+CacheBratzNH Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Hello Folks, My clan of four and I are new to this awesome adventure of yours! What fun! We want to design our own logo, and I am curious.. is it true that the site entitled "public domain" can be used as a starting point for designing our own logo? Of course, it would only be for personal/geocaching purposes... There are so many beautiful designs. I have sketched a few on paper but they are quite pathetic and archaic. The logos I have found on the "public domain" page would really give us a good starting place. Geocaching is not only a site for cachers, but also the home of many talented artists and graphic designers! Can I really take these images and tailor them to my own needs? I obviously "missed the bus"! From what I can gather there was some sort of contest to design a new/different logo in addition to the Groundspeak logo. This was before my time, but I do like the designs from Leatherman and would love to (try) to personalize them if possible. Any advice, rules or suggestions regarding this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance from The5Brats in NH. Quote Link to comment
+MountainMudbug Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Hi Brats, The public domain logos are absolutely for you to twist, turn, alter, etc into your own design. I enjoyed participating in that brief frenzy that gave rise to so many designs! I like seeing how cachers have used the Leatherman variation in their avatars, etc. As long as you don't alter the original Geocaching logo you should be golden. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong.... and maybe someone will post the link to the public domain logos here as I can't seem to locate it right now (duh) Quote Link to comment
+Doc-Dean Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 I have seen many great looking hand-designed avatars on this board and others. Don't feel you need to use a premade or public domain design. Use whatever you feel fits you! Look at mine, it shows how nuts I am! Free your mind and the rest will follow Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 IS This It? "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" Quote Link to comment
+BullDogBob&Double00 Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 I went to google.com and got mine. "WITHOUT GEOGRAPHY YOU'RE NOWHERE....Jimmy Buffett Quote Link to comment
+MountainMudbug Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Thanks Mark42 that's it! Quote Link to comment
+PastorCacher Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Great logos.... what drawing programs are people using to create them? "When I got to the tomb, it was empty." Quote Link to comment
+DapperDanMan Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I perfer the clean version I like the one below because it ties it the color of the CopyRight Groundspeak geocaching logo http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/120878_1400.gif Quote Link to comment
+Kouros Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Nope. Never seen that logo before, but I did seem to run into some rather fortunately shaped grit on my lens... ------ "There's Sparticus. That's him, over there." Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Here's another Link to nice Geocoin examples. Where do some of these people get them engraved? They seem pretty detailed & ornate. I'll have to see if I can make a steel mold to cast some out of aluminum. BTW, I submitted a design for the Washington state coin. If my coin gets selected for the finals, I'll let y'all know when the voting begins so you can see it & the competition. If you like it, maybe you could even vote for it! "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" [This message was edited by Mark 42 on August 18, 2003 at 03:28 PM.] Quote Link to comment
FISUR Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I like DapperDanMan's suggested logo with the colored background. But do the colored squares, in the order and context presented, fall within the Groundspeak trademark? I think it might. I would recommend either staying away from the geocaching.com logo completely (like Cool & the Gang did), or getting permission to use the logo in its unaltered form (like GeoNap did). Either way, you can end up with a nice signature item. FISUR Rhode Island Geocaching Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by FISUR:I would recommend either staying away from the geocaching.com logo completely (like http://www.geocities.com/team_fisur/geocoins/page18/index.html did), or getting permission to use the logo in its unaltered form (like http://www.geocities.com/team_fisur/geocoins/page15/index.html did). Either way, you can end up with a nice signature item. Ok. Pardon me for being ignorant here, but where does one go about creating these? These are fabulous and I'd love to create something like this but have no knowledge about any of the process involved. What about cost for something like this? Inquiring minds want to know. Watch this question be Markwelled within 5 minutes. Webfoot ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Wish I'd brought my GPSr with me this time. Quote Link to comment
+Frolickin Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Webfoot:. . . where does one go about creating these? Watch this question be Markwelled within 5 minutes. We aim to please. Here's One Thread Fro. ________________________________________ Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose Quote Link to comment
+Webfoot Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Frolickin: quote:Originally posted by Webfoot:Watch this question be Markwelled within 5 minutes. We aim to please. Less than 20 minutes. Not bad. Thanks Fro. Webfoot ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Wish I'd brought my GPSr with me this time. Quote Link to comment
+Frolickin Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Webfoot:Less than 20 minutes. Not bad. Thanks Fro. Anything for the one who introduced me to this fine game. Fro. ________________________________________ Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Click This Image to see what the policies are regarding use of the Groundspeak Geocaching Logo... Click This Image for a Google search that will yield vendors who make coins... "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" Quote Link to comment
Bryan Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by DapperDanMan:I like the one below because it ties it the color of the CopyRight Groundspeak geocaching logo Rothstafari Groundspeak Quote Link to comment
Pantalaimon Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 quote:I apologize for delivering the bad news, but the logo above is not acceptable for use. Given the fact that it is a close derivative of the Groundspeak Geocaching.com logo, its use would violate the Groundspeak Trademark. Rothstafari Groundspeak I have absolutely no stake, or overly great concern in this matter, I'm just curious... Is this your opinion as a representative of Groundspeak? Your legal opinion? Or just your personal thoughts on the matter? Pan "The internet to tell me where. A GPS to get me there." Quote Link to comment
Pantalaimon Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 By the by, irregardless of the answer to my above post, I'd be willing to bet people would respect Groundspeak's request not to use the logo indicated. Pan "The internet to tell me where. A GPS to get me there." Quote Link to comment
+geospotter Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Actually, it looks suspiciously like a close derivative of the Windows logo. Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Click This Image to see what the policies are regarding use of the Groundspeak Geocaching Logo... Click This Image for a Google search that will yield vendors who make coins... "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" Quote Link to comment
+T-Mac GH Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Nah, the Windows Logo colored squares are in a different order, theirs is Red(orange), Green, Blue and Yellow. Geocaching is Yellow, Green, Blue and Red(orange). It's more like an inverted-mirror image kinda thing... Guess I should move the colors around in my Avatar so I am not in the same order as Microsoft or Groundspeak. "They don't serve breakfast in hell" - newsboys Quote Link to comment
Pantalaimon Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Mark 42: That was a pretty delayed double post. Was there a purpose? T-Mac GH: Your avitar (I would assume) is non-commercial. I only breifly read the trademark page, but I don't think there is a problem with your avatar using those colors, in that order. If you were joking about changing it, I've obviously over-serious'ed my response. Pan "The internet to tell me where. A GPS to get me there." Quote Link to comment
Bryan Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Pantalaimon:Is this your opinion as a representative of Groundspeak? Your legal opinion? Or just your personal thoughts on the matter? Actually, all three. Generally speaking, the geocaching community has been very cooperative thus far regarding our logo usage policy and we anticipate the same spirit of cooperation going forward. Rothstafari Groundspeak Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 I lost track of which thread was which & didn't realize I had already posted it. Someone mentioned copyright and all, and then I saw Rothstafari's post (Didn't realize he was part of Groundspeak) and thought... the guidelines say it's okay as long as it's for non commercial use. That, combined with the fact that it'd be hard to copyright the four colored square background w/o the other icons in it, made me think that he hadn't read the guidelines, which made me think I hadn't posted the link yet. I didn't realize he was part of the group that wrote the guidelines. "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" Quote Link to comment
Bryan Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Mark 42:... the guidelines say it's okay as long as it's for non commercial use. That, combined with the fact that it'd be hard to copyright the four colored square background w/o the other icons in it, made me think that he hadn't read the guidelines, which made me think I hadn't posted the link yet. I apologize if my post caused confusion. Please allow me an opportunity to clear it up. You are correct, it is ok to use the Geocaching.com logo for non-commercial purposes (assuming the other conditions of our logo usage policy are met). The other conditions include, among other things, not copying, modifying or making derivative works of the Groundspeak Geocaching logos without express written permission from Groundspeak. The work that we're discussing is, in my opinion (all three perspectives again), clearly a derivative work which violates our policy. The test for trademark violation essentially takes into consideration the similarity between the logos and the likelihood of that similarity causing confusion among consumers. The closer the logo looks to ours, the more likely confusion and trademark infringement exists. You may draw your own conclusions in this case however, I hope this post helps you to better understand ours. The geocaching community is free to use the logo in accordance with (what we believe to be a fair and generous) Logo Usage Policy. Happy Geocaching! Rothstafari Groundspeak Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Actually, I don't care that much about the legality... if the owners of Geocaching.com, Groundspeak, or the Rights to the Logo don't want me to (if, hypothetically I had) use a "loose rendition" or something else I come up with that resembles their logo, that's good enough for me. I would just come up with something else. Now, if it was purely by coincidence, and I had a large investment in making up some sort of property (merchandise, painting the bottom of my swimming pool, etc.), then I might not be so agreeable about choosing a different graphic. I guess it's about respect... I respect that they own it, so if I use it to guide me in creating a derivative, and didn't submit it to them for approval to use it, I would respect their complaint about my use of it and just come up with something else. If I had made up a bunch of stickers (like the logo above), I would think it reasonable to let me use up the ones I have and not make any more. Anyway, I would be surprised if Groundspeak really found the one above a violation worthy of much attention, but then again, mybe they have a need to protect the logo closer than I expect. "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" [This message was edited by Mark 42 on August 22, 2003 at 10:12 AM.] Quote Link to comment
+travisl Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 (Speaking very generally here...) Sadly, when it comes to trademark and copyright protection, the trademark or copyright owner really does need to go after every potential infringer to the best of their ability, so that future infringers can't point to the prior infringers as evidence that the trademark or copyrighted work has fallen into the public domain. Groundspeak probably doesn't want PirateCaching.com or PornoCaching.com or ClubbingBabySealsAndStickingThemInACache.com to use a logo that reminds users of Geocaching.com,, or even worse implies a connection between the sites. So, Groundspeak is obligated to go after things they otherwise wouldn't mind. (Yes, intellectual property laws are really screwed up in this country, but that's another rant for another day.) WWJD? JW RTFM. Quote Link to comment
+carleenp Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 I used to have some homemade avitars, but people complained about them. Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Yeah... I hadn't considered the implications of Precedence. Well Carleen... I think your too late... "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" [This message was edited by Mark 42 on August 22, 2003 at 02:00 PM.] Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 WoW the first kitty looks desperately constipated. The one with the C reinforces it. POWDER!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 I found my Avitar in a book about carnival side show entertainers. Quote Link to comment
+Mark 42 Posted August 25, 2003 Share Posted August 25, 2003 I noticed you are a pyrotechnician... I have that as one of my hobbies in my profile. "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it" Quote Link to comment
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