Three designers, who lost out in a logo design competition for Beijing's Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, have taken the museum to court for allegedly copying their designs.

Zhu Yanyue from Anhui, Hong Qingqi from Fujian, and Xiang Baiping from Shaanxi are suing the museum for 130,000 yuan (US$16,100): 50,000 yuan (US$6200), 60,000 yuan (US$7430) and 20,000 yuan (US$2470) respectively. They allege that the museum's new logo bears an uncanny resemblance to their own designs, which were rejected by the museum a year ago.

The New Logo of Palace Museum

The Palace Museum and the credited logo designer, Beijing Ideal Design Art Company (Ideal), have denied the charges. They argue that the new logo, unveiled in July, was independently designed.

The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court held the first hearing on Tuesday, but no judgment has been made.

Last year, the Palace Museum organized a logo design competition, offering a first prize of nearly US$10,000. But the museum announced this year that none of the 2,800 designs entered met its requirements. Ideal was engaged to do the job.

The new logo is based on the Chinese character gong, which means palace.

According to Zhu Yanyue, the logo he entered in the competition was also based on gong. "The logo is similar to my design," he said.

Zhu, with the other two plaintiffs, claim that the logo is a violation of copyright, and has asked the court to order the Palace Museum to stop using the logo, and to make a public apology.

A museum spokesperson said that the accusations were groundless, adding: "The Chinese character of gong is in the public domain and many designs in the competition are based on gong."

The museum and Ideal also deny that designs entered in the competition were shown to the design company.

The Palace Museum was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) from 1406 to 1420. Covering an area of 720,000 square meters, it served as the dwelling for emperors until 1924.

Comparison Between Zhu's Design And the New Logo

Comparison Between Hong's Design And the New Logo

(China Daily November 3, 2005)