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Copycats - Logo Design Contests.
Seems that some folks entering design contests aren’t above submitting ripped-off designs because they aren’t getting paid for the work they do. If their purloined logos win - they get a prize. If they don’t win, no big deal - they haven’t spent any time coming up with the entries in the first place. The poor folks left holding the bag? Why, that would be the company holding the contest in the first place. And that's gonna hurt...
Not saying that everyone who enters work into design contests are ripping off other designers, but if our experience counts for anything, it is quite a few. |
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Design as a competitive sport. With some taking the predictable short-cuts. 
Can an prudent contest business owner still get a decent logo for pennies on the dollar through a design contest site or forum? Outside chance - maybe. More likely - no.
Whenever we take a peek at the spec design contests currently running on various sites, we're often likely to find some of our work being entered as potential logos for unsuspecting ‘clients’. The first, for some outfit called Big Dog BBQ features a nifty little bulldog logo, pinched right from our Daily Logo Archives. The 'entrant' didn’t even try to change it - same color and everything. Contest holder didn’t like our green (the cheek) and requested that it be converted to a rustic brown.
Then there’s this other one, obviously, ahm, ‘influenced’ by our boat logo for Euro Yacht, a design that was featured in a recent edition of the Logo Lounge book series. At least this guy tried a little,  elongating the waves, twisting the hull, moving the portholes and cloning the windshield, although they were changes our designers were able to duplicate in Adobe Illustrator in about 30 seconds flat. But still - he did sort of try to make a variation of the original. Which would be kinda okay if this wasn’t a trademark, which unfortunately, it is. Alas, the contest holder on this one felt the boat wasn’t ‘professional’ enough (more cheek) and supplied a link were a new one could be found. Hey, the original client thought the boat was just dandy.
And it’s not as if the owners of these sites aren’t aware that this is anongoing with logo design contests in general - they very much are. Take a look at their somewhat logic-mangled and strangely worded Terms of Service of these outfits. They're not liable - at all - if anything goes wrong. And if you're lucky enough - you'll find flame wars taking place in the discussion threads where designers will accuse another of the entrants of submitting a knock-off logo. |
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"It's not a rip. It' a homage. Honest".
Logo design contests, popular on many web sites, feature would-be clients (claiming to be short on funds) who open a project to a gaggle of freelancers who then 'compete' against each other in order to win the gig. Naturally, 'spec' work, and the money offered does not often attract professionals, so once again we're relying on untested designers, and the anonymity of the Internet, to create an incredibly important cornerstone of a company identity. So what about the logos presented as part of this contest? How can you guarantee that they're original? Well, you can't. Case in point - here's a logo design contest in which one of the final logo picks was a slight modification of a TLF creation. Seconds before the client was to pick the logo, some of the other 'entrants' found our web site, and began a firestorm on the board about design ethics (or lack thereof). Guess that's going to happen when you make design an competitive sport. Amateur one at that.
If it wasn't bad enough that folks entering these logo 'contests' were, ahm, being inspired by work from The Logo Factory, some people simply rip our work, change the name and use the design (we lost count how many international copyright laws this is a no-no under). |
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"Never mind a logo that LOOKS like their logo. We'll give you their logo..."
Yet another logo design contest that one of our readers stumbled upon. This entry - a blatant rip of a TLF design - was outed by other entrants, who rightfully, and to their credit, pointed out the dangers of using someone else's copyright (or trademark) as your own. Bottom line, if you're paying peanuts, you run an exponential chance of ending up with monkeys and a logo created by simians.
The resultant fracas on the SitePoint logo contest forum (now repackaged as 99 Designs) prompted TLF Creative Director Steve Douglas to chime in with his two cents. Judging by his are logo contests even legal blog post, looks like the TLF 'official' stance has hardened since 2004.
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