Jackets Investigating Logo Theft
In the category of things that are shockingly stupid, the Columbus Blue Jackets are investigating the theft of their logo by — of all people — a politician!
If you can believe it, U.S. Senate candidate Marc Delphine of Oregon has appropriated a slightly altered version of the Ohio NHL franchise's primary logo to promote his campaign, by flipping it to form a D with the flag — still practically the Ohio flag, by the way.
Here's the banner on his website:
Campaign steals Blue Jackets logo
It became obvious that the Blue Jackets didn't grant the campaign any special permission when the following was posted to the team's Twitter account about an hour ago:
For those who are asking about the misuse of the #CBJ logo, the issue is being looked into. Thanks to those who pointed it out.
To be fair, the logo may not have been stolen by Delphine himself but rather a P.R. hack for the campaign, but it's still a pretty shocking oversight on the part of the candidate.
Thanks to Matt for the tip!
Chris
In the interest of fairness, read Puck Daddy's posting on the matter. Mr. Delphine explains that the logo was a contribution from a volunteer, and being a Libertarian from Oregon, knowledge of hockey logos is not one of his strong suits. (Nor is being able to properly vet images he wants to represent him as a candidate for high public office, apparently.)
The logo was removed from his campaign website earlier today after a flood of emails and calls from the media and the NHL. The matter has officially been put to bed.
Reader Comments (21)
I don't see the resemblance.
Seriously, this is just pathetic. Having worked in politics for years and been a hack designer in my spare time, i've designed lots of political logos for candidates. At least mine were original!
Ridiculous... I know hockey isn't huge in Oregon, but seriously?
To quote a great philosopher, "Stupid is as stupid does."
With values like that, his campaign is DOA. Then again, people are stupid. They won't care that his office broke copyright laws to "create" his campaign logo. His opponents would be wise to capitalize on it and exaggerate it.
Since he looks like he's 12, he probably stands a snowball's chance in hell anyway. But what do I know? I don't live in Oregon.
That's just the thing. How can some Oregon politician be expected to know what's what with respect to hockey logos? The designer clearly ripped it off, but I doubt the candidate had anything at all to do with it.
What can you do? The Blue-Jackets have one of the best uniforms in the league. No wonder someone wants to rip 'em off.
Left them a nice message on their website, hohoho.
What a non-issue. The only possible claim here is trademark infringement, not "theft" of anything. And that fails because no one would look at an Oregon senate candidate and be confused as to whether the CBJ are affiliated.
Intellectual property is property, too. In any case, the logo in question has quickly gone missing.
I doubt Mr. Delphine was made aware of the "theft", but as the boss of his organization, he needs to be cognisant of what is being done in his name, and needs to own up and take responsibility for what happened. His opponents are going to rip him on this, using tactics similar to attorneys when questioning a witness. They are going to extrapolate (faily or unfairly) that if he lies and cheated here, he must being doing similar devious deeds elsewhere.
I guess one could say the CBJ's should be flattered that there logo was chose to be pilfered. It is a great logo after all, just wish my Thrashers could do something more simple like this logo. The multi colored swirly bird has to go!
That is just great.... I bet the campign is hoping that this doesn't get public..... facepalm
lol. someones getting fired
What would have been worse is if they used the Canucks' orca
This just goes to further prove my theory that all politicians are liars, cheaters, and above all... IDIOTS!!
The designer could have at least changed the stars area to a rectangle to match the US flag. That triangle shape I'm sure has no relevance in Oregon. Has the logo been pulled yet?
The designer is definately going to have a lawsuit on his hands. Probably knew his designs had no talent so looked for something that his boss had no knowledge of. I doubt Delphine knew about Columbus' logo anyways.
Chris, it has been removed from the website. Also, I left a little comment on his website... that'll probably be removed as well ahaha.
Marc discussed it on Puck Daddy
I say off with his head!
Holy cow...
does no one realize that the columbus jersey is basically identical to the avalanche one? replacing the A with a star, and the avalanche/puck is the ohio flag...
So it looks like the Jackets have won, since his site no longer sports the logo.