Only one week after rolling out a new logo, Gap has decided to go back to its classic blue-and-white logo.  The short-lived logo was the product of crowd sourcing– Gap asked its customers to share their inputs on new logo ideas via Gap’s Facebook Page.   After many complaints (mostly on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs), Gap announced its return to the original logo.   Here’s a look at the two logos.

 

 

In with the old...

 

 

 

...and out with the new.

 

This has already attracted some good blogging on the various issues involved in logo redesign and crowd sourcing.

Over at DuetsBlog, they’ve picked up an interesting aspect of this story.   Apparently, someone has created a Twitter account @GapLogo, which, by all appearances, is not an offical company account, but is rather just someone having a bit of fun with the logo.  Incidentally, based on these selected tweets, the “Logo” appears to be a Brooklyn resident and a fan of the Australian pop duo Air Supply:

“Listening to Air Supply – All Out of Love ♫ […]”

“Dear @swissmiss, I’ve been rumored to reside in Williamsburg, which isn’t that far from DUMBO. Let’s make this happen.”

DuetsBlog correctly notes this sort of brand spoofing may violate Twitter’s trademark policy and then raises the question:

“[…]what kind of protection do brand and trademark owners have on social networks? If large companies like BP and Gap can be so easily impersonated and have their logos misused with no repercussions, what chance do you think your trademarked brand or logo will have in social media?”

I’ll following their question with one of my own:

When does a “brand spoof” Twitter account constitute a valid trademark parody?