Here at Windward in Chicago we are in quite the pickle on which side to take during this battle of law between snow.skate.surf super brand Volcom and possibly one of the best music artists and entrepreneurs that has graced the airwaves, Jay-Z. If you didn’t know already, Volcom is claiming trademark infringement against the Roc Nation’s use of their similar diamond shaped logo. Witness below…exhibit A vs. exhibit B:
In the recent years, Volcom has made a noticeable expansion from selling and promoting exclusively snow.skate.surf products into the music and entertainment industry. This means that Volcom and Roc Nation now overlap market segments. So Volcom argues that consumers could easily mistake the Roc Nation Roc for the trademark Volcom Stone. Roc Nation has used the diamond shaped logo along with their name for years now but as of 2009 they have been using exclusively the diamond logo. Long story short, Volcom wants Roc Nation to stop the use of the similar diamond shaped logo and Roc Nation is refusing.
I can see where Volcom is coming from on this one. Both logos are pretty similar and could with out a doubt be confused among the general public. In reality, they are clearly two different looks and throw off totally different vibes. Lets face it, the general public isn’t that sharp most of the time…Ke$ha is selling out shows. If you don’t know who that is, bless your heart.
So what is the solution to all this crazy debacle? Mr. Jay-Z, I really think you guys (Roc Nation) should be allowed to keep using the stone as long as you change it up a bit. Put something cool like a ‘ROC’ somewhere inside it or something else clever. A little “Roc” in the diamond would make it that much more baller. I went ahead and did some leg work for you guys and would like to present this concept:
What do y’all think? Jay-Z, contact us so we can talk about getting our check for this new logo ; )