In logo design, when does inspiration turn to copy?

Wow, I think there are no logo pair that look more alike than Scottish Arts Council and Quark..

Well, I think there may be pure coincidence at times but some logos just look like a spin off from another..

Wow, many of those do look way to much alike. I do not understand why anyone would want a knock off of another logo, as that takes away from there branding.

Scottish Arts Council and Quark look the same. WOW !

My thought…..I feel that a symbol can be shared when someone's creative juices are inspired. It's all about making that symbol your own in your branding. You need to change it up through font, font color, font size, etc. You need to see the branding beyond the shared symbol and look inside. Look at what is created around that symbol to distinguish each individual logo. Just my thought!

Since Macromedia merged Adobe…Mos Burger is in the clear. Or would it be the other way around?

The Sun Microsystems/Columbia Sportswear did give me a chuckle!

Say I am very impressed by a certain logo and I want to get something similar done for my company but do not want to plagiarize.

What should be my policy? What notes should I include in my creative brief so that the designer makes it sufficiently different?

Steal it high, steal it low, but Steal it!

Seriously, Sun writes software and sells hardware…Columbia sells clothes…neither industry directly affects the other. Unless one party or the other is into some *serious* "branding" issues, I don't see a problem here.

My 2 cents

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