Germany vs. Spain: Winner Take Logo

Erik Spiekermann was kind enough to drop us a line, letting us know of some logo thieving. This time it’s between the governments of Germany and Spain. For real! The Spanish government ran a design competition to create a new logo, picked one and gave the winner $12,000. Only problem is that it’s almost an exact copy of the one the German government’s been using for more than a decade now. And there’s not even much of that “inspired by” wiggle room, as, save for a couple of color and typeface changes, they’re veritable clones. Ouch.