Will Ricciardo's #3 Pass At Austin Without Getting Sued By RCR?

"Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V)" (gaborvajda) 03/16/2014 at 08:08 • Filed to: f1, nascar, dale earnhardt, #3, daniel ricciardo, richard childress

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Okay, #3 in NASCAR is owned by Richard Childress Racing with typeface and everything.

They went as far as to sue ESPN for copyright infringement for the use of the #3 logo in their Dale Earnhardt biopic, according to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Now, F1 driver Daniel Ricciardio used the exact typeface and colour scheme for his choice of #3 on his helmet (as drivers in F1 are now allowed to chose their numbers), except it uses the reversed italics version of the same font that is usually associated with the Earnhardt #3 logo, but was painted in the same manner on the right side of the Richard Childress car for symmetry (and is used by Austin Dillon currently after a 13-year absence).

I don't know about international patents and copyrights, but I doubt this helmet and logo would pass in the US without getting the same treatment as ESPN did, it should be interesting to see whether the NASCAR community will take this little pseudo-homage as trespassing in their back yard.

crowmolly > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 08:38

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Without the italics it's not the same thing.

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > crowmolly 03/16/2014 at 08:59

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It IS in italics.

Jaaag Hartley > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 09:08

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its not the same, its similar but not the same

Squid > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 09:15

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F1 isn't nascar so the number 3 has no significance. if they want to be so petty over that then they can fuck themselves.

crowmolly > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 09:19

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You're right, I wasn't specific enough. Without the same angle it's not the same italics and isn't the same thing. Angle "a" below.

Nit-picky? Sure, the copyright in question is a logo- which means it has to match exactly. That's not to say there won't be a lawsuit which might go either way, but in my experience it needs to be much closer a rip-off.

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > Jaaag Hartley 03/16/2014 at 09:21

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I think it is quite similar enough to shout "copyright infringement" if they want to. The question is, will they? It would be quite interesting if they did.

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > crowmolly 03/16/2014 at 09:24

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Obviously, it is only as close as it enables saying "It's not the same" on behalf of RBR or whoever, but it is close enough for RCR to say: "It's a ripoff". The question is will it cause any waves and will RCR react to that. Should be interesting.

LappingLuke > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 09:54

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The bigger questions is are these NASCAR folks watching F1 to even notice? Do they know what F1 is? If they watched it would they explode?

otapunk > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 10:00

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Well if they sue the rest of the world will have yet another reason to laugh at silly americans. It's number 3 in a similar font and there's not really that many cool ways to stylize a number 3.

shop-teacher > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 10:30

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My wife works for a company that does a lot of copyright licensing. Believe it or not, you only have to change something by 5% in order to avoid the copyright. RCR will have good enough lawyers to know that, so I wouldn't expect any lawsuit.

A good example of how close you can get to a major company's logo w/o getting sued are the hundreds of mailings I've received from 3rd party extended warranty companies with a "not quite"GM logo on them.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 10:58

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The typeface does look similar. I say similar because the italicization (is that even a word) on Daniel's helmet isn't as drastic as Dale's, so it isn't the same thing.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Squid 03/16/2014 at 11:02

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If you owned a very valuable copyright for something in Indycar (let's say in Indycar, for the sake of this argument), but someone in IMSA racing started using it without your consent, would you let them use it?

If you said yes, then why do you even have that valuable copyright in the first place? I don't think this usage by Ricciardo of the 3 falls under international "fair use" law so NASCAR would have every right of making sure their intellectual property isn't exploited without approval.

It doesn't matter that F1 isn't NASCAR. It matters that Ricciardo is using the 3 in context of racing.

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > shop-teacher 03/16/2014 at 11:48

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That's a fascinating piece of info, thanks!

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > LappingLuke 03/16/2014 at 11:48

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Yes, that's exactly what interests me the most.

shop-teacher > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 12:04

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You're welcome. I was shocked when I found that out.

Squid > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman 03/16/2014 at 13:46

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By your logic should the number 3 be taken out of all forms of racing?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Squid 03/16/2014 at 13:49

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Nope, you're misunderstanding.... He's using the 3 in the font of Dale (or very closely)....... I think NASCAR has a case here

Jaaag Hartley > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/16/2014 at 15:19

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they might shout it, but they wont win. and i dont understand why it would be a problem, no one is gonna confuse the RB10 for a NASCAR

Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) > Jaaag Hartley 03/16/2014 at 15:21

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Meh.. mehhehhehh...

Tell that one to Ford

sloPro > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman 03/17/2014 at 00:50

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but he's not presenting himself as Dale, and more so he's not using it in/for/against Nascar, or anything pertaining to either.

people can argue online all they want, i just think if Nascar would try doing something about it would just point out how shallow they and people running it really are. (but then again man-troll Bernie is no better)

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > sloPro 03/17/2014 at 06:51

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Shallow? Sounds like you've never had to defend a valuable intellectual property you've held.

Wildstar > Gabor Vajda (@Gabor_V) 03/17/2014 at 12:49

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RB could just take some of their copious amounts of Euros, buy RCR, fire everyone and burn the buildings. Probably cheaper than dealing with a lawsuit.

Sue Pilut > LappingLuke 03/17/2014 at 16:10

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No we won't explode.....not most of us anyway. Believe it or not there are more and more NASCAR fans watching F1. NASCAR is not what it used to be in fact it's almost an insult to racing. I think Juan Pablo and Nelson Piquet Jr had a good deal to do with introducing the NASCAR nation to Formula 1, and then along comes the Austin megaplex. Also Haas (a NASCAR owner) is toying with the idea of getting into F1. It also helps that the days of 'follow the leader' in F1 are gone and there's been loads of great racing. Don't forget Vettle's run on WC, you would have to be deaf & blind not hear about it. Whether or not RCR wants to cause a stink over Ricciardo's #3, I certainly hope not but one can never be too sure.