Three designers, who lost out in a logo design competition for
Beijing's Palace
Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, have taken the museum
to court for allegedly copying their designs.
Zhu Yanyue from Anhui, Hong Qingqi from Fujian, and Xiang
Baiping from Shaanxi are suing the museum for 130,000 yuan
(US$16,100): 50,000 yuan (US$6200), 60,000 yuan (US$7430) and
20,000 yuan (US$2470) respectively. They allege that the museum's
new logo bears an uncanny resemblance to their own designs, which
were rejected by the museum a year ago.
The New Logo of Palace Museum
The Palace Museum and the credited logo designer, Beijing Ideal
Design Art Company (Ideal), have denied the charges. They argue
that the new logo, unveiled in July, was independently
designed.
The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court held the first
hearing on Tuesday, but no judgment has been made.
Last year, the Palace Museum organized a logo design
competition, offering a first prize of nearly US$10,000. But the
museum announced this year that none of the 2,800 designs entered
met its requirements. Ideal was engaged to do the job.
The new logo is based on the Chinese character gong,
which means palace.
According to Zhu Yanyue, the logo he entered in the competition
was also based on gong. "The logo is similar to my
design," he said.
Zhu, with the other two plaintiffs, claim that the logo is a
violation of copyright, and has asked the court to order the Palace
Museum to stop using the logo, and to make a public apology.
A museum spokesperson said that the accusations were groundless,
adding: "The Chinese character of gong is in the public
domain and many designs in the competition are based on
gong."
The museum and Ideal also deny that designs entered in the
competition were shown to the design company.
The Palace Museum was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
from 1406 to 1420. Covering an area of 720,000 square meters, it
served as the dwelling for emperors until 1924.
Comparison Between Zhu's Design And the New
Logo
Comparison Between Hong's Design And
the New Logo
(China Daily November 3, 2005)
