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February 22, 2008

DataPortability Turns That Frown Upside Down

Michael Arrington

40 comments »

DataPortability cofounder Chris Saad, in the face of a nasty cease and desist letter over their logo, took our (and others’) advice - don’t waste time fighting it. Treat this as a press opportunity and hold a new logo contest instead.

That’s exactly what they’re doing. Third parties are lining up to donate prizes, and an iPhone is already on the list. We’ll throw in a sponsorship spot on TechCrunch for a week for free, too, and point to the winner’s website. Whoever wins will have the thanks of a grateful community, and likely a lot of new business coming their way.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. CenterNetworks

    February 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm

  2. Dekut.com

    February 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm

  3. DataPortability Logo Concepts | Dallas J Clark

    February 28th, 2008 at 2:18 am

  4. Dataportability Launches New Logo Contest

    April 15th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  5. www.ubraniaroxy.pl » Blog Archive » DataPortability Launches New Logo Contest

    April 17th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  6. Strike Two: DataPortability Workgroup Logo Challenged, Again

    April 30th, 2008 at 12:35 am

  7. BluRay News » Blog Archive » Strike Two: DataPortability Workgroup Logo Challenged, Again

    April 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Comments

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  1. YDRIVE

    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    Expecting a very elegant logo — as it’s really too important for the industry (and users alike!) 8-)

  2. Ben Metcalfe

    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    Thanks Mike, as we say in UK… you’re a diamond geezer.

    But really, thanks to you and everyone @ Techcrunch for this!

  3. Matt K.

    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    I can’t believe I had found this before Techcrunch :)
    Stupid Redhat (kidding I <3 Linux).

  4. Dave Winer

    February 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    Try stealing the logo from ThinkTank, one of my 1980s product.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/s.....284454301/

    I don’t think Symantec (the company we sold out to) will sue. :-)

    The four-way arrows show that data is moving every which way.

    Hey Mike I know I’m on your shitlist, but what the fuck, for old times’ sake.

  5. Anatoly

    February 22nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    The new logo could show a dog peeing on a red hat. Just make sure you dont infringe on the Sirius logo.

  6. david windham

    February 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    i think i got this one with slap on redhat’s wrist to boot… and come on.. you can’t have dave winer on your s***list..

  7. sean percival

    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Whoa, some nice prizes there! Good way to handle such a BS claim as well.

  8. Jacob Chapel

    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    Thanks for the coverage on the contest and the prize donation, it’s awesome to get community support like this as a member of DP. Really makes the work worthwhile.

    Please digg the original contest entry here: http://digg.com/design/DataPor.....of_Red_Hat

  9. Chris Saad

    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    Thanks for the great support everyone - we have a pretty impressive prize lineup now!

    Current prize list:

    * iPhone from Jive Software
    * Weeks ad space on Techcrunch! Thanks to Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch
    * A Month ad space on either CenterNetworks (www.centernetworks.com) or
    HTMLCenter (www.htmlcenter.com) thanks to Allen Stern
    * $100 from Bub.blicio.us thanks to Brian Solis
    * $100 of Compete Credits to get access to premium reports thanks to Jay Meattle at Compete.
    * $500 and a “I’d sync that” T-shirt from Plaxo thanks to John McCrea
    * An A0 Trendmap from Information Architects

    2nd and 3rd Prize will be:

    * An A0 Trendmap from Information Architects

  10. Emelec

    February 23rd, 2008 at 1:00 am

    I really want to try that contest
    then my work can become globally recognized
    That´s great since I´m from Ecuador (Southamerica)
    thanks for the info .. I´m signing up

  11. aditya

    February 23rd, 2008 at 1:48 am

    Hey , nice idea and a business too…….. for the participants as well for the promoters.

    Happy.

  12. aster

    February 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 am

    sewwcc

  13. aster

    February 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 am

    http://www. i-guide .ro

  14. Rajeev

    February 23rd, 2008 at 5:13 am

    That is very encouraging news for readers. Bravo.

    http://tekno-world.blogspot.com

  15. What's Hot Today.com

    February 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 am

    Great stuff Chris, I hope all goes well in your search for a new logo. Great job also on the behalf of TechCrunch, you’re the best!

    http://whatshottoday.com

  16. Chris

    February 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am

    Why do people want to demonize Red Hat over this?
    They already give all their source code away, the only thing they have is their trademarks.

    Take that away and they have nothing unique to sell.

  17. gregory

    February 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 am

    just partner up with the department of homeland security, combine real ID, open ID, and dataportability into one seamless database, save the feds some money, increase the transparency of what is going to happen anyway, and let the logo be whatever….

  18. Technicle

    February 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 am

    @16 - I disagree with you. But I cannot say “bad things” here anymore, so you’re lucky… 8-)

  19. Todd

    February 23rd, 2008 at 8:36 am

    As Tantek Çelik would say “Just use existing, open standards!” ; )

    Like this:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/r.....592496@N21

    I am finding a lot of irony in Data Portability using a custom ( proprietary ) logo when a perfectly good open standard already exists. AIGA is giving this symbol away, why not use it? I just added the bleached green color from the Microformats logo.

  20. maryjones

    February 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 am

    nice post

  21. maryjones

    February 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 am

    http://www. i-guide .ro

  22. Scott G

    February 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am

    Way to go Chris. Nice way to react to a bully.

    Redhat is tired. DataPortability is wired.

  23. Chris

    February 23rd, 2008 at 11:10 am

    @18,

    I’m not lucky. Arrington banned me about 18 times this year, plus E. Schonfeld personally accused me of being high on dope. Believe me, I know what they do when you disagree with them.

  24. Adolf

    February 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 am

    I’m wondering why every one here is so eager to see support for some one who quite blatently stole work that didnt belong to him ?? !!

    I also wonder if any of the companies offering prizes for this motley crue(quality band) would react in quite the same way if it was any of their work stolen ? I’m sure they’d not be so keen for a spot of free publicity then would they ?

    Adolf

    ps. i’ll donate a pair of my well soiled underwear to the prize list if you wish, although the winner would accept at their own risk.

  25. Nikolay Kolev

    February 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    It’s negative publicity for Red Hat, that’s all. If I was them, I would have at least offered a reward like the others. Twisting arms is not civilized. Anyway, Ubuntu rocks!

  26. Technicle

    February 23rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm

    @23

    Mightbe that’s their success point.. to be controversial (being another way to say only want to be correct.) The problem is, techcrunch, much like facebook, is addictive. I’m learning the hows as to come less often. :-D

  27. Derrick

    February 24th, 2008 at 1:00 am

    This is a good way to avoid a Public Relations disaster. Wonder if I have the time to do up a logo for them.

  28. omer

    February 24th, 2008 at 3:49 am

    interesting post

  29. startscratch

    February 24th, 2008 at 5:09 am

    interesting indeed

    http://www. i-guide .ro

  30. Nick

    February 24th, 2008 at 6:01 am

    I don’t approve of design contests like this for the reasons described in this article:
    http://www.no-spec.com/articles/design-contests/

    I run an art community where people sometimes post similar design contests…more often than not a member will point them to no-spec’s website.

    Not that I think any intentional harm is meant by running these types of contests, I just think they are bad practice, it is better to pay everyone who does work for you.

  31. Adolf

    February 24th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    techcrunch is gay

  32. David Vaassen

    February 24th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Check out http://www.logosauce.com if you want to run a logo competition.

    2500+ designers from around the globe.

  33. Dallas J Clark

    February 28th, 2008 at 2:13 am

    Check out my submission here

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