Logomaid ripping off an already ripped off logo - how original...!

Those of you in the graphic design business are definitely aware of the Quark logo design scandal and what a mess it turned out to be. For those of your not aware of that situation, it was:

** As reported on The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/14/new_quark_logo/ **
Quark has got itself into a bit of a rumpus over its new logo - described as "fresh, inviting, and open" by the company, but also as "indeed uncanny" by a Scottish Arts Council (SAC) spokesperson for its, well, indeed uncanny resemblence to the SAC brand frontage.

A SAC spokesperson said: "We are very proud of our logo which the design company first presented to us on 7 February 2001. Our logo was intensively researched, and then trademarked and launched in 2002."

For its part, Quark says it's an honest mistake. A spokesman told Macworld: "At the end of the day, the logo is a 'q' - and there's a limited number of possible logo designs you can achieve with a single character." He added that the company carried out "extensive checks to discover any similar existing logos [but] we evidently didn't find them all".

Evidently not. Regarding the "limited number of possible logo designs", we're sure that Quark must have a couple of different fonts to play with, in order to extract itself visually from the "sea of sameness" which so lumps together so many corporate software companies - and Scottish Arts Councils. ®

The logo in question is this:












So now imagine how funny it is that logomaid has also stolen the above design which ultimately belongs to the Scottish Arts Council. Logomaid's version which is found on www.logomaid.com/detail.php?uid=4773 :














So we've got logomaid stealing the Quark logo which was already a copy of the SAC logo...

It's like an orgy isn't it?

Another Victim of Logomaid

Oh yes... Another inspiration... Has logomaid copied another design again?

The logomaid version:





















And here we have the original logo created by Landor (www.landor.com) for the company Cable & Wireless displayed on http://www.cw.com.











Logomaid steals logos. Plain and simple.

Inspired by Microsoft!

The LogoMaid logo:

















The Microsoft Logo:







What an inspiration huh? The funny thing is that this logo is for the Microsoft Anti Piracy (Verification system) logo...

Sigh...

Sigh...
Originally uploaded by simplebitsdan.

On March 21, 2007, Dan Cederholm of www.simplebits.com, published on Flickr.com a post under the title of "Sigh..."

Initially, the arrogant Mr. Paul Viluda did the same thing to Dan as he had done to me, threatened to sue and intimidate. However he did not count on the solidarity of the design community and this is how it all started:

Logomaid steals logos - why this blog?

I am not a blogger. To be fully honest I don't have enough time to devote to it but I feel now is the time that I should do something about an injustice that has been done to me and my fellow graphic designers - the legitimate and honest ones among them at least.

Two years ago, I discovered that an online company selling website templates had ripped off two of my designs. The company was www.designgalaxy.net and even though my work was nothing innovative from a design point of view, I was very proud of my hard work and excited to be earning money doing what I liked doing best; design.

I contacted them, and formally asked that the ripped off designs be stopped and removed from circulation. The owner of the company replied to me, a Mr. Paul Viluda, and threatened me by counter suing and other vile taunts. I was not intimidated but seeing as the company, Vilords Media (owner and operator of www.designgalaxy.net) was located in Slovakia, I was unable to do anything.

Now a new scandal has erupted where another company under the ownership of Paul Viluda and Vilords Media, has again been accused and proven to be stealing logo concepts and designs from some of the well respected members of the design community. Not to mention Multinational companies like Apple.

This company is www.Logomaid.com and Logomaid steals logos.

What does Logomaid do? They "design" and sell "logo templates". Logo templates are cheap quality logo designs that are intended to be used for any company or event. A look at Logomaid's site will reveal that they have hundreds, if not thousands, of logo templates for sale. But as this scandal has shown, there is a chance that potentially any one of them (if not a large part) is copied and stolen from other designers and artists. Some so blatantly that it is a 100% ripoff.

I will document the erupted scandal here and hopefully have the time and energy to monitor logomaid to prevent them from stealing any other works of art.