You don't actually seem to be using the logo anywhere, though. On your site you write that "I had (have) plans to write an Instant Messenger client with proper support for privacy. This was the logo concept for the project"[1], but this project does not actually seem to exist (at least not in any public manner).
As such, why not just leave the logo of Tox in peace? Especially since it's a FOSS project with noble goals (even if they have yet to reach those goals, which is not surprising considering how early in the development the entire project is) and not some commercial entity intending to profit off of it.
> As such, why not just leave the logo of Tox in peace?
I have plans for it. It wasn't just an idle doodle.
Re:Tox: secure messaging for everyone
by jwarkentin on Monday July 29, 2013 @02:59PM
(#6123104)
Many people make plans, few carry them out. You posted that March 21, 2012. Now, 1 year and 4 months later, someone apparently independently created a similar logo and is actually doing something with it, not just planning to do so. If you do something with it as well then great! I don't see what the big deal is.
And I'm quite sure that the logo's in the link below are intended to be used or are IN use. So, tell me, why are these companies with many highly experienced legal advisers not fighting eachother over a logo?
You can trademark using a round M for burgers, but that doesn't get you the trademark for banks. Witness Apple Records and Apple Computers.
In this case, the products/ideas are straight-up competitors.
Only Apple go so far as to take such petty things to court.
Most of their law suits can be generalised as "It looks similar from this side of the room"
Re:Tox: secure messaging for everyone
by RobAtticus on Monday July 29, 2013 @11:34PM
(#6125269)
I think I'm safe in assuming when you say "Only Apple" you mean Apple Computers. However, it was actually Apple Records who sued Apple Computers, not the other way around.
Yeah, I get the two confused all the time.
Oh wait
A pre-binary of an existing project and an idea that you had that you've conveniently been sitting on for a year are very different things.
This isn't competition. It's complaining on a professional level.
I am not claiming this, this is how things work in the logo design industry. There are of course copyrights, trademarks and legal matters, but there are also professional ethics. Ideas and concepts are getting recreated all the time, that's life. But it's also why people post sketches and ask if anyone has seen anything similar, only to discard them and move to another concept.