American has been trying to get a copyright on the logo they have been using since they rebranded a few years ago. Specifically, I'm talking about this blue, red, and white thing that's supposed to look like a wing, or a bird, or something. The United States Copyright Office refused their request, though American filed…
Continue reading: US Copyright Office Says What We’re All Thinking: American Airlines Lacks Creativity
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Been a while since I did IP law, but note that copyright protection is distinct from a trademark protection (which the logo should still have).
Would love to see what the US Copyright Office would say about the 'World of Hyatt' logo. Now that one there is utterly unoriginal and looks like their Adobe Photoshop license expired and they had to use Microsoft Paint to get something out quickly!!
You know, as a marketing/creative professional, I really kind of like American's new logo. Maybe I'm crazy.
And let's not even start on United's (erm, I mean Continental's) ugly logo and non-existent branding. Their logo is really a "bingo cage".
How would Delta's two triangles fare, then? Seems like that logo would fail under the same test.
I think it's a good logo personally. I guess copyrighting logos in addition to trademark is unusual.
The thing is that there was nothing wrong with the old logo. Sure, it was dated, but timeless in its kind of “fuck you we mean business” styling. As soon as I saw the new one, I immediately responded to it as bland, generic, and devoid of any edge.
While I am not a fan of current management, this logo is the fault of the previous bankruptcy administration.
since the day of that new AA logo launch, and to this day, my opinion has been the same - it's a modern refreshing and soothing design for most of the signs and fuselages .... then get ruined by those glossy red-and-white piano keys on the tail they use as a proxy for the stripes on the flag.
and the easiest way to detect an "AApologist" would be hearing someone talk about how "amazing" and "instantly recognizable" it is that will "further elevate AA's global brand image" then 3 seconds later say "people only buy on price and the logo has zero effect" when you tell them about the design flaws of the logo.
Did United and Delta have similar issues? Compared to "globe in a box" and "triangle", "trapezoids with a beak" seems to be the most creative...
Apparently someone at the Copyright Office had a bad experience flying AA....
But then again, who hasn't?
I'm a lawyer who specializes in this field. While AA has the trademark protection, damages in trademark cases can be difficult to obtain. In trademark cases, the focus is usually on getting to stop the junior user or infringer to stop their activities. However, damages in copyright infringement claims are much more common (substantial similarity to the registered work is the standard of review, whereas it is likelihood of confusion in trademark cases). So, this is likely an attempt by AA to monetize its logo. If you have the ability to file suit for copyright infringement (for which a copyright registration is a prerequisite to filing a suit) then you can leverage the damages aspect to extract a settlement that involves monetary compensation.
I like the new logo too.
I also agree with the copyright office in that it is too trivial to be copyrightable.
It is probably still protected by trademark laws, so not a big deal for AA.
Although the United logo looks awful, I’m still a fan of its execution as the Golf Ball and Death Star salt and pepper shakers.
Yes, I have a set at home.
No, I’m not ashamed at how I acquired them.
I don't care if the airline is "creative."
I want the airline to reliable and dependable.
The logo has absolutely nothing to do with my in-flight experience.
Besides, AA's safety video is "creative." It's also obnoxious, distracting, and far too long. It actually does detract from my traveling experience.
"Creativity" is not all that it's cracked up to be.
Signed,
An AA EXP
I agree with @anonymouslawyer. I've worked for many startups with limited marketing budgets. Our marketing teams did their best to not infringe on trademarks but several times we had companies contact us to stop the infringement. We complied, since they were always oversights, but that was it, there was little else for the trademarked company to do to us.
When the logo first came out, to me it looked like those old military can opener. And shouldn't it be trademark and not copyright?
the logo is pretty meh, but the new livery (ok its a few years old now) is hands down the best in the US and one of the best in the world.
AA has the largest fleet of any airline in the world. They consistently have a much better international business and first class product than other U.S. competitors and remain the most profitable airline in the world. American Airlines spends billions retrofitting their old plans, repainting the whole fleet, adding TVs, wifi, etc. They give back in so many ways including the Snowball Express, 120,000 community service hours from the team last year, 20million+ miles donated to many charities. I understand you may dislike the logo, (I think their logo and paint job are pretty cool), but you consistently bash what is probably the best airline in this country.
AA isn't even the best of the Big 3, but ok. And their retrofitting of old birds, including LUS fleet, has been incredibly slow. Where are they adding TV's? Certainly not on domestic planes. Good PR spin, tho.
At least they came up with a new logo. United and Delta recycled old logos when they did their mergers. Calling them uncreative is misguided.
I'm confused, by the trademark offices definition here, even logos generally considered excellent (e.g. United Tulip, Delta Widget) wouldn't be copyrightable. If the AA logo is being considered "less" creative or original than either of those two, I have to say I deeply disagree with the copyright offices assessment here.
A little off topic, but is it just me, or do the Korean Air logo and the Pepsi logo look WAY too much alike? Although the Pepsi logo in use since 2014 is a little more interesting, the previous versions were even more similar to the Korean Air one.
@DCA AA has the most employees, makes the most money and has a larger and newer fleet than Delta and United. How exactly are they inferior?
@ James Eden
AA may be profitable now, but only after it has shed squillions of dollars through Chapter 11, screwing over people to whom it owed money or had made promises.
That’s anyway a pretty shitty way of doing business.
But who knows how profitable it would be if you took that into account, along with the government subsidies, the airport support, and the government skewing the market to benefit it (government staff don’t have a choice - only US airlines. No cabotage by foreign airlines. None of that free-market-choice nonsense here...).
As it happens I quite like the bold stripes on the tail fins. But the rest of their livery including that symbol is very meh.
There is no US Copyright Office. Perhaps you are thinking of the US Patent and Trademark office? https://www.uspto.gov/
I’d like to know which logos have “qualified” for copyright protection?! Target stores has one of the most well known logos around but by the Copyrights office description they wouldn’t qualify for a copyright either. So I’m guessing they could only get a Trademark of the logo and American Airlines looks to be in the same boat.
Hmm... It's American airlines - come on! Didn't the name give it away already???
Now if they called themselves "we are terrible and proud to admit it airlines," I may actually fly with them for being honest.
AAL's lawyers are not very creative... all they need to do is create a custom color palette for the same underlying design and Copyright that. Simple.
I’d like to see the writer’s source for this article, as it sounds like bullshit to me. I see no one else reporting this.
@ Patrick -- The source document from the Copyright office is linked in the post.
I think it's a beautiful logo, its obviously supposed to look like an eagles beak. I love American's rebranding. The US Copyright office can suck it.
@Jamed - you ignored some of the specifics of my post, but ok. Get back to us when AA's on-time numbers and customer satisfaction scores increase. Since when did having the "most employees" ever make one enterprise the best?