LOGO DESIGN BLOG   LOGO DESIGN REVIEW

Buying a new computer is an exciting event for most people. Many consumers find it fun to unpack and put together their new PC, expecting it to look clean and flawless. But many are disappointed when they find tacky Microsoft and Intel stickers cluttering an otherwise sleek design.

The stickers either fade and peel themselves off over time–making the computer look even worse–or the consumer has to delicately and painstakingly peel off the stickers by hand in order to make the obtrusive logos disappear.

Finally a company with some influence is doing something about it. Dell, the PC giant, is having talks with both Microsoft and Intel about omitting vicarious advertising from its machines.

Dell doesn’t care that other companies’ logos are seen on their computers as much as it cares about saving some extra dough. For them, putting the stickers on each computer takes a lot of time, and therefore money, especially considering Dell is the world’s largest PC maker, currently supplying more than 16 percent of the worldwide PC market. As the Chinese and Latin American markets continue to grow, putting those pesky stickers on each machine becomes what Dell has called “a significant bottleneck.”

Certainly Intel and Microsoft are going to fight to keep their logos on every machine they power–including Dell’s–so stay tuned. But perhaps our days of picking off pesky logo stickers are numbered.

Today Nissan announced they are the first Japanese carmaker to be granted a trademark in China–a huge step for the company entering a market where counterfeiting is as common as wontons.

Now Nissan Motor will be able to take legal action against companies and people who fraudulently use the company’s logo or something similar to it. Nissan has made a breakthrough in China by getting trademark protection.

This is more than rival Toyota has been able to do. When someone spotted a shipment of cars at a Chinese port with a ‘Tayota’ logo on them, they were unable to stop the shipment from getting send to Libya, according to an article in Forbes.

This kind of counterfeiting may seem odd to us folks in the U.S. where infringement is not a national underground market, but in many other places around the globe, it’s the norm.

Take Venezuela, for example. Having lived there myself, I can say that rampant counterfeiting is everywhere. You can buy laundry detergent with a logo you’d swear was Tide (but it isn’t) or a SQNY (not SONY) stereo for an amazingly low price. I even met a Peruvian man there who made and sold clothes for a living. He would regularly go to a store that sold sewing supplies. In the back of the store, there were hundreds of counterfeit logos from every major U.S. clothing brand. At the time, his top sellers were Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.

No Venezuelan was tricked into thinking the clothes were really from the manufacturer, but the clothes went fast because the shirt-maker used other companys’ hard earned image to move his product, and people wanted to look trendy.

Even here in the states, counterfeiting occurs, albeit in rural areas. When you drive into Iona, Idaho, instead of pulling up to the 7-Eleven for some snacks and gas, you’ll find yourself filling up at a 6-Twelve.

And in Midway, Utah, you won’t find a Dairy Queen logo anywhere when you want a shake; but you will find a Dairy Keen , and it’s actually very popular.

Trademarks are a valued possession, and it’s not just socks, hats and watches that are being counterfeited these days.

In an article that appeared on BusinessWeek Online today, Rob Giampietro and Kevin Smith wrote what is essentially a tribute to the Con Edison logo; but bearing in mind the recent incident with the company’s logo (see my blog from a few weeks ago), the article seems oddly out of place.

Perhaps the writers were not aware of the recent incident, where a searing Con Ed logo branded a New York woman, but some of the commentary on the longevity and solid design of Con Ed’s logo cannot be passed up. In speaking of the most recent update on the logo, the article states:

[The logo] also creates a feeling of coolness…imagine if Arnell (the designer) had jettisoned the blue for, say, the bright red of a hot stove?

This comment almost seems like a jab to the woman who was injured by a ConEd manhole cover. It’s safe to assume that the recently branded woman would disagree with these comments.

Aside from this, it seems odd that Con Edison would pitch an article to BusinessWeek that seems to try to take the limelight away from the issue at hand. From a PR perspective it doesn’t make much sense.

Instead of using the opportunity in BusinessWeek to tell people: “We’re sorry this happened, we admit we made a mistake, and here’s how we’re going to fix it,” they simply say, “Our logo is great.”

This must be ConEd’s response to negative publicity surrounding their company logo.