Companies rely on customers who buy/use their goods or services. Trademarks, or logos may not be so important for some people, but they are actually important to companies. These small pictures, words and fonts have meanings and messages in them to appeal their company to the consumers.
What are the messages behind certain company’s logos? Well, for example, take a look at Amazon’s logo.
The <font color=”#FFA500″>orange arrow</font> pointing from a to z shows how Amazon have many varieties of products, and can send them anywhere to you, the consumers.
Therefore, it is not surprising if one of the logos look similar, and leads into a battle to win for its rights. The article I looked at was an issue between Disney, famous for Mickey Mouse and Deadmau5, a Canadian DJ and performer.
Who used these ears first? Well, it’s obviously Disney. But Deadmau5 has been using his logo for a decade, which makes it funny for Disney to sue him.
This is one of a hard situation. As mentioned before, logos are important to companies. If they’re similar, that’s going to be a problem. But for this case, I think it’s different. It’s actually impossible to confuse which logo is for which. First of all, the ears seem different, and Mickey doesn’t have a creepy white eye and mouth for his silhouette.
Copyrights are difficult because you don’t know when it’s actually “copying” and when it’s “original”. There are billions of different companies around the world, and I guess it’s not surprising unless the logo is too similar.
I find this case too hard for Disney to win. Illustration of mouses tend to have big ears, and the fact that Deadmau5 has been using the logo for 10 years may be a little too difficult for the lawyers to agree with Disney. This battle is ongoing, and we (at least I) can’t miss it.