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STAR One to change logo in 60 days
Maintains its date with viewers on November 1 with the old logo
Notwithstanding the legal problems that STAR India was facing courtesy the Sahara group, STAR One was launched yesterday at 8 pm with the same logo.
STAR India will, however, have to change the existing STAR One logo by adding the word 'STAR' to it within the next 60 days. This essentially means that STAR One now has the opportunity to unveil its new logo on the New Year's day of 2005.
Hearing an appeal filed by Sahara India Mass Communication that STAR India is using a brand deceptively similar to Sahara and that will confuse the viewers' mind, the Delhi High Court on Monday issued an order to STAR One to change its logo to avoid confusion.
Appearing before Judge Mukul Mudgal, the STAR India counsel Arun Jaitley agreed that the word STAR would be put in capital along with its logo. He, however, asked for 90 days time for the transition.
The extent of the transition period was contested by Neeraj Kaul and Satish Kishanchandani, who appeared on behalf of Sahara. They argued that the change-over can be technically done in a much shorter time and will only take about three to five days.
After considering the pleas, Judge Mudgal asked STAR One to enforce the transition within 60 days. The court also asked STAR One to show the word 'STAR' along with its logo at least thrice every hour. STAR India executives told agencyfaqs! that owing to technical difficulties, STAR One will show the 'new' logo in bumpers (the portion which appears at the bottom of the TV screen) and promos.
The court also asked STAR India to change all hoardings and advertisements within the 60 day period, which ends on January 1, 2005.
What's interesting and what may have escaped the notice of Sahara head-honchos is the fact that the new STAR One logo will be actually more similar to SaharaOne than the original STAR One logo.
While both SaharaOne and STAR One had applied for the registration of their logos in September, Sahara India, by virtue of preceding STAR by a week, was in an advantageous position in legal terms. Sahara had contended that since its channel was launched prior to STAR One, the SaharaOne brand name needed protection.
On Monday evening, following the high court delivering its verdict, a Sahara spokesperson said, "Since STAR has now agreed to incorporate the word STAR in the STAR One logo, the matter is resolved."
© 2004 agencyfaqs!