Could You Be Guilty of Identity Theft?

Over at the Speak Up design blog Kiran goes on a little rant about the new BuyMusic.com commercials on TV (I've seen them, have you?). Seems their ads are an apparent rip-off of the iTunes Music Store. The point of the post is to question unethical branding practices. Now I'm sure these folks have all kinds of lawyers looking at these things from every angle -- or they will soon. But legal or not, there are lessons here for any freelance designer or small business person.

One way we go about creating logos and branding for ourselves and our clients is by getting inspiration from existing material already out there. It's a tried and true method and perfectly legal and ethical. However, outright copying of the look and feel, colors, and shapes of another company - especially one of our direct competitors isn't.

Beyond the legal and ethical questions there's also the matter of brand confusion. Do you really want to get customers by confusing them? It could work both ways as well -- sending them into the arms of your competitor. And it sort of defeats the whole premise of using identity and branding to "stand out from the crowd" when your materials look just like everyone elses. Just something else to think about...

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