The term “knock-off” should only be applied to items which are produced to replicate a copyrighted piece of work. This guy isn’t trying to make more “I heart NY” t-shirts. He’s put a spin on the idea, and regardless of how primitive the idea is, it’s his own unique work. File it under freedom of speech with a sub folder titled “artistic integrity.”
The firm which owned the NY shirts has no chance.
Posted on May 19, 2005
Bennett said:
Fred, The I Love New York symbol “is” a registered trademark. Period. The fact that he tried to copyright an obvious rip off is the major problem. He probably would have never had any problems if he wouldn’t have tried to register his own mark. I’m not saying that this is a cut and dry case, but it is not nearly as simple as you make it out to be. The I Love New York symbol is an identity and one of the most recognizable I might add. The I Love New York people (i.e. the New York State Department of Economic Development) have a right to defend their own “artistic integrity”. If they can prove that this damages their image, then they have plenty of legs to stand on. This t-shirt designer might have a hard time defending this from the parody angle as well, since this is obviously done to make a profit.
Freedom of Speech? Come on. It is a fun little parody at best. I also have no idea what “artistic integrity” has to do with his side of things. He is replicating what others done, and it is fairly lame for that matter.
With that said, I am no expert. It would be nice to hear someone with a little more knowledge of copyright law chime in on this matter.
Posted on May 19, 2005
Kyle said:
I was just thumbing through a past issue of Communication Arts, and found an article that caught my attention. Then I realized it was discussing some of the same issues presented here. Highlights to get you interested: Victor’s Secret vs. Victoria’s Secret, Playboy Playmate of the Year 1981, Mickey Mouse copyright extension vs. trademark.
Posted on May 31, 2005