Returning The Favor: The Toyota Mashup Challenge!
Saturday, October 14th, 2006 by MR
After a long week I found out that the advertising agency representing Toyota seems to have taken some creative license with the 9rules logo. Toyota Georgetown is having a conference where for some reason they thought it appropriate to modify the 9rules logo a little bit and use it as their logo for the conference. Here’s a little graphic design sequence showing just how closely their “logo” matches up with ours:
Flipped, color shifted, and some leaves jiggled around, but it’s pretty obvious. In fact if you line up their version with the 9rules logo 2nd from the right in that image, the big leaves on the left and right line up perfectly, along with the bottom stem. Here’s another image with their version layered on top of a flipped 9rules logo. I’ve pointed out the best parts :)
Now while the 9rules logo is not trademarked to 9rules, Inc., it’s still copyrighted to me. Back in April 2005 I documented my creative process over at Paul’s blog and there are hundreds (if not thousands) of references of it all around the Web so prior art is not the issue. The issue is that it’s just totally lame of them to do it to anybody.
I have been in contact with their ad agency’s legal department (meaning, they wrote me a really long email after I wrote them a really short one) and they still maintain that the two logos look nothing alike.
Since Toyota has taken a Web 2.0 Mashup Hammer to the 9rules logo, I thought it only fair that I mash their own logo up in a similar way. Everybody, I present to you, the shiny new (and totally original!) Business Logs logo!
Maaan, so much friendlier! While it may appear that I merely flipped the logo, re-colored it, and removed a small area, you can rest assured it’s completely and totally different from the Toyota logo in every way, shape, and form. Toyota logo? What’s that?
To celebrate megacompany Toyota’s willingness to use the 9rules logo for whatever they want, I now invite all of you to join the Toyota Logo Mashup Challenge! Grab a gigantic version of the Toyota logo from over here, change it up in some small (but totally creative and original!) ways, and then post a link to your version in the comments. Each commenter on this thread who posts a link to their version of the Toyota logo will be automatically entered into the Toyota Logo Mashup Challenge! On October 19th a winner will be randomly selected and they’ll get a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate courtesy your neighborhood Toyota Dealer…. err…. courtesy my wallet!
Aaaaaand get your engines runnin’!!!
Reader Comments
88 Responses to “Returning The Favor: The Toyota Mashup Challenge!”
Bahaha, nice. I like!
Thought I’d take a break from packing and join the fun: new logo for not’yta!
(Didn’t know if you allowed image tags in comments, so I played it safe with a link.)
October 14th, 2006 at 4:01 am
Ahahah! Hilarious!
October 14th, 2006 at 4:09 am
While I applaud your desire to protect your creative work, this seems like a very passive-aggressive way to resolve the conflict. Did you contact anyone from Meridian or Toyota and ask them to replace the logo? If you truly care about this issue, that seems like a better response than just complaining or deciding that “two wrongs make a right.”
October 14th, 2006 at 5:37 am
:)
October 14th, 2006 at 5:52 am
Well, to be completely fair, you’re putting the blame on the wrong company. As you said yourself, the “creative” was done by an advertising company, not Toyota. Odds are, those who work at this single (likely independently owned) dealership couldn’t tell you if 9rules was a web site or a new sports drink. So when the ad agency says “Look at what we created”, there wasn’t any reason to contest it.
Also, it’s sort of hard to blame the entire company for the actions of, as I said above, an independent dealership. Generally speaking, they tend to have complete autonomy (No, umm, pun intended) with regards to what events they can support, what direction their advertising can go and even how management is structured. So again, blaming Toyoda for the actions beyond it’s control or knowledge isn’t exactly the right way to go about it.
Now, if you sent a letter to corporate and the dealership and their legal teams both responded with “LOL noob”, then sure, go nuts. However, if they haven’t been contacted and given a chance to respond, I don’t see what they’ve done wrong.
Finally, for the record: I don’t own a, work for or even like Toyota..heh.
October 14th, 2006 at 5:56 am
My project is called 9IOTA, since it’s 9/10 of the original, with a little integration of the 9 and a leaf as a queue of the 9.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6753/9iotaey0.gif (GIF/two colours/ 500 x 500 px.)
October 14th, 2006 at 6:05 am
The logo for the Armenian Tire Organisation Yearning for Original Typefaces:
Imageshack img
Box.net Share
October 14th, 2006 at 6:40 am
Hey Ryan, at the 9rules blog I dicussed how I have been in contact with Meridian Communications’ legal team and that they still insist the logos are completely different from one another. I haven’t decided yet if I will pursue the copyright infringement case any further, but I decided a little fun couldn’t hurt. All logos made for this contest are protected under Fair Use as Parody (as opposed to their rip which was for monetary gain) so it’s slightly different ;)
October 14th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Good morning. Here is mine:
http://toyota-logo-mashup-challenge.yurab.com/
October 14th, 2006 at 8:46 am
http://danieloliver.co.uk/images/uploads/toyota.jpg
October 14th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Wouldn’t it be fairer to do this with the Meridian logo? I’d make an example, but I haven’t the design talent nor the wit.
October 14th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Hey Mike,
Isn’t it ironic that the Meridian Communication catch phrase/slogan is “Brand New Thinking“? I agree with Joshua, I think a new Meridian logo is in order.
October 14th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Well… it’s not that great, but I had little time and nothing to do. …so Here :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v426/Waterstraal/Overige/Toyota_Grass_2.png
October 14th, 2006 at 10:18 am
See the power of MSPAINT in action!
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3688798
October 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Chad’s right- the Meridian slogan needs a “refreshening”.
Howbout…
Meridian Communications:
Yoink!
October 14th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Look Mommy, I’m participating!
Man Bites Logo
P.S.:
@Ryan: I disagree totally with your notion. In almost every instance of copyright infringement- especially in a David v. Goliath kind of thing like this- the initial response from the big corporation’s lawyers is an almost automated one, basically stating, “we’ve never seen your logo before, ours is totally legitimate, now go away.” When going through the standard legal channels as you’ve suggested, it often takes a very frustrating amount of time and effort to get a copyright issue like this to even be noticed by an international company like Toyota.
It’s the freedom of the press (the new age press: blogs) and the freedom of speech that expedites such a process and gives the little guy a bit of leverage, which is what Mike has done here (though as stated, he has indeed gone through the usual channels already, and gotten the result I predicted). Not to be cheesy, but these are some the concepts the United States of America were based on, and as you can see, those concepts are proving to be much more effective in this instance than the ol’ “To Whom It May Concern”.
@Juvenall: It’s not an independently owned dealership. It’s a division of Toyota Corporate.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Small change* to logo (could be a cookie jar too).
*(got rained on w/his own .38)
October 14th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Ok, image didn’t show in my last post … jsut a smiley wasn’t right so here is my entry.
Toyota diary
October 14th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
My entry:
http://blight.virtue.nu/images/toro_logo.gif
October 14th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
You have no chance to survive make your time…
October 14th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
This is absolutely insane. The worst part is that they’re doing the stupid legal dance (which absolutely nobody believes, and is only going to hurt their reputation) instead of stepping up as professionals and saying, “Sorry, we won’t do that again.”
October 14th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
wow right clicking on their website certainly made me laugh… not sure that was what this ‘cutting edge’ company intended.
October 14th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
The funny thing is, I used to live within 30 mins of Lexington, Kentucky and I had never even heard of Meridian Corporation. It just goes to show how small-time they are, and how they probably are not above something like stealing a logo.
October 14th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
For some reason, I felt like making a Toyota logo out of dishes. Dishes with roosters on them, no less. Here it is.
http://brainfuel.tv/postimages/toyota-dishes.jpg
October 14th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I know I should have, but I just could not resist…
Motto: Are you a Piyate?
http://www.anoniq.com/favor/Are_you_a_Piyate-.png
October 14th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
This is wicked fun. I could see mashing up Toyota logos taking up all my free time. Here’s my first anyway, does it look familiar?
http://pixelgun.com/forager/totoya.png
October 14th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
You are wrong about not having a trademark on your own logo.
When you create your logo, by US trademark law you automatically have a trademark by default. The fact that it isn’t registered at the USPTO works against you slightly because the mechanics of proving your ownership involve more, but you DO have a trademark on your logo, if you created it or paid someone to create it for you.
October 14th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
This is fun… LOL :)
http://www.anoniq.com/favor/LOLOTA.png
October 14th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Lol…I just emailed Toyota’s Advertising department and told them that they better not play with fire, ie the web community and the blogosphere. Especially if they’re trying to improve there image they better not go around stealing other peoples art.
October 14th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
I’ve seen them all and I vote for:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6753/9iotaey0.gif
October 14th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Jed: I think you’re confusing copyright law with trademark law. As I understand it, trademarks have to be registered, but copyright is automatic.
October 14th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Haha, I love a good parody. And the green is so trendy!
Toy Oats Fertilizer: Because something about this smells.
http://www.owensdesigns.com/files/toyoatsfertilizer.png
October 14th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Mike - check out their “terms of use” stated below:
–
Intellectual Property Rights
The information in this site is protected by copyright pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws. You may only use the information, text or graphics contained in this site for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not reproduce, adapt, or publish, in whole or in part, any content from this Web site for any purpose without the express written consent of TMMK.
Toyota, the Toyota logo, as well as other marks used on this site, are registered trademarks of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan. The Toyota mark and other marks may not be used, downloaded, copied or distributed in any way.
—
If I could just emphasize that last sentence… Between this and the Meridian Communication catch phrase/slogan “Brand New Thinking,” I’d say we have a case of irony on our hands.
(All text in this comment, including the name Mike, are copyright 22Dollars.com)
October 14th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
My first time here… Found this page via reddit.
I liked the other submissions so much I decided to submit my own.
http://www.visgirls.com/img/boring-toyota.gif
-gc
October 14th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/980/toyotalogoredverzf1.gif
yay
October 14th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
Gotta love those logos! Here is my version, not as clever as some of the others, but nevertheless…
My version
October 15th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Thought I’d contribute mine. I flipped it horozontally and colorized it red :D
Click here
Don’t you love creativity?
October 15th, 2006 at 5:54 am
nice competition… and great submissions mates
October 15th, 2006 at 6:40 am
I support your cause, location here (Dutch):
http://ongezouten.wordpress.com/2006/10/15/plagiaat/
October 15th, 2006 at 6:57 am
dats sooo coooolll … they neav thought they would be caught .. ha ha ha !!!!
October 15th, 2006 at 7:06 am
Okay, I’ll throw my hat in the ring.
Mine
October 15th, 2006 at 7:19 am
We have been weighing up between getting a Toyota Corolla or a Mazda 3. After reading this I think we are definitely going to get a Mazda. I’m boy-cotting Toyota, and I think everyone here should do the same.
The agency in charge should take responsibility for the mistake they made. I find their ignorance offensive.
October 15th, 2006 at 7:24 am
@ Samalah. LOL. What a great version. Toyota Logo turned in to 3d. Fantastic.
October 15th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Ok, I am not expecting to win with this image ;)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1346/tosamasz0.jpg
October 15th, 2006 at 8:11 am
Here a Web 2.0 version off toyota :)
http://www.yourep.com/track/Janick/medium/46120
http://www.yourep.com/content/thumb/Janick46120.jpg
October 15th, 2006 at 8:41 am
My version!
October 15th, 2006 at 8:48 am
This doesn’t get to be an entry, but I figured it should exist. Perhaps someone should create a better one? I just woke up.
Thing!
October 15th, 2006 at 8:57 am
I like this idea much better instead of lawsuits.
October 15th, 2006 at 8:57 am
My logo for the new South African company Toi-toi. Toi-toi is a South African word for demonstration.
Toi-Toi logo
October 15th, 2006 at 9:00 am
I had to get in on this! It may not be appropriate for the younger ones in the audience, but I had to do it!
http://www.paulmalenke.com/blog/archives/9
October 15th, 2006 at 9:03 am
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6118/swoopindq2.gif
copyright etc… http://brianetc.tk
lol nice idea
October 15th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Toetoe:
http://pixelcarnage.net/Garbage/Toetoe.png
Perhaps this should be a competition? :P
October 15th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Here is my attempt… i like some of the ideas on here… maybe toyota will change their logo soon…hehe..
Grandota… or… Toyotizer!
October 15th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I actually live in Lexington and Meridian is a large sized agency for Lexington. They get a lot of the “big” local work. They also farm out a ton of work to freelancers (I have never done anything for them). I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this logo wasn’t done by a young freelancer (or intern). I couldn’t actually see the “standard” people there even knowing what the heck 9 rules was, unless they saw the logo in a design mag or book of logos. I’m actually going to do some asking through the grapevine to see if anyone I know is freelancing for them.
I think this is a big enough deal that you might want to think about contacting Lexington’s local paper (Herald-Leader) and bring the story to their attention. If you get nowhere with legal and don’t want to pay for court costs then use the court of popular opinion and hit them in their local market’s newspaper. Here is a link to the Herald’s site
http://www.kentucky.com
The thing is we all take ideas from all around us. It’s called research. We take a bunch of ideas and filter them through our own process and come up with something new. Then there are people that do all their “research” in one place and skip the whole annoying filtering process. That’s plagiarism.
At the very least they owe you an apology and a retraction. And giving you the money they charged for the logo wouldn’t be a bad step either.
October 15th, 2006 at 10:12 am
In my opinion Samalah’s logo is the best so far.
October 15th, 2006 at 10:34 am
there need to be about 1000 more of these. get cracking
October 15th, 2006 at 10:37 am
You are wrong about not having a trademark on your own logo.
When you create your logo, by US trademark law you automatically have a trademark by default. The fact that it isn’t registered at the USPTO works against you slightly because the mechanics of proving your ownership involve more, but you DO have a trademark on your logo, if you created it or paid someone to create it for you.
This is untrue. You must register a trademark.
Copyright is a different issue - but the real issue here is trademark infringment - *if* 9rules registered their logo as a trademark.
Mike, did you?
On a side note, I highly recommend that you stop discussing this directly with Toyota and hire an attorney - I would also recommend that you not discuss this further in public until you have discussed this with legal counsel.
Matt
October 15th, 2006 at 10:46 am
all i have to ask, is wheres the goatse logo?
October 15th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Awesome.. here’s mine..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/randomchops/toyotagfy.jpg
October 15th, 2006 at 11:25 am
Here’s my entry.
http://img282.imageshack.us/img282/9985/toyotfy9.jpg
Enjoy everyone.
October 15th, 2006 at 11:42 am
http://i10.tinypic.com/2vifeh0.jpg
October 15th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
check out ‘FROYODA
October 15th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
[I posted something similar on 9rules, but just wanted to pass it along]
ANAL, but I’ve had some exposure to copyright issues. If you want to get more serious, I’m sure you could find a good lawyer to make things happen. But on your own you probably won’t scare them. What I say below probably isn’t fully correct, but it might give you some ideas where to go from here.
If you register a CR for your design, it doesn’t cost much, and shows that you’re more serious about the issue (because it allows you to hit them up for $ damages).
Prior art (which you mention) doesn’t mean anything in CR - a work simply must must be ORIGINAL. Identical designs do not infringe each other IF they were independently created. The fact that some of their design elements (stem length, etc) are IDENTICAL makes it difficult for them to say that they independently came up with their design.
CR rights go beyond exact copies. 17 USC 103(a) allows you to exclude “derivative works.” It takes more than simple changes (which is what it seems like here) - there must be “non-trivial contributions” for their work to be considered original over yours. Unfortunately, “non-trivial” is a squishy term. A good copyright lawyer would have a better idea how it would apply here.
Finally, infringing Toyota’s CR could complicate you stopping them, as it gives them somethiing to shoot back against you. Just something to think about…
Hope you can stick it to them - they seem to deserve it.
October 15th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
That was gutsy I would think. Way to go… entertaining.
October 15th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
My mashup: ()
http://img238.imageshack.us/my.php?image=toyotalogoredveryr1.png
October 15th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Dave Anderson should take this away. The best so far by leaps and bounds. “It Sounds Familiar”
October 15th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
I decided to add meridian’s logo to the mix.
http://christys.info/blog/wp-images/oyot.gif
October 15th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
In the words of Justice O’Connor,”The sine qua non of copyright is originality.” There is nothing original about flipping a logo and changing the colors. What they are doing is illegal. If you registered the logo with the Library of Congress copyright office ($30 process), you are entitled to recoup any legal fees and tripple damages if you sue them.
October 15th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Hey, Digg reader here. I’m not much of an artist but I had to throw my idea in so here you go!
http://img289.imageshack.us/img289/9475/tomataxl4.png
In the spirit of Toyota marketing, the tomato was stole– “sourced” from:
http://www.cullyandsully.com/pressphotos/cns/index.php?section=Illustrations
I still think they make great trucks.
October 15th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
My submission http://static.flickr.com/80/270362958_53fa2cf0b0_o.png
October 15th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Nice job!
Go Go Go !
October 15th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
I don’t mean to be the bad guy here, but is it possible they aren’t ripping your logo off? I found this when looking through the agencies list of work.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (1986)
Now this logo doesn’t look very 1986, but is it possible? Is it possible it was a coincidence?
October 16th, 2006 at 5:57 am
I used to work at Meridian Communications right around the time it tanked from 60 people to 12. Its sad to see this happen.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:02 am
This is definitely copyright infringement, and terribly unethical. Unfortunately for you, there’s probably not much to be done. As a previous poster stated, there’s a good likelihood that a young freelancer did this right under their noses. And sadly, though 9rules has a lot of traffic you can’t really expect anyone outside of the blogging community to know who you are. You really should get a lawyer involved, just having people flame them and their logo isn’t going to do much good and will probably only reinforce to them that they’re dealing with a kid in their twenties who can’t really do anything to stop them. Best of luck.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Hey Darin, the legal team representing Meridian Communications said to me that their logo has been in use “for a few months”. I assume that the Toyota plant has been a client of theirs since 1986, but the logo was only designed a few months back. The 9rules logo debuted in April 2005 so we easily predate their version by over a year.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Wow, that’s totally not cool.
Here’s mine with a little Web 2.0 spice!
http://www.bumpbox.com/?p=166
October 16th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I can’t believe no one has revisited the “controversy” from when Toyota first unleashed the siesta logo on the world…
http://www.johnbedard.com/images/siesta.png
October 16th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
9rules revamped. Check it out!
http://www.nurko.com/9rules.jpg
October 16th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
Hey Mike,
What a shock to see this. If you are not able to do anything about it, I guess the best way to look at it is that it is highly flatering that they have selected your logo to steal! Maybe Toyota should be placed in your portfolio now! ;-)
–Joe
October 16th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
I just felt like emailing them my 2-bits. I know they don’t even care about small people. One day, businesses and media outlets will fear the blogosphere. It’s getting closer day.
Toyota told me that I should contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center
http://www.ic3.gov/
Like that will do anything. Maybe if 50,000 people on digg complained it’d do something but whatever.
October 16th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I couldn’t resist. This story blows my mind. Maybe we, as concerned artists/citizens, should send a word to the government to do something about the ridiculous amount of copyright/trademark infringement coming out of the Internet.
Anyway, here’s my sub:
October 16th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Wow, I wouldn’t think a huge company like Toyota would actually risk their brand and do something like this. I’m sure some one is going to be in the hot seat.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Nice idea Mike!
I’ve done a brief write up of it down at RichGentlemenHide, as well as submitted my entries…
http://www.richgentlemenhide.com/news/a-toyota-plagiarism-forwards-or-backwards/
Look forward to seeing how it all works out!
October 16th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
That’s weird that it didn’t post the link.
HERE
October 17th, 2006 at 4:21 am
Serious stuff.
Mike, this would get me boiling. Less the fact that they actually used the logo than that they deny doing it. For the uninitiated the two logos are practically identical. If you saw one the one day, and the other the next, I don’t even think you’d realise they were different. (Except if you make a study of logos.)
My grandmother once told me: If that boy copies you, you should see it as a compliment, obviously your work is good enough to be copied. She never said anything about him stealing it though.
@Simon Angling(49) - funny thing: I won a competition 4 years ago for “Laugh it Off” with a concept around the Toyato brand and Toi-Toi. The tag line went something along the lines of “Everything keeps going white.” Any case, I won’t sue you.
Here’s my submission: http://lightbulb.co.za/ceo.gif
October 17th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Here’s my entry.
I think it’d work as a fleet badge in a 1950s era sci-fi movie.
http://anton.lr2.com/Staryota.jpg
October 18th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I just love how you took something negative and turned it into something positve and fun :) Bravo!
October 20th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
WHO WON???
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:12 am
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