UConn issues apology over 'borrowed' Wolfpack logo
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, just not when a copyrighted image is involved.
The folks at UConn learned that the hard way Thursday after it unveiled a logo designed to "enhance campus spirit" at its basketball games. The centerpiece of the design featured an image identical to one used -- and copyrighted -- by NC State in its familiar "three wolf" logo.
The UConn version even included the words, "The Pack," the nickname given to its basketball student section.
The duplication was quickly spotted and called out by Wolfpack fans on social media. It didn't take long after that before UConn deleted both the image and a news release about it from the school's athletic website.
According to a report in the Hartford Courant, the logo was created by a UConn undergraduate.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed athletic department spokesman as saying that the school had "committed an unacceptable misstep by using an NC State mark as a centerpiece of this logo.
“As soon as the mistake came to light, we removed the logo from all our digital platforms and reached out to NC State to apologize," the spokesman told the Courant. "The apology was accepted in generous fashion by NC State and we will be taking corrective actions internally to ensure something of this nature never happens again.”
Wolfpack spokesman Fred Demarest said that a UConn official reached out to the State to offer an apology.
"It was an honest mistake and we appreciate how they responded to it," Demarest told WolfpackMaven. "It's over as far as we're concerned."
