AI-aggregated newsletter firm changes logo after Buzzfeed legal threat

Trending Now's caller logo

An AI-powered aggregator newsletter patient has changed its logo successful consequence to a ineligible threat from Buzzfeed.

Buzzfeed sewage successful touch pinch Trending Now successful July aft Press Gazette published a communicative astir nan business, which had exceeded 1 cardinal subscriptions crossed 27 B2B verticals wrong 2 years of its motorboat without employing immoderate journalists.

Buzzfeed issued a “cease and desist” missive complete nan Trending Now logo, which featured a circle containing an arrow pointing up and to nan correct pinch a kink downwards and up again successful nan middle.

Press Gazette received a akin missive aft our original article included a screenshot of nan Trending Now tract successful which nan logo could beryllium seen. We agreed to region nan image but not region nan afloat article.

Trending Now said it had not realised nan adjacent similarity its logo, designed in-house, held to Buzzfeed’s trademarked type until nan copyright missive arrived.

However it agreed that they looked “almost identical” and agreed to alteration its creation wrong 90 days. Trending Now’s caller logo features a consecutive arrow pointing upwards from nan separator of a circle and is successful nan process of being afloat rolled out.

Trending Now managing head Joe Newton told Press Gazette that during nan redesign process, they noticed that nan “zigzag icon is for illustration nan globally utilized benignant of awesome for nan word trending”.

“So erstwhile we were searching for different variations of that, they’re each beautiful similar. I mean, don’t get maine wrong, nan Buzzfeed trademarked type and our type was very similar, but it’s that zigzag arrow is benignant of nan commonly utilized icon for nan connection trending. So it benignant of seems a spot funny to us: it’s for illustration if personification was to trademark nan infinity symbol, do you cognize what I mean?”

Newton specifically cited nan arrows connected nan logos for Google Trends and business media institution Morning Brew, though neither are successful a circle for illustration Buzzfeed’s. A akin awesome has besides been utilized connected a Tiktok Trending report.

Trending Now’s designer concluded that nan zigzag arrow successful a circle to symbolise trending was “a spot outdated anyway”. Newton added: “Why not move it into a positive? It decidedly has been a affirmative because we’ve sewage a amended logo, it’s been modernised now and possibly we’ve moreover modernised nan icon for nan word trending.”

Buzzfeed logo and different ‘trending’ logos pinch a akin upwards arrow: from Tiktok trending report, Google Trends and Morning Brew

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