Electronic Arts Suing EA Over Dodgy Logo

13 years ago

October 5, 2011 at 3:30 pm

EA, the video games publisher, is taking EA, the fitness supplies company, to court. And it’s not over the name.

Energy armour, based in Florida, is instead being taken to court because of two things. The first is its logo, which is more of a “complete rip-off” of EA’s famous branding than it is an “uncomfortable coincidence”.

The second is that Energy armour, being based in the fitness industry, advertises its products using athletes. Just like EA does.

That second point sounds a bit stupid – fitness companies using athletes sounds totally normal – but as you can see, the logo thing might be a tougher sell to a court.

For its part EA wants the logo barred, anything with the logo on it destroyed, and would also like some damages. Oh, and “all profits generated by Energy armour using the logo”. Which, you know, if it’s the company’s logo, is all their profits.

EA Sues EA [Gamasutra]

Comments

48 responses to “Electronic Arts Suing EA Over Dodgy Logo”

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j-man

October 5, 2011 at 3:50 pm

thats what you get when you F@CK with EA

Reply
Joshy206

October 5, 2011 at 3:58 pm

I think suing for “all profits” isn’t really the aim. They don’t expect it, they just want a lot of money.

Which I can’t blame them for. That logo is way too similar.

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Neo-Kaiser

October 5, 2011 at 3:58 pm

They’re afraid gamers might confuse the logos and end up setting up a fitness program!

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1. vinny
  
  October 5, 2011 at 4:16 pm
  
  they’re afraid gamers might be active….
  
  Reply
2. mchaza
  
  October 5, 2011 at 4:19 pm
  
  Yep, also they are worried about people mistaking shoes etc for bf3 because you know they are very simular and you can get confused
  
  Reply
Ghazarios

October 5, 2011 at 3:59 pm

They should have been smarter than that. Nothing good can come from copying a large company’s logo.

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Lone Wolf

October 5, 2011 at 4:00 pm

I’m more a fan of A’s games than the company, but I think this is a case of Energy Armor either being intensly ignorant or deliberately cashing in on a recognisable trademark.
There are a dozen more creative or imaginative ways to handle to use those initials and EA did it that way first.

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James Mac

October 5, 2011 at 4:19 pm

Lawsuits.

They’re in the game.

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1. Franz
  
  October 5, 2011 at 5:48 pm
  
  +1
  
  Reply
GUE57

October 5, 2011 at 4:23 pm

considering it is only 2 letters I don’t think it looks that similar at all. I mean you cant do THAT much with 2 letters, and it’s not the same font.

I hope they don’t win that case, if it’s a smaller company they could be putting it in financial ruin just for a money grab.

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1. Mic
  
  October 5, 2011 at 9:03 pm
  
  You can do a buttload with two letters. For a start, use a different font. Not to mention that the stores name is Energy Armour. They could easily make a new logo with that.
  
  Reply
miniluv101

October 5, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Any designer worth their salt checks out what exists in the marketplace. This isn’t good for anyone.

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Joe

October 5, 2011 at 4:32 pm

Many, MANY logos look the same. You think EA is the only to ever align the letters in their logos in such a way? This is just an example of corporate dickery trying stomp on competition. There’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from another person’s design as long as you make it your own. This logo, in my opinion, has done just that and is clearly distinguishable.

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1. Cypher
  
  October 5, 2011 at 6:26 pm
  
  +1
  
  Reply
2. Morkai
  
  October 5, 2011 at 7:52 pm
  
  can you show me some examples? i honestly can’t think of any that are this much alike.
  
  Reply
  1. Joe
    
    October 5, 2011 at 8:09 pm
    
    Google is your friend.
    
    http://www.logodesignlove.com/similar-original-logos
    
    Simple truth is there is very little room for originality anymore.
    
    Reply
Brenny

October 5, 2011 at 4:41 pm

im a graphic designer and i honestly dont think they look alike. they’re both italic but the similarities end there. the spacing is different, the font is different, one is connected and one isn’t, one has a lightning bolt stylised A. energy armor dont use just the white colour usually its embossed.

get off your high horse electronic arts. no one would buy a bracelet that says EA on it anyways. they are not a threat to you. such a small company.

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1. Joe
  
  October 5, 2011 at 6:20 pm
  
  +1
  
  Reply
L3gato

October 5, 2011 at 4:56 pm

EA haters are flocking again there are billions of ways you can make a logo out of EA people and the letter E leaning to the right and A with the reversed dash in the middle is eerily similar. I’m not even a fanboy to EA, but this is clearly energy armor cashing in on the similar logo.

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1. Joe
  
  October 5, 2011 at 6:17 pm
  
  Actually there aren’t “billions” of ways to make a logo out of “EA” without any of them looking similar. The best logos are often the most simplistic which is why so many of them look the same. When a company decides to go along with this trend they should just accept the risks and move on. Instead, we get asshats like Cadbury should try to sue competition because they use a similar colour in their packaging. Oh. heaven forbid someone else use the colour purple.
  
  Reply
  1. L3gato
    
    October 5, 2011 at 9:19 pm
    
    there are billions and I don’t mind giving some ideas. Even moving to simplistic designs can yield millions of logos. I am of the belief that these guys copied, whether that’s unintentional is up for debate.
    
    Reply
    1. Joe
      
      October 5, 2011 at 9:43 pm
      
      My point is that if it can be done, it most probably already exists. Both designs in this case can easily be produced in Adobe Illustrator. You wouldn’t even need to use a font make them. That’s how simplistic they.
      
      And even if you were to provide 100 examples, most of them would probably share a similar feature that could be accused of being taken from another person’s design.
      
      Reply
      1. L3gato
        
        October 6, 2011 at 1:51 am
        
        And my point is that Electronic Arts it too big a company not to notice such a logo. Considering Energy Armor is also an American company things just don’t feel right.
      2. BMB
        
        October 6, 2011 at 3:29 am
        
        I was under the impression that something not “feeling right” wasn’t an acceptable reason for a lawsuit …
      3. L3gato
        
        October 6, 2011 at 9:55 am
        
        yeah maybe I could have put it into better words like the other commenter who said Energy Armor may have “wittingly taken a calculated risk of copying existing logo design”. I reckon if somebody beloved like Bioware or Valve did the suing you guys would take a diff. stance.
      4. Joe
        
        October 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm
        
        This has nothing to do with fanboyism and you know it. This is about corporate greed and taking potshots at smaller companies in an attempt to dominate a market.
        
        These two logos may look SIMILAR, but they are not the SAME. Electronics Arts do not own the letter combination of an italicized “E” and “A”, nor do they own the trapezoid shape their logo resembles. Those are the only similarities between the two logos. You only have to compare the letters by themselves to notice how different they are from eachother.
      5. L3gato
        
        October 6, 2011 at 11:26 pm
        
        you’re right maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with hating not fanboyism. Anyway what is Electronic Arts trying to stifle exactly? They are merely protecting their brand. How can EA stifle a company that isn’t even about videogames? They’re not in the same market.
      6. Joe
        
        October 7, 2011 at 12:09 am
        
        Electronics Arts is branching out and wants a slice of the sporting market. They’ve started by making sporting games and sponsoring athletes and events. However, because an actual sporting company (Energy Armor)exists with the same initials, they’ve perceived them as a potential threat and want them gone so that they, and only they, are the only EA on the block.
      7. Joe
        
        October 7, 2011 at 12:19 am
        
        In other words: corporate dickery
      8. L3gato
        
        October 7, 2011 at 11:19 am
        
        how long has EA’s logo been around? versus how long has Energy Armor been around? yeah no. EA sports logo have been here for ages and even that logo uses the same scheme except for the red and white variation. They’ve had sporting products for a while too like headbands, armbands, etc. They didn’t just start branching out now.
      9. Joe
        
        October 7, 2011 at 1:58 pm
        
        I’m not denying that Energy Armor is a more recent company. You wanted to know how the company could be perceived as a threat to a Video Games company and I answered that.
      10. L3gato
        
        October 8, 2011 at 2:49 am
        
        You answered that but it doesn’t change the fact that EA is merely protecting their logo since they seem to have the same market for accessories.
Otacon

October 5, 2011 at 5:17 pm

I would sue based on the logo alone.

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Kizaru

October 5, 2011 at 5:24 pm

I would love to see the reactions if this were Activision instead of EA.

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trav73

October 5, 2011 at 5:34 pm

isn’t EA’s usual tactic to buy out the company and then destroy it from within? 😛

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Michael

October 5, 2011 at 5:44 pm

I see the resemblance but…. they both have the initials “EA” and their font is completely different.

The electronic arts is more square and has solid gaps, where as energy armor is more pointy and sharp.
I hope they don’t get away with this.

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Franz

October 5, 2011 at 5:46 pm

That fitness company is definitely going to have to pay up, how else is Electronic Arts going to afford to buy out another Studio.

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klanky

October 5, 2011 at 6:00 pm

EA is evil. Haven’t we already established this?

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Jorzza

October 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm

EA will make you “you cant sue us” but we’ll sue you

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Cap’n Crunch

October 5, 2011 at 6:41 pm

Ooooo EA you so nasteh

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Khuntza

October 5, 2011 at 7:19 pm

I bought these fitness supplements because I thought they were made by my favourite video game publisher.. Really?

How much business could they really have generated for themselves? even if there was any actual confusion..

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Kailan

October 5, 2011 at 8:45 pm

Seriously?!?!?

How much can you actually do with the letters E and A? It’s easy to tell the difference between the two.

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Mr Waffle

October 5, 2011 at 10:40 pm

You know, I only just realised that the “E” in “EA” is like an equals sign… I always thought it was just an E…

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allanon10101

October 5, 2011 at 11:02 pm

Yeah… that was always going to happen if they tried using that logo

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Al

October 6, 2011 at 3:12 am

Seriously? I know I aint the only here who thinks the law team at EA must have been bored looking for something to do. Ok, so the similarities are: There’s an italicized E and an A that sits close. That is pretty much it for me. The E is different, the A is different, the weight of the graphics is totally different, the shapes are different…it kinda goes on for me. Legal gone mad. Unless their strapline is ‘We’re in the sports game’ then let’s get real here.

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Paul Murray

October 6, 2011 at 10:49 am

Way to go EA! Your greed and bullying tactics are an inspiration to us all.

These aren’t similar enough for the Energy Armor one to be classed as a “complete rip-off”, though when they’re reduced to the size of a favicon, their footprints do look a like.

Designers can often come up with an idea that’s similar to another by pure chance (I’ve done it myself), so this could just be a combination of bad luck, lack of research and EA being money-hungry.

Or, whoever designed this logo could have been lazy.

Either way it wouldn’t surprise me if Energy ended up paying just to keep EA off their backs.

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Esspytood

October 6, 2011 at 3:13 pm

pff, go ahead with the lawsuit.

maybe it’ll beat some sense into them for just bad design.

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[Razor]

October 6, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Similarities include:
white on black
the letters E and A
the letter E is slanted right to lean on the A
that’s all

Reply

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Electronic Arts Suing EA Over Dodgy Logo

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48 responses to “Electronic Arts Suing EA Over Dodgy Logo”

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