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Reason number 1,000,001 why I hate the Hawkeyes.
Hawkeye or Eagle? Iowa says change it
Latest Golden Eagles logo starkly resembles trademark 'Tiger Hawk.'
By REGISTER NEWS SERVICES
June 28, 2004
University of Iowa officials have asked the University of Southern Mississippi to get rid of its Golden Eagle logo, saying it looks too much like the Hawkeyes' trademark.
"We've had the 'Tiger Hawk' logo for 20, 25 years, and the Southern Mississippi logo seems confusingly similar," Iowa spokesman Steve Parrott said. "We congratulate Southern Mississippi on its taste in logos, but we've contacted Southern Mississippi and asked them to change it because we feel it's too close to ours."
Officials at Southern Miss, in Hattiesburg, Miss., are balking.
"I'm not sure what the whole deal is," athletics director Richard Giannini said. "But I don't think they look anything alike. The only thing they have in common is they are both bird heads and they're both the same color, but there's no other similarity."
Southern Miss introduced the new Eagle-head logo in January 2003 as part of a brand-identity campaign that included standard colors, fonts and logos for all aspects of the school's athletics.
The logo had avoided the radar of Iowa officials until Southern Miss hired men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy, who previously coached at Iowa State University. Media coverage of the hiring in Iowa brought the issue to the attention of school officials.
"We saw the coverage, and saw the hat he was wearing," Parrott said.
Southern Miss attorney Lee Gore said the university had been contacted by Iowa about the logo. He termed the discussions "preliminary," and said no lawsuit had been filed.
"We've had some discussions with them," Gore said. "We're trying to figure out why they think they have a claim."
Parrott said Iowa wants its logo to be distinctive, and pointed to a scheduled basketball game between Southern Miss of Conference USA and Iowa in Iowa City this December.
"We don't want to confuse people," he said.
Parrott said he would not speculate on whether the school would pursue litigation, and that Iowa officials were waiting to see how USM responded.
Gore said the matter was being handled by USM's intellectual property lawyer, J.T. Martin of Washington, D.C.
The school's new logo was developed by RARE Design of Hattiesburg. The company is owned by Rodney Richardson, a USM graduate.
"I don't know about what's going on between Southern Miss and Iowa," Richardson said. "But I do know when you talk about comparisons with graphics, the athletic marketplace is such a crowded field that comparisons are inevitable."
Richardson said anytime RARE is designing a new logo, the company does background checks and researches the marks of other teams to avoid infringement.
"I hate to hear this because I think stylistically, the marks aren't similar," he said. "I think it's driven by the fact that the two schools have similar colors and similar animals for mascots more than anything else."
You make the call:
or
Some say uni copied western illinois, but i didn't see the Leatherneck administration asking us to take it back.
Hawkeye or Eagle? Iowa says change it
Latest Golden Eagles logo starkly resembles trademark 'Tiger Hawk.'
By REGISTER NEWS SERVICES
June 28, 2004
University of Iowa officials have asked the University of Southern Mississippi to get rid of its Golden Eagle logo, saying it looks too much like the Hawkeyes' trademark.
"We've had the 'Tiger Hawk' logo for 20, 25 years, and the Southern Mississippi logo seems confusingly similar," Iowa spokesman Steve Parrott said. "We congratulate Southern Mississippi on its taste in logos, but we've contacted Southern Mississippi and asked them to change it because we feel it's too close to ours."
Officials at Southern Miss, in Hattiesburg, Miss., are balking.
"I'm not sure what the whole deal is," athletics director Richard Giannini said. "But I don't think they look anything alike. The only thing they have in common is they are both bird heads and they're both the same color, but there's no other similarity."
Southern Miss introduced the new Eagle-head logo in January 2003 as part of a brand-identity campaign that included standard colors, fonts and logos for all aspects of the school's athletics.
The logo had avoided the radar of Iowa officials until Southern Miss hired men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy, who previously coached at Iowa State University. Media coverage of the hiring in Iowa brought the issue to the attention of school officials.
"We saw the coverage, and saw the hat he was wearing," Parrott said.
Southern Miss attorney Lee Gore said the university had been contacted by Iowa about the logo. He termed the discussions "preliminary," and said no lawsuit had been filed.
"We've had some discussions with them," Gore said. "We're trying to figure out why they think they have a claim."
Parrott said Iowa wants its logo to be distinctive, and pointed to a scheduled basketball game between Southern Miss of Conference USA and Iowa in Iowa City this December.
"We don't want to confuse people," he said.
Parrott said he would not speculate on whether the school would pursue litigation, and that Iowa officials were waiting to see how USM responded.
Gore said the matter was being handled by USM's intellectual property lawyer, J.T. Martin of Washington, D.C.
The school's new logo was developed by RARE Design of Hattiesburg. The company is owned by Rodney Richardson, a USM graduate.
"I don't know about what's going on between Southern Miss and Iowa," Richardson said. "But I do know when you talk about comparisons with graphics, the athletic marketplace is such a crowded field that comparisons are inevitable."
Richardson said anytime RARE is designing a new logo, the company does background checks and researches the marks of other teams to avoid infringement.
"I hate to hear this because I think stylistically, the marks aren't similar," he said. "I think it's driven by the fact that the two schools have similar colors and similar animals for mascots more than anything else."
You make the call:
or
Some say uni copied western illinois, but i didn't see the Leatherneck administration asking us to take it back.
Just playin'. You actually have time now to check out panthernation?
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