Posted 11/16/09 at 08:25:45 PM by Ryan Whitwam

We all know how important brand recognition is. A Swedish maker of USB drives, Sandryds Handel AB, is showing how acutely aware of that they are by commandeering a very well known logo: that of The Pirate Bay. The company plans to offer a series of USB drives bearing the logo.  That by itself isn’t actually illegal or cause for concern.  The Pirate Bay logo is intentionally not registered so that it may be used freely.

It all goes off the tracks when Sandryds Handel AB decided to register the logo themselves. This would limit the ways others could use it. “It will be turned over quite easily; it’s a preliminary registration that is being ‘tested’,” said former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde.

The Pirate Bay is seeking to have the decision by the patent office annulled.  If the Pirate Bay still has the sway online that is once did, Sandryds Handel might want to rethink this course of action.

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Posted 09/25/09 at 08:16:58 AM by Paul Lilly

What a rough year it's been for anal retentive geeks who like the Internet just the way is, thank you very much. Still flabbergasted over Ikea's decision to switch its font from a customized version of Futura to Verdana, members of the Defenders of Things That Don't Matter organization (which doesn't really exist, but should) found themselves reeling once again, this time over Yahoo branding Flickr so that it reads "Flicker from Yahoo!"

How could Yahoo be so callous to the dozens, maybe even hundreds of Internet users who would predictably be taken aback by the insignificant change? According to company CEO Carol Bartz, techy hipsters and "middle America Yahoo" just don't go hand-in-hand.

"When you get outside New York and Silicon Valley, everyone loves Yahoo," Bartz said to a roomful of journalists and bloggers a few days ago at the unveiling of Yahoo's $100 million marketing campaign 'It's Y!ou.' "I just want to transplant all of you guys out of your cynicism. What is wrong with you guys? Go be cynical about frickin' Google. You got me pissed off."

Some Flickr users are pissed off too. As one commenter in Flickr's forums put it, "it really does feel like Yahoo is kidnapping the once awesome Flickr name by forcing itself on the logo." Others have called the logo change "stale" and "very ugly." Makes you wonder how Flickr user shhexycorin could possibly be "indifferent" when so many others are obviously perturbed.

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Posted 04/07/09 at 10:37:12 AM by Paul Lilly

Going for a new look, Intel has rolled out redesigned chip logos for it's Core i7, Core 2, Centrino, Celeron, and Pentium processors. Intel's Xeon brand may also get a new logo at a later date, Intel said. Sporting a shorter frame than before, the new badges show a die shot in the upper right corner.

Effective immediately, Intel chip series also now include a star rating, with one star denoting the lowest performance and five stars the highest.

"So now when a consumer goes into a Best Buy store they can distinguish between Centrino, Core, Celeron, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad," said Intel spokesman Bill Calder

Calder also said Intel is in the process of shifting to a "pretty aggressive brand simplification plan," one which will put the chip maker closer ot its goal of moving to a single primary client brand in Core i7.

 Are you digging the new logos? Hit the jump and tell us what you think.

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