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About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

69 Comments

  1. PhilBo on

    Wow...that's original.

    Now that there is Tineye and other visual search engines, it'd be interesting to see where else the logo is used outside of Blender.

    Reply
  2. Federico Cáceres on

    Wow!
    The Blender Foundation is going to be all over them... But it is "planet positive" it is for a good cause!
    I bet the landscape was rendered with Blender internal renderer! Nice nodes huh? (hehehe)

    By the way.. Those "Meet me There" banners that appear here also remind me of Blender's logo!

    Reply
  3. Aden on

    Any chance it could be coincidental? It looks like there's a pretty solid theme going on with all the statistical graphics and the logo.

    Reply
  6. AniCator on

    I think this is just a funny coincidence.
    Look at the logo.
    It probably resembles a planet that's being surrounded by a hand performing the perfect/'picobello' gesture.

    Reply
  8. scrag_10 on

    Well it is supposed to be a hand with the index and thumb touching, and meaning ZERO emissions.

    I think it is ok as it does look like a hand, and blenders logo does not.

    Reply
  10. Foxhack on

    Guess this will be a hot topic. It's damn to similar to deny the real source of this logo I think... even the angles between the normals look pretty similar, in my opinion such accuracy cannot possibly be coincidence....

    Reply
  11. miecz on

    Hehehe... nice. Quite funny. I think it means "ok" with earth inside. But I don't believe this is a coincidence. Somone there seems to like Blender a lot ;).

    Reply
  12. Wirefall on

    Yeah BlenderBoy,

    i didn't have any opinion about it until i saw the tm in their video ...

    i think like Foxhack... a really Hot Topic

    Next Step ?

    a letter from designer of their stolen logo, i guess ...

    Reply
  14. jahmaica on

    I believe is coincidence!
    anyway.. blender logo is not that cool...could be updated :P
    just a opinion! I'm not saying I could do better

    Reply
  15. elfred on

    it says there:

    " What is Planet Positive?

    Planet Positive is a global movement to tackle climate change. It is for each one of us, the products we buy, and the homes that we live in. And Planet Positive goes further; it is also for our towns, cities, our countries and most importantly it is for OUR world.

    ***Wherever you see this insignia, the Planet Positive mark***, you know that the person, product, business or city has measured and reduced its carbon footprint, and more. It has gone beyond neutral by offsetting the remaining footprint by at least 110%.

    We can make a difference to climate change. We can become Planet Positive. It is about a positive mindset and taking positive action. It is a Planet Positive way of life."

    Wherever I see that insignia, mmm well, I'll know it's blender!

    Reply
  16. D@nny on

    To my opinion, just what AniCator said, it just look like a hand performing the picobello sing.
    But at the other side, it's almost a perfect blender logo.
    Could it be a total coinsidence?

    Reply
  21. Haunt_House on

    well, it is supposed to be a hand making the 'ok' sign which is obvious enough to work well. Divers do that gesture.

    I think it's a good logo. As long as they don't think of touching the blender foundation in any bad way, it's totally ok with me. The blender logo is much harder to understand without explanation. But I'm so accustomed to it, it's become quite full of meaning for me.

    Reply
  23. bob on

    It looks like a copy but their concept is way better than blenders'... if it has any thought behind it.
    How about a logo update for 2.5?

    Reply
  24. musicaljelly on

    A quick comparison in Gimp reveals that the angles between the Blender Logo and that of planet positive are virtually identical.

    On the other hand, the logo does represent and relate to the planet positive "theme" very well (ok sign around earth, etc.).

    I agree with Haunt_House in that as long as they don't go suing Blender or anything like that, it's fine.

    Reply
  27. LeviFiction on

    Well it's not an exact copy just flipped around with a gap in it. If you compare the two you see that the blender logo's three rods things there are shorter...this is designed to speficially look like a hand. The length of those fingers is greater than what is in the blender logo. And the angles are different. And there's a gap. You'd be suing for it looking like rather than being an actual rip off of. So long as it's not a significant rip-off I don't know if this would be covered under copyright.

    And it seems a bit silly to assume that it's more than mere coincidence. Even if the person who designed this only viewed the Blender logo once it's possible they thought they were being original when in fact they were basing the design off of something they had seen before without realizing it. It does happen. Or they could simply have a similar style.

    Reply
  29. Gryphon on

    scrag_10 wrote:
    "I think it is ok as it does look like a hand, and blenders logo does not."

    Doesn't look like a hand?! I discovered that I could form a Blender logo with my hand months ago. Doesn't look like a hand. Hmph.

    bob wrote:
    "what's the blender logo? an eye?"

    Yes.

    <blockquote:LeviFiction wrote:
    "Even if the person who designed this only viewed the Blender logo once it's possible they thought they were being original when in fact they were basing the design off of something they had seen before without realizing it."
    Ooh, I saw this on TV. Blender is subliminally taking over people's minds! We'll control the world in no time! Yay!

    Reply
  32. Alex on

    It may be a coincidence.

    But what worries me is the TM near the logo. So they say it is trade marked. If Blender did not trade mark this logo they can try to discourage blender from using it.

    The same way Walmart is trying to trademark a smiley face, which existed in public domain for ages.

    Reply
  33. GustavTheMushroom on

    Change the blender logo? Hell no! The blender logo looks mighty fine. Dont know what the problem is to be honest.

    As for the TM... How do we prove that we had the logo before they did? (If we did that is...)

    Reply
  34. Tony on

    @blenderman345, you're guessing wrong. The Blender logo is trademarked and it's not open content. Here's some info about that and about proper usage of the logo:

    http://www.mopi.nl/blogo/p7.html

    Personally, I think the similarity between the PP logo and the Blender logo is striking but coincidental. You've got a different color scheme (color scheme is a big part of a logo), a different overall meaning (one is an eye, one is a hand), a different actual shape (gap, angles, length, rotation) etc. So, although there's an initial similarity, the details of the logos are pretty different.

    Since there's no possible brand confusion and I doubt the two organizations have any reason to want to pick a fight with one another, I don't think there will be any trouble here.

    On a related note, it's tricky to come up with a good logo that's got no chance of being accused of being a ripoff these days. Just ask Google!

    http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-chrome-logo-design-inspiration/4414/

    Reply
  37. Bmud on

    You can't exactly claim this is the same logo. I've even before joked at making the Blender logo with my fingers or modeling an orange hand to make the same shape. I mean... nobody can make any legit claim, it's just coincidence.

    Reply
  38. BonE on

    "Spot anything slightly familiar on planet-positive.org ?"

    Oh I get it, I saw it right away: The flowers on the rocks look just like those in my back yard....that's coool.

    Reply
  39. banor on

    Hey, they can't steal our logo! lol. we'll see what happens. ;) They may not have intended it! It's flipped, anyway (I think.)

    Anyhow, ciao!

    Reply
  40. banor on

    amazing what little news can start such by controversy (or discussion - I haven't read very many of the comments for this post.)

    Reply
  41. banor on

    sorry, said that wrong:

    "It is amazing that minor news can start so much controversy"

    (the question is: is it minor news or worth tracking? Should the Blender Foundation be concerned about them "copying" the Blender logo, or should they just let it go? Let's see what they decide - they probably have a lot of experience already. Go Bart, Ton, and all the rest of you all! Best wishes.) :D

    Reply
  42. Psion on

    Blender Foundation had BETTER protect their trademark, or they run the risk of losing it. If they let this go too long, the lack of a challenge could be used as evidence of an undefended trademark. No trademark holder can afford to let this happen. Planet-Positive could easily turn around, claim Blender's trademark is undefended and therefore invalid and then procede to sue BF for trademark infringement (after all, they don't want THEIR trademark interpreted as undefended)!

    Send out Cease and Desist letters NOW, Blender Foundation! Please!

    Reply
  43. Roderyck777 on

    I'm pretty sure that it has been tweaked enough to fall out of blender's trademark, but it is obviously derived from it. Kind of like Marvel's Squadron Supreme characters in comparison to Dc comics main heroes to those of you who speak comic.

    Reply
  44. pastorJohn on

    I think it is a perfect logo - an environmentalist's hand with a choke hold on the rest of humanity. I say put out a cease and desist.

    Seriously, they shouldn't be hijacking the Blender logo. Stop them. If they are serious about the whole happy earth thing they will be nice and find something else.

    Reply
  45. Roderyck777 on

    And if Blender had their logo trademarked 1st, I don't think they'd be in danger of losing it to PP by not suing. If anything PP has made it harder for them to sue others for copyright infringement since someone modelling a logo close to their design can say they tweaked it from Blender's, not theirs.

    Reply
  47. GustavTheMushroom on

    This worreis me a bit... :

    '
    Blender Foundation had BETTER protect their trademark, or they run the risk of losing it. If they let this go too long, the lack of a challenge could be used as evidence of an undefended trademark. No trademark holder can afford to let this happen. Planet-Positive could easily turn around, claim Blender's trademark is undefended and therefore invalid and then procede to sue BF for trademark infringement (after all, they don't want THEIR trademark interpreted as undefended)!

    Send out Cease and Desist letters NOW, Blender Foundation! Please!

    '

    ... Are there any prior court cases that support this?

    Because that COULD mean that they could eventually steal the trademark...

    Wich is worryinh!

    (Out of interest... Does the blender foundation have any lawyers?!? At least, do we have any at our disposal?)

    Reply
  49. aws357 on

    The more I look at it, the more it looks like it's the Blender Foundation logo.

    Just tilt it to the right and draw a gap for the index and thumb. But otherwise it really looks similar.

    A trademark if you google for the word is :
    "A name, symbol, or other device identifying a product, officially registered and legally restricted to the use of the owner or manufacturer."

    The important stuff here is IDENTIFYING.

    Even if it's for a good cause, even if it's to "save the planet" or other hippies stuffs, there is a risk to confuse the two service providers. If Blender is to be big it can't let people confuse them with retro hippie environmentalism.

    Blender logo was here first, this means it's the hippies that will have to alter the logo.

    ...

    Well unless this is really a Blender Foundation supported initiative to make the source code biodegradable :p (by printing it on non chlorinated recycled toilet paper for example)

    Reply
  52. Kirado on

    That is a definite and blatant crib of the logo.. intentional or not it looks way to similar.. as a designer if you're going to crib someone else's design at least change it enough not to make it look 90% identical.

    Who had the logo first? I'm assuming that blender used it first.

    Taking the graphics and changing the colours and putting a hole in the ring.. and making the strokes slightly longer is not enough to make that logo unique and different.. evidence here of people saying it looks that same proves that.

    I do a lot of work as a designer and part of the job is stealing from other designs.. but for Pete's sake you must change the stuff you use so it doesn't look so similar and at least add to the design to make into something new and original. It's fine to base your design off someone else's work but you can't just replicate it verbatim with a few minor changes.. especially not for a logo that will be seen so prominently.

    What was the designer thinking?

    Reply
  56. Guardian 452 on

    While I don't want to overreact on this matter, I think an inquiry at the least should be made.

    I assume the Blender logo is trademarked in some way shape or form (under a version of the creative commons license, maybe?). At the very least, it has shown up on a number of differrent projects (like books) that prove how long it's been around.

    My big concern involves things such as books, as well as the T-shirts for sale on the website. After all, it could cause quite a headache if someone from planet-positive sees Blender merchandise and thinks it an infringement of their work!

    Reply
  57. Gryphon on

    I think it's a little sad that so few people have been willing to consider the possibility that it's a coincidence. I imagine fewer of us are as infuriated as our posts come across, but still. Maybe it wasn't a malicious attack by the Planet-Positive folks?

    I can't help noticing that both Ton and Bart have kept totally silent on this. I can just imagine them having a beer and laughing at all the funny BlenderNation comments about what may well be a total non-issue.

    And Bart, that's not to put words in your mouth. If I'm misinterpreting, I apologize. It just seems like, if this were as important as we're making it sound, something would have been done by now.

    Reply
  58. Phunamy on

    Even if the Blender logo were trademarked, there would still be a lawsuit, and one would have to prove who had it first. Even though there is clear evidence of a difference, there is a similarity clause. Just take the Lindows/Window case, Microsoft sued and won. Now there is no Lindows.

    Reply
  59. vidrazor on

    Never mind what WE think, has Ton and company been notified? There may be a need to take some legal action to keep things Kosher.

    Reply
  60. ton on

    Blender's logo is copyrighted, and Blender Foundation will only allow websites or magazines to use it to point to Blender as product or to link to the website. Full usage instructions I should put on the website once!
    The logo is certainly not 'free' or CC. That would make it as brand not having much value anymore...

    As for this case: it's strikingly similar, but I don't see any reason to act... they made an own version, and it might well be a coincidence. I've even once started collected similar logos, the "hand with eye" concept is quite used a lot. Examples are "Second Life" and "Opened Hand". :)

    As for people interested in history; Joeri once made a nice website for it:
    http://mopi.nl/blogo/index.html

    Reply
  63. roofoo on

    Anybody can put a TM next to their logo. That doesn't make it exclusively theirs. It's only a registered trademark with an (R) next to it, that is registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office that is enforceable.

    Reply
  64. Guardian 452 on

    The state of the trademark/copyright actually alleviates any concern I might have had...Ton, thank you for responding!

    I wasn't worried that the Blender logo had been stolen. My concern arose from the fact that the planet positive site made a point of saying that corporations that met their criteria could put their logo up. Simply put, it seems they're looking to get their logo seen out there.

    That being the case, there's always the chance someone will see the Blender logo and think it was stolen...that's what worried me.

    Still, now that I've read Ton's responses, I think the whole point is moot.

    Reply
  66. Shawn Kearney on

    I think that there is a great risk that people think "open source" means "total and complete public domain" on every single aspect surrounding the GPL'd property. I can understand Ton's POV on this, and I despise overzelous copyright control (ahem, wedding photographers). But, at the same time there is a time and place for enforcement, this might not be such, but, I think that the Foundation should keep a careful eye on misguided appropriations.

    Reply

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