Logos vs Mascots (AROS)

[Belial6]

I'm going to have to agree.  The current one is better by a wide margin.  The suggested one's "relation" to the original marks could actually pose a problem.  If I were on a jury, I might be able to be convinced that the suggested logo with its font, rainbow, and checkmark is intended to trick a consumer into thinking that Aros is an Amiga product.  That is specifically what Trademarks are intended to prevent.  Better to stick with the current.  Anyone that is currently interested in it already knows what it is, and anyone that is likely to become interested in it will not be swayed by an Amiga looking logo.

Personally, I want to start referring to the platform as MiniMig/AROS, and refer to Amiga/AmigaOS as the retro proprietary versions of MiniMig/AROS.  MiniMig is pretty much there.  AROS is close.

And, I thought the cat's eye was the graphical logo.

[Belial6]

No it isn't. The Amiga checkmark is a long abandoned trademark that can be used by anyone for anything at this point.

That is simply untrue.  Amiga products are still being sold that have the Amiga check mark.  Every copy of Amiga Forever that sells is being sold with the kickstart roms which show the Amiga Trademark on boot.

So, even if you ignore the fact that IP law is completely out of wack in such a way that you might get sued even if the trademark is abandoned, it wouldn't apply to the check mark since it is still in use.

[Belial6]

And? As I wrote, anyone can use it for anything at this point. The only reason why the checkmark is there on boot is because kickstart 3.1 (well, 2.0 really) had it there, and replacing it is not something as trivial as replacing some bitmap.



That someone use it does not mean that it's a valid trademark. Noone has legally cared about the checkmark since the days of Amiga Technologies GMBH and Amiga OS 3.1 when it was featured on the reprinted manuals (original OS3.0 and 3.1 manuals had no checkmark on them, only the 5 colour stroke). The checkmark was abandoned in favour of the boingball once Amiga International came along, and along with the written escom "AMIGA" the boingball has been the only protected logo since.

I've had T-shirts made with Amiga checkmarks on (nice indigo coloured ones), various Amiga related sites use it - it's been public domain more or less since CBM was around to care. I have yet to hear about _anyone_ even getting note about use of Amiga checkmark. And from whom would such a note come from anyways? Cloanto? Amiga Inc? Haha - dream on. The boingball on the other hand, has been the subject of many threats throughout the years.

And anyhow - the Amiga checkmark exists in so many variants, that it doesn't really work well as a legal logo. The one I use on my excellent T-shirts have the coloured version of this one on them, which is quite accurate compared to the one found on A1000. Opposed to the one used in bootscreens (which is limited due to hardware).

But by all means, if you think I'm wrong, feel free to sue me for infringement, or talk Cloanto or whoever into doing so.

If your IP is still being sold with the trademark on it, it is still in use.  How easy or hard it is to remove is irrelevant to the fact that it is still being used on products that are still being sold.  The fact that there is more than one trademark does not make it legal for you to use.  The fact that you use it without getting sued does not make it legal for you to get used.  That fact that I think it SHOULD be legal to use does not make it legal to use.

Of course, the point that you challenge ME to sue you for a trademark that someone else owns indicates that either you have absolutely no clue what a trademark is, you are intentionally misstating your position in a hope to derail reasonable conversation.

Anyone who had any clue what a trademark was, would know that only the owners of the trademark, or maybe someone they licensed the rights to would have any claim to sue over a trademark.

In this discussion, I am on the defendants team.  Or more accurately, suggesting that the group I want sticking around, not become defendants in a legal preceding.  It would be stupid for the AROS group to use a mark that in anyway could lead to legal trouble when there is nothing to gain by doing it.

[Belial6]

Wow. I didn't know it was that serious an issue.

AngloSaxonUSA originally wanted to create a logo that tied AROS to it's Amiga past. I don't really see that Eric is a direct part of that past, and even if he is, the Kitty logo does not clearly represent it in a way that ASUSA desires.

Yeah, the Kitty doesn't directly tie to the Amiga's past.  Of course, that is one of the reasons that I think it is better.  Tainting AROS with anything that could even spark an idea from Ainc that they might be able to sue is bad in my book.

Something like this suggestion would be way better for a distribution logo.  That way if AInc gets any bright ideas, it can just be dropped and something else picked.  The Kitty mascot, with the cats eye logo is really a very good logo.

The problem with paying homage to the past is that if you have too many pieces from the other product, you could cause confusion.  If you cause confusion, you are treading on thin ice concerning trademark.  Since, the point of trademark is to prevent confusion.  The difference between a product that looks the same, and a counterfeit are whether the product is being passed off as coming from someone else.

Getting rid of the rainbow check marks is a good idea.  The checkerboard dartboard would make a lot of sense for Ainc, but it may be too close to a boing ball.  The fact that it is a dartboard instead of an arrow target does make sense though, because the difference between a big dart, and a little arrow is only how you launch it.