Logo change

[Steven]

Hi,

As some of you have noticed already, we have modified our logo, no longer including F1 in it. This has been under consideration for a longer while now, but after the commercial rights holder has asked us for a change, we opted to maintain the familiarity of the logo and its colours, rather than adapting it to comply with the requirements regarding the use of "F1", potentially resulting in yet another totally different logo.

After several iterations of design for the updated logo, this is what we've ended up with. We hope you like it!

Other than this, nothing changes.
The domain name stays the same, even though we are also reachable via gptechnical.com (as has been the case for many years as well).

Regards,
Steven

[Phil]

but after the commercial rights holder has asked us for a change (...)

is this what I think it means? I find this most baffling (and disturbing)... especially given that the domain name itself includes the same unmistakable shape of an f followed by a 1.....

Probably not what this topic was intended to discuss, but I have to say, I really liked that old logo together with the new design layout of the entire site. The new logo will take some time to get used to and I can completely understand the reasons for doing it that way. I still very much like the color combo.

Cheers Phil

Small suggestion: Change the "browser icon logo" to something with a background. For example - a black (or better blue, the same blue as on the site) box with the icon in it. It looks a bit less clean with the white "inside" and transparency outside. It's quite noticeable given I have this site as a bookmark and the logo is quite 'obvious'.

[turbof1]

is this what I think it means?

I'll try to be diplomatic here as I can, and that means that particular question cannot be answered with a yes or no.

First off, I have to make a reference to this specific page:
https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-we ... lines.html

It essentially tells that "Formula One" is their licensed brand, and this includes the list of derivitives mentioned on the website. We got contacted to make changes in regard of that. We did not necessarily had to change it to GPTechnical, BUT the limited options we had would have forced us to create a rather dull F1 logo which would be very distant from the logo we are associated with.

Remains the question of course: there are a few hundred websites out there with 'F1' in their logo's. We have to assume all of those were contacted.

We have reason to believe there will be sites who respectfully declined the request from FOM. It would be debatable if juristical action would be taken against these sites given the widespread of it. That's either way none of our business and neither was that part of the decision we made.

Ultimately, we made a decision to stay on good terms with FOM, knowing they decide about a whole lot of none-juridical aspects as well (and without going into detail: these are quite important aspects!).

I know that's a rather vague answer, and I'm not sure at the moment how far I can go with speaking about this. I wish I could just blatantly tell "we took this decision for specific reason X", but ultimately that's up to Steven. Just know we had a good reason to change our name and logo, with pain in our hearts!

[Samraj_official]

is the website name gonna be changed too in the future???

[mrluke]

Good ol F1 embracing fans and leading the technological charge...

[Phil]

No no, it's okay Turbo, you said far more than you needed too. In fact, it was pretty clear I think from the opening post what the reasons are. My "is this really what I think it means" was perhaps more to express a bit of disbelief, hoping that it was anything but the obvious...

In fact, this may be a bit off topic, and I apologize if it is, but I have seen far too aggressive behavior on Youtube for instance, of complete amateur filmed stuff by visitors of actual GP races being taken down by FOM because they infringed on rights. From what I followed, videos such as these were removed initially until at some point FOM either deemed it acceptable or Youtube/Google had enough of it and deemed that privately filmed stuff from on-track does not infringe on any copyrights.

Even if FOM are entirely within their right to do so (legally), I'm baffled by this approach given you, and thousands of other people who use their free time to promote the sport in one way or another, or attend races, film and share their experiences are in fact SELLING F1 and helping making it a more popular sport. By going against these things, you are on the best path of breaking it and that is what I can only express my disbelief over.

And what, in the end over a logo that was in its own right it's very own symbol and nothing like the 'official one'?

For example; I'm fairly certain that any car maker, like BMW has their logos protected too - but I don't see them going around contacting the thousands if not millions of communities that use that logo in some way because they have built a community for that brand.

I'm really sorry for dragging this into a discussion that obviously shouldn't be one, much less in this topic. Feel free to delete it, take it to PM or move it completely into another topic. I'm just expressing my frustration off what I presume is an even bigger one for you guys.

[gridwalker]

I just got home to find Bernie hacking at my keyboard ...



HAS HE NOT TAKEN ENOUGH???

[turbof1]

is the website name gonna be changed too in the future???

Maybe, but that would be purely our own choice. We are actually allowed to have 'F1' in our website. However, when using a logo with "F1" in it, we have to comply with strict rules which force the 'F1' part to be black and white. 'GP' does not have to abide to that.

So it only applies on site logo's. To avoid confusion, Steven also owns gptechnical.com, which automatically redirects here. We might change the site name too out of convenience, but I can assure nothing is decided or even discussed about that. Our only priority for the moment on this matter is getting this change digested.

I'm really sorry for dragging this into a discussion that obviously shouldn't be one, much less in this topic. Feel free to delete it, take it to PM or move it completely into another topic. I'm just expressing my frustration off what I presume is an even bigger one for you guys.

Well, the members deserve some transparency. We don't do such a thing out of the blue if not needed. In the end, we have to rationalise the situation: the negative impact is by most and far the sentimental attachment to the f1technical logo. Logically speaking, it's not going to scare people away, confusion is not possible because we are simply allowed to keep the url. The full logo has changed little so you'll still subconsciously associate it with this community, and the small icon has the same style as the previous one.

I believe GPUpdate.net had to do the same change years ago. They did not feel any impact concerning visitors and the content naturally remained the same as before. They more then likely had the exact same reasons as ours to do so.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Your original logo didn't violate any part of those guidelines. Can you perhaps reference the specific section you were told you had to comply with?

Fair play if you wanted to change it, but you've set a dangerous president by doing based on the unjustified demand...

[Steven]

Your original logo didn't violate any part of those guidelines. Can you perhaps reference the specific section you were told you had to comply with?

Fair play if you wanted to change it, but you've set a dangerous president by doing based on the unjustified demand...

None of this site's previous logos ever complied with the rules that they are handling.
The bottom line that the current modification doesn't violate any copyright or include any trademark, which is a positive, even though it will require some getting used to.

[Shrieker]

I just got home to find Bernie hacking at my keyboard ...

http://i.imgur.com/tpMZBZj.png

HAS HE NOT TAKEN ENOUGH???

No.

[strad]

Might you say "Under duress"?
They can be quite intimidating.

[VARIANT | one]

I just got home to find Bernie hacking at my keyboard ...

http://i.imgur.com/tpMZBZj.png

HAS HE NOT TAKEN ENOUGH???

I lost it laughing at that. Bravo. =D>

[bauc]

I just got home to find Bernie hacking at my keyboard ...

http://i.imgur.com/tpMZBZj.png

HAS HE NOT TAKEN ENOUGH???

I lost it laughing at that. Bravo. =D>

Hilarious =D> =D> =D>

[bhall II]

Easy fix...