Reports in the German media surfaced Monday with claims that the stylized ‘M’ logo used for Munich’s 2018 Olympic bid is confusingly similar to that of a Berlin-based real estate firm that does business in Munich. The report was originally published in Merkur online but is now being widely reported as a major “logo controversy”.
The Munich 2018 ‘M’ logo was selected in October, 2009 after 50,000 people participated in a national vote and chose among three final designs submitted by German citizens as part of a logo competition. The slopes on the ‘M’ are said to resemble the Bavarian Mountains and the tent roofs of Munich Olympic Park, according to Munich 2018 sources. However Anne Metzger, head of the real estate firm AM Immobilien Consulting says that it is also resembles her logo that was trademarked in 2006 – and it’s so similar that potential clients now won’t take her firm seriously, Merkur reported. Metzger went on to describe the situation “defamatory” to her firm.
Metzger has now hired an attorney and has filed an opposition at the German Patent and Tradmark office. She told Merkur that when she confronted the Munich bid committee about the similarity of the logos – she was served with a lawyer’s letter asking for her to pay legal expenses.
“There is no issue at all concerning the use of our logo. We registered our logo at the German trade mark office for all existing classes,” Jochen F
