Turkish university has used copycat Macau emblem for a decade
A Turkish university has been using a logo almost identical to the Macau emblem for more than a decade.
The blue version of the lotus flower-based emblem was submitted to Kirklareli University during a design competition in 2008 and adopted shortly after.
The Macau emblem, referred to officially as the “Regional Emblem”, has been used in the Macau Special Administrative Region since the 1999 transfer of sovereignty from Portugal to China.
The scandal broke after a Turkish national spotted the Macau flag in a credit card advertisement featured in a magazine. The individual drew attention to similarities between the Macau flag and the university’s logo, and local news outlets picked up on the revelation.
Kirklareli University did reply to a request for comment by press time.
Shortly after its founding in 2007, Kirklareli University held a design competition to decide on the institution’s logo. According to local media, the competition produced a piece that was criticized for its resemblance to the Japanese flag and ultimately rejected by the university.
A second competition was held in March the following year and the winning design was presented at a press conference on May 6, 2008. The winning piece was adopted as the institution’s emblem and is today plastered across its website and on a large entrance gate to the university campus.
Local media identified the designer of the logo as Abdullah K. and said that he insisted the logo was an original work despite the design having similarities with the Macau emblem.
According to the same media report, Kirklareli University is planning to open another competition to design a new logo, which will encourage the use of features and icons unique to the Kirklareli province.
Kirklareli University is today a member of the Balkan Universities Network and an Erasmus Program participant, according to the university’s webpage. The province of the same name is located in northwestern Turkey, bordering Bulgaria on the coast of the Black Sea. DB
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There is an obvious and serious violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) her. Macau government should sue this university for stealing and using Macau emblem.There is no need for diplomatic tolerance here. Because I know these kind people have been stealing and will contunie to steal these kind of things if ypu dont make them seriously regret it. I know it because they are my people. They like to steal people’s intellectual efforts. These people hind the fact that their local people may not search and find the real source of an intellectual thing like in this case. In short sueing Kırklareli University for this crime is a must.
Hi Turkish Graphic designer here,
Even though the laws are in place, Intellectual Property Rights are relatively new as a cultural norm for Turkey. That’s why even though it is such a common thing to check, I am not surprised that they couldn’t think this would happen.
Although there is a neglect by not double checking the finalist’s design, in my opinion, The University is not the main culprit here, the designer is. They paid money for this, so they would want authentic designs. A standart design contest conditions (and agreements) always includes some articles on intellectual property makes the designer pay for everything if something like that happens(and saves the university from legal consequences).
Unless, they don’t sue the designer and the designer gets away with it. Then, I would suspect the contest was rigged, the winner was decided even before the contest and someone higher up in the university created a legal facade to make his friend get the money. That means not just Macau’s rights were violated but also other contestant’s as well.
This is shameful for a state university. China should do something about that.
I’m really wondering what did they think when they stole it. They probably thought that nobody will notice it. This is a total shame for Turkey. They should change it immediately.