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Haas' title sponsor Rich Energy has lost a court battle over its logo, as it was deemed to have copied it from a bicycle company.
Rich Energy's logo features the outline of a stag head, which is featured on the Haas VF-19 car this season.
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Whyte, the bicycle company in question, took up legal action after it believed Rich Energy had copied the logo for its own commercial use.
Rich Energy may now be forced to seek an alternative logo going forward, which could slightly impact the livery of the Haas F1 car.
Whyte sued Rich Energy in February of this year, prior to the start of the 2019 F1 season. 2019 marks Rich Energy's first year as Haas' title sponsor.
Judge Melissa Clark stated in her ruling that Rich Energy CEO William Storey and the graphic design company StaxoWeb Ltd had misled the court, and that their evidence was "manufactured".
She noted: "I am satisfied that some of MrStorey’s evidence was incorrect or misleading and that he was involved in the manufacture of documents during the course of litigation to provide additional support for the Defendants’ case.
"I do not accept either Mr Storey or Mr Kelly as credible or reliable witnesses and I treat all of their evidence with a high degree of caution.
"I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that both Mr Kelly and Mr Storey have lied about not being familiar with C’s Device [Whyte’s logo].
"I find it more likely than not that they were familiar with it, and that they directly and knowingly copied C’s Device in designing D1’s Device [Rich Energy’s logo]."
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Replies (5)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
They are more or less identical, so I don't know what they expected.
By the way: Rich Energy drinks actually exist. I haven't seen a can myself, but saw someone that had purchased a pack from their website. It's an actual drink. Huh.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Rich Energy is a really weird company. With apparently with largely fueled by "Zimbabwean tobacco farm and investments from a soft-core porn billionaire. "
I can't post the link here, but look up the Jalopnik article titled "What You Find When You Look Into Rich Energy, the Mystery Sponsor of America’s F1 Team"
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Oh I have actually already read that one! It's a pretty interesting piece, and one I definitely think seems reliable. The fact that I was surprised to discover that they actually do make energy drinks is kinda telling of how obscure this company is, and looking into it really don't put it into good light.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Oh, and they aren't all that good at advertising. "Forget the wings, Rich Energy gives you horns"? That there is borderline plagiarism, or just simply boring. The pure laziness already kinds smells weird when they should be trying to sell whatever product they have.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
These kinds of trademark and copyright suits are fairly common in branding and don't necessarily indicate anything dodgy by Rich. They just have to come up with something new, and pdq. They have talked about taking on Red Bull in the energy drinks market but they don't even sell in most retail outlets that currently carry Red Bull.