UK Crowdfunding Day is coming up, scheduled for November 1st at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Their home page lists “Prominent UK Crowdfunding Organisations and Supporters,” of which various industry participants are listed. At one point Kickstarter was included on that list.
Not anymore.
Kickstarter’s legal team issued a cease and desist, asking the event organizers to remove their logo from the page.
We demand that you remove our name and logo from the site immediately. If you fail to do so, we will take all appropriate action to protect our rights, including instituting a legal action against you.Kickstarter
Kickstarter is clear in how outsiders can – and cannot – use their logo on their web site, providing three clear guidelines for interested parties.
It seems Kickstarter believes that the page for UK Crowdfunding Day landed into category #2, using their logo in a way “that would confuse someone into thinking a website is run or endorsed by Kickstarter.”
Barry James, who organizes the event, takes issue with Kickstarter’s action.
In any case we do have to wonder why the mighty Kickstarter would see anyconceivable threat from #UKCrowdfundingDay? A national, community activity being launched later this month in the UK from our Parliament to promote the expansion of Crowdfunding by increasing awareness. No threat – rather great additional promotion of Crowdfunding – including you – from a group of people with a track record of supporting Crowdfunding here in the UK – including Kickstarter.
It seems Kickstarter is well within their rights to demand that their logo be taken down, especially due to the ambiguity of the dual-purpose headline. However, an action categorized by James as “heavy handed” probably could have been taken in a more cordial fashion. Regardless, it doesn’t appear that Kickstarter will be visible as an organization – or a supporter – of this event this year.
[h/t The Social Foundation]
