pianoknight Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 The logo theft topic is pretty well addressed here on the boards, but I came across this glaring example today. Microsemi, is a manufacturer of microchips and/or semiconductors, but take a look at their logo:How in the hell can they get away with this? Their name is similar to Microsoft (not a crime), but then they went and used practically the exact same italic font as MS does (possibly a crime). Even the way the "O" and "S" come together is quite similar. To make it worse, their logo includes four quadrants of Red, Blue, Green and Yellow!?Icing on the cake? This is a TECH firm. It's not a little league baseball club or a pizza joint in Elkhart, Indiana - they're a massive, major producer of technology components working in the same industry as Bill Gates' 800-lb gorilla.--edit--I did some Googling and Microsemi used to be called Symmetricom and has existed since the 1960s - long before Microsoft. But apparently, they recently (last 10-15 years or so) into Microsemi and adopted this logo/mark/color scheme. What gives? It's even more egregious knowing they were an established company and basically just went the knock-off route with their design. Also, I refuse to believe that the army of lawyers in Redmond, WA know nothing about this. Seems like they would have settled or brought charges the instant it was ripping off MS/Windows. 5th in NAT. TITLES | 2nd in CONF. TITLES | 5th in HEISMAN | 7th in DRAFTS | 8th in ALL-AMER | 7th in WINS | 4th in BOWLS | 1st in SELLOUTS | 1st GAMEDAY SIGN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRicSlick Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Microsoft doesn't use the italicized wordmark anymore.The only thing criminal here is the logo. That thing is horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoknight Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Still, they own the mark even if it's retired. You couldn't use the old Bucco Bruce without a nice letter from Tampa Bay. 5th in NAT. TITLES | 2nd in CONF. TITLES | 5th in HEISMAN | 7th in DRAFTS | 8th in ALL-AMER | 7th in WINS | 4th in BOWLS | 1st in SELLOUTS | 1st GAMEDAY SIGN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Billy Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Certainly wouldn't call this "theft" and neither would any court.The logo is ugly, but they are not doing anything illegal or even inappropriate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VC// Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 The one that cracks me up the most is here in Vancouver and Surrey where a design "firm" if we can even call it that, took the Boss Logo, like the entire logo/wordmark and used it for Boss Limo's. Cracks me up when I read comments on their website about unique and cutting edge logos. LETS GO PENGUINS! 5x Stanley Cup Champions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goforbroke Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I agree,, i dont think its fair to call it logo theft... assuming its just an italiziced version of a readily available font like arial (and not a custom font or something I'm missing) the old Microsoft wordmark is just that --- i dont even know if you can copywrite a wordmark if its just the 9 letters spelled out in a free font. But anyway to me this is just an example of laziness by the designer or intentionally making something similar so people will possibly think they are working with a division of mircosoft or something. If i start a pizza place called Dom's pizza and use red white and blue with a standard non-serifed font as my logo ... i'm not sure if Dominos would have a case against me.I would define logo theft as stealing someones hard earned logo - hard to design and the effort/money that went into marketing that logo. Typing out your name in a free font isnt really doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoknight Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 I agree,, i dont think its fair to call it logo theft... assuming its just an italiziced version of a readily available font like arial (and not a custom font or something I'm missing) the old Microsoft wordmark is just that --- i dont even know if you can copywrite a wordmark if its just the 9 letters spelled out in a free font. But anyway to me this is just an example of laziness by the designer or intentionally making something similar so people will possibly think they are working with a division of mircosoft or something. If i start a pizza place called Dom's pizza and use red white and blue with a standard non-serifed font as my logo ... i'm not sure if Dominos would have a case against me.I would define logo theft as stealing someones hard earned logo - hard to design and the effort/money that went into marketing that logo. Typing out your name in a free font isnt really doing that.That's fair, but I can't imagine people at MS were too thrilled. And it reeks of laziness. I mentioned this is another thread, but it's like the "McDowells" restaurant from "Coming To America." Maybe not infringement or even illegal, but clearly, CLEARLY, a stolen idea nonetheless. 5th in NAT. TITLES | 2nd in CONF. TITLES | 5th in HEISMAN | 7th in DRAFTS | 8th in ALL-AMER | 7th in WINS | 4th in BOWLS | 1st in SELLOUTS | 1st GAMEDAY SIGN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandMooreArt Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 its clear what they were trying to do here and if it could be proven that there is marketplace confusion, Microsoft would win that case. GRAPHIC ARTIST BEHANCE / MEDIUM / DRIBBBLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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