This is the design that the Tokyo Olympic organizers ended up with. These are extremely ill-fated games - they were postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19.
When the logo for the Tokyo Olympics was revealed in 2015, accusations of plagiarism were levelled against Kenjiro Sano, the Japanese designer that came up with the image.
"in July, Belgian designer Olivier Debie accused Sano of copying a graphic he created for a theater company in Liège, and later took legal action to block the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from using the designs."
Debie designed the theatre's logo in 2011.
What do you think? Is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic logo changed enough from the original to be considered a new and original work, or is it a copy of the Theatre de Liege logo?
Does this additional information make any difference to your opinion about the potential plagiarism in this case?
"While Kenjiro Sano has denied plagiarising the logo, he has admitted his team did copy other work for a beer promotion and faces several other accusations of plagiarism."
In the design magazine, DeZeen, designer Sano denied plagiarizing the Belgian designer's work:
"I take a lot of time with every design, nurturing them like children," claimed Sano. "So for this kind of talk to emerge is really unfortunate and kind of sad."
"I am extremely surprised to hear the remarks of the Belgian designer," said Sano. "I would like to take this opportunity to state that his claims are completely groundless."
"I was shocked and found it hard to accept, to be honest," he added. "But I've never been to Belgium, nor seen the logo even once."
Above is the progression of the design from Sano's original through a couple of revisions.
Does the designer's defense and the look of his original design have any impact on your opinion about this case?
Discussion
Toor, Amar, "Japan scraps Tokyo Olympics logo amid plagiarism controversy", The Verge, Sept 1, 2015
Question 2
"Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo scrapped amid plagiarism claim", BBC News, Sept 1, 2015
Question 3
Howard, Dean, "Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo designer refutes plagiarism accusations", DeZeen, Aug 6, 2015