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ACC Tournament Plagiarized My Work it seems


jaha32

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This apparently happened last year but I just stumbled upon it today. The 2015 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greensboro logo looks extremely similar to a logo of my own that I created two years ago (one year prior to the 2015 ACC tournaments) for a former assistant coach at St. Joe's who was planning to start his own youth basketball camp called "School of Hoops".

 

I'm not surprised anymore to see work stolen/plagiarized from me or other honest designers out there, since this is definitely not the first time this has happened to me, but the reason this feels different is that I am kind of surprised that one of the largest conferences in the country would be stooped by whoever they contracted to design this. I know the SEC goes to the big guys like Joe Bosack or TJ Harley for their tournament logos which would more or less guarantee the authenticity of each logo created.

 

The composition of the logos is really nothing unique or groundbreaking. I can't claim ownership to the idea of words arched/over under a ball of some kind and a shield since there are probably plenty of other logos out there with similar traits and we are all inspired by what's been done even if it is subconsciously, but when looking at my logo side by side with the ACC logo, there is no doubt in my mind that the ACC logo is just an alteration of what I started since every bit of line work is identical. I overlapped the ACC logo on top of mine and it is identical. The identical highlighting and line work on the ball is what struck me the most.

 

I don't really intend to pursue this since it'd just be a useless headache, but I was wondering if anyone had info on who the ACC hired to 'design' this particular 2015 women's tourney logo.

 

I broke down the basic similarities in the image below.

I saw the logo still in use on the ACC's website as well as in videos of the actual games.

http://www.theacc.com/page/2015-womens-basketball-tournament-history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_ACC_Women%27s_Basketball_Tournament

 

ACC-Plagiarized-Greg-Hahn-Logo.png

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Kind of sad they stole your base design, but executed it in a much more lame and generic manner. Looking back at that, I should prolly replace "sad" with "makes sense that." I do really like the way your banner meets the basketball, really integrates those shapes together. Good work by you. Division I championship work, evidently. 

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I just tried calling them to see if they'd tell a nobody on the phone who designed it but I got some random person's voicemail after being transferred a couple times. I'd definitely try contacting if I were you.

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TJ, I definitely knew it wasn't you. No real designer would try to pull this, which is what baffles me. You'd expect this from amateurs, not someone on the level of the ACC.

 

At the very least I have proof since the original logo has been on my dribbble page since Sept 2014, and I have emails from before that. I guess I'll contact the ACC and see if I can get any farther than eRay. I hate wasting time on this kind of thing.

 

Again if anyone knows anything, please share.

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I'm always skeptical of people claiming that their logos have been stolen, especially on such a, pardon my use of the word, generic design. But christ on a candle stick that is disgustingly blatant. If you did in fact copyright that, I'd sue, you'd almost certainly win, or at least get a settlement. That shield is exactly the same size, how do you even steal that hard in a professional setting? Good luck man, I'll be rooting for you.

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4 hours ago, Thomas said:

But if someone is afraid their design will get stolen why not copyright / trademark it before you put it on a website for everyone to see it ? 

  

I'm not sure you entirely grasp how that stuff works. 

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5 hours ago, VikingsNotMinnesota said:

I'm always skeptical of people claiming that their logos have been stolen, especially on such a, pardon my use of the word, generic design. But christ on a candle stick that is disgustingly blatant. If you did in fact copyright that, I'd sue, you'd almost certainly win, or at least get a settlement. That shield is exactly the same size, how do you even steal that hard in a professional setting? Good luck man, I'll be rooting for you.

 

If you study logos across the commercial spectrum, the logos are in fact stylistically the same but probably qualify as being >15% different, which I believe falls under fair use. The unfortunate reality is that general design elements or styles simply cannot be copyrighted. Individual marks definitely can be copyrighted but to say that a particular designer owns the rights to a shield, ribbon, and basketball combo logo is just too vague as they aren't unique elements in sports branding. It's like saying you invented the soccer crest or interlocking initials in baseball.

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I think saying it's a plagiarization of your logo is not accurate. You say the ball is exactly the same. It's not. The center line of the ball of the ACC logo is thinner.

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25 minutes ago, Thomas said:

Thanks for the great answer

Once it's been posted, it belongs to the artist until he sells it.  There is no need to copyright/trademark it, as ownership is established via publication.

It's where I sit.

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20 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Once it's been posted, it belongs to the artist until he sells it.  There is no need to copyright/trademark it, as ownership is established via publication.

Thanks.

But does that not lead to many discussions about who posted it first, and where ?

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