The sky is the limit, and students can have it their way — or so say two candidates for SGA president. But their logos tell a different story.
The symbols for the Student Government Association’s Vice President of Finance Andrew Steinberg’s SKYY Party and President Steve Glickman’s Your Party have raised eyebrows since the campaigns kicked off Monday because they bear striking resemblance to existing and well-known emblems.
The Your Party branding is notably similar to Burger King’s image — iconic bun halves sandwiching the food chain’s name. The party’s name also hearkens back to Burger King’s slogan, “Have it Your Way,” which is as recognizable as the restaurant itself. Students have also pointed to the SKYY Party’s mark, which appears to have borrowed the identical font and spelling from the top shelf alcohol, SKYY Vodka.
Both companies have marketed the same logos for years — Burger King’s debuted in 1967, and SKYY Vodka’s name has appeared the same way since the company’s inception in 1992.
These similarities haven’t gone unnoticed by students. Some said modeling SGA party logos off those of existing corporations doesn’t send the right message to the student body.
“There are posters with these logos all over campus and it basically amounts to free advertising for both SKYY [Vodka] and Burger King,” junior landscape management major Dan Malooly said. “I think the use of these logos only serves to perpetuate the negative stereotype of the college student as a drunk, fast-food-eating buffoon.”
But Steinberg said his party doesn’t endorse or want to be associated with drinking.
“The sky is the limit in terms of issues that can affect students on this campus,” he said. “And the SGA really has no limit in terms of what types of issues the student government can put its hands on. That was my theme … that was behind the name.”
Finding inspiration in common expressions is one thing, but copying designs in full or in part can lead to legal problems.
The general test for copyright infringement is determining if an average passer-by would notice substantial similarities between the designs in question, said University of Maryland Law School professor Robert Suggs.
“I’m looking at that split burger — there is an issue there,” Suggs said of the Your Party logo. “That’s Burger King’s. It’s the bun, the reflections of light on the bun, the swoopy half circle. You see how the ‘K’ cuts into the circle just like the ‘P’ cuts into their circle? Same thing.”
But Glickman said he doesn’t agree and thinks Burger King’s logo “doesn’t have that much recognizability.”
“One, the colors are different, and someone actually thought it was based off Tide [detergent],” he said. “We didn’t give thought to the copyright issue because we changed the font. There’s no copyright issue in terms of that. … We came up with our own thing.”
Although Your Party’s logo isn’t exactly the same as Burger King’s — the color scheme is different and the top word is bigger than the bottom word — Suggs said any elements that differ don’t offer any material for defense.
“There are design elements that are clearly persuasive of copying and I think are certainly within the realm of ‘substantial similarity,'” he said. “It’s not a defense to point out what you didn’t take, like the radio lines, color scheme, orange, dotted outline. That doesn’t protect you.”
Suggs added that even though the SGA campaigns are fleeting, not for profit and take place among students on a college campus, that’s irrelevant in court.
He said Burger King would have a “colorful claim” if they chose to file a lawsuit and could conceivably win $150,000 in statutory damages since their copyright is registered. But Suggs said he doubts they actually would “go to the trouble of being a bully.”
But James Astrachan, another professor at the law school and a partner at Astrachan, Gunst, Thomas and Rubin law firm, took particular issue with the SKYY Party logo.
Astrachan said there are several factors used to determine if the logo creates a trademark problem, including strength and recognition of the mark, degree of similarity and actual confusion it causes. He noted that using the same obscure spelling and same font with the connected ‘KYY’ creates a logo that is “identical” and opens the door for confusion.
The application of these factors creates “a very strong case and therefore violates the trademark rights of SKYY Vodka,” he said.
Like the Your Party logo, Astrachan said there is a “modest but not nonexistent” chance that SKYY Vodka would take action. The biggest issue, the professors said, is the possibility students could misinterpret the party’s logo to signify an affiliation with the alcohol brand.
“My guess would be that an appreciable number of people would look at this, and their gut reaction would be that probably SKYY Vodka is the source of the SKYY Party advertisement,” Astrachan said. “I think that is a real problem for students.”
gulin@umdbk.com
