A surprise on 21-Apr-2010
I was reading the newspaper ‘Malayala Manorama’ and trying to have an afternoon nap. On the ‘Opportunities’ page, I saw the following advertisement.
The logo looked very familiar. Then I realised – it is my own design! I designed this logo as a part of a competition organised by TechnoPark Trivandrum, some 18 months ago. Since then I have never heard from the authorities about the contest results or the fact that that my logo is being used by them for about a year.
This post is about the experience of designing a logo for CyberPark Kozhikode. CyberPark is a Government of Kerala organization planned in the lines of Technopark at Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark in Kochi to build, operate and manage IT Parks for the promotion and development of investment in IT and ITES industries in Malabar region of Kerala.
13-Nov-2008
Many of my friends who are working at TechnoPark, Trivandrum informed me that a logo competition is announced for CyberPark Kozhikode.
26-Nov-2008
I designed the following two logos.
I prepared a PDF document explaining the background, thought processes and my contact details.
“Curves” — The Selected Logo
“Steps” — Second Option
I sent this document to the officer who was in charge of this competition. He acknowledged the receipt of my designs.
Then I heard nothing about it and I forgot about the design – until yesterday when I saw the advertisement.
My logo is already in use
Yesterday I did a Google search and came to know that by June 2009, my first logo was selected from the entries as the official logo of CyberPark Kozhikode. The only modification that was done to it is replacing the tagline ‘work is play’ with ‘creating opportunities.’ This logo started appearing in many websites. Below are some screenshots and links.
My attempts to get the due credit
I am happy that my logo is used by a prestigious institution of the Government of Kerala. I am sad because none of the officials contacted me about the selection. I am angry because a lot of strangers are using this logo for about a year and I didn’t get the promised reward.
I contacted the officer to whom I sent the entry. He didn’t have the old e-mails between us regarding this design. So I forwarded the old e-mails to him and he acknowledged that the logo is indeed my creation. But now, he is not in charge of CyberPark Kozhikode. He told me that he has alerted the proper authorities about this incident and hoped that I will get the credit for this design.
I have also e-mailed the officers in charge of CyberPark Kozhikode. I am awaiting a reply. I will update this post as soon as I have any news.
Update 1 on 22-Apr-2010
The CEO of CyberPark Kozhikode informed me that he will do an investigation and settle this matter as soon as possible.
Update 2 on 29-Apr-2010
The CEO of CyberPark Kozhikode informed me that “we are working on a plan to recognize your success in the competition.”
Update 3 on 17-May-2010
I am very happy to inform that CyberPark officials recognized me as the ‘Designer of CyberPark Logo.’
I was invited for the foundation stone laying ceremony of CyberPark Kozhikode on 17-May-2010. A memento was presented to me by Mr. Bhaskaran, Mayor of Kozhikode. A cash prize was given to me by Adv. P M A Salam, Member of Legislative Assembly from Kozhikode.
The CyberPark foundation stone laying ceremony was attended by Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan (Chief Minister of Kerala), Mr. Mullappally Ramachandran (The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs), Mr. Elamaram Kareem (Minister for Industries, Kerala), Mr. Binoy Viswam (Minister for Forest and Housing, Kerala) and other dignitaries.
See photos of CyberPark Kozhikode Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony (17-May-2010) here…
I totally empathize with you on this Anas and I feel the concerned authorities should apologize and duly give the credits to you for the design. Its another alarm to all those creatives who participate in such design contests to be aware of the fact that their designs can be stolen without the creators knowledge. Also there were quite a few discussions going around some time back in a couple of design forums about the IP and Design rights issues related with such contests. Many contests blatantly claim that all creative work whether selected or not will become the organisers/competitions owners rightful property once submitted and can be used however and wherever they like and that the designers will no longer have any creative rights over it. And most of the ‘ignorant’ us give our consent to such competitions rules without even reading the fine lines leave alone reading between the fine-lines.
All the best though! Hope justice is done.
Best regards,
Vishal.
Take it up with some IP guys. of course you all mails and source files along with original inspirations or sketches
Really unfortunate… I feel shame on those so called “Officials”
This is really unfortunate to hear this, lets hope you will get either the remuneration or the credit of your work soon.
I am happy that your work was selected. The juncture of the career you are at and the kind of person you are, I would suggest not to get into the legal course.
This is an opportunity to make some good contacts with and possibly more contracts from the government agency.
Best wishes.
Anaskka,
Don’t leave them like that. You must get the credit. Pursue them till you get the proper credit. I feel proud of you!
Regards,
Adil
wow! piracy in the purest form..
Anas,
If you know any channel operators in the malabar
area, give them the news. And, the rest will be taken care of.
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your support.
Before taking any drastic step, I feel that I should give the officials of CyberPark a chance to rectify the mistake. So far I contacted two officials of CyberPark. They appear to be supportive and promised me that they will take necessary action.
I am waiting…
— antzFx | AnasKA
Anaska, any updates?
It’s exactly two weeks today since this goof-up was discovered. Any further mail or communication from them?
If they have agreed and accepted that the logo is the one submitted by you, then why is it taking so long for them to neutralize the issue and give due credits and remuneration to you. (Agreed that it is a government entity and the workflow will be slow!)
Don’t worry AnasKA, we will join hands together to take this further to online forums and blogs, if they are not taking any action. Let us hope that everything settles down and we don’t need to resort to this step.
This is a lesson for me too, AnasKA.
~Urvesh A. Bharambe
any update on this, Anas?
Congrats Anas for your great work
Its bad they did so and you can expect this kind of treatment from Govt authorities, it is common.
But I should say it is a substandard logo. We needed better ones.