Businessman Les Otten announced yesterday that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2010. Based on his campaign website and materials, however, he looks more like he's running as a Democrat. One Democrat in particular.
I served on the academic discipline committee for two years in college and this is still one of the most blatant rip-offs I've ever seen:
I predict he will be mocked endlessly. It is painful to see the same exact color scheme used by Obama.
I hear his campaign slogan will be "Change and Hope."
Actually the logo looks suprisingly like the Sunday River logo - possibly Obama "Ripped-Off" his campaign logo from Sunsay River?
If Mr. Otten has not been wise enough at the very outset, as a Republican candidate, to choose a logo that is wildly DIFFERENT than Obama's...he is not fit for the job. If you can't figure out the no-brain-er...then you might not be able to figure out the tough stuff. And at this point, Maine cannot; must not, take any chances.
From Les' statement:
http://lesotten.blogspot.com/2009/07/otten-responds-to-maine-democratic....
"It is interesting that the Maine Democratic Party has forgotten that President Obama’s campaign logo was initially accused of copying the Pepsi logo."
OK, so if they stole it, it's ok if we stole it. Keep digging, Les.
Sunday river logo---> 
Obama Logo --> <---Plagiarism
same color scheme, are you kidding me? Red, white and blue are every political candidates colors. Add in the green for Maine and you got yourself an Otten Logo. Take a look at the copyright/trademark laws, this isn't an infringement. Do your research.
Who here is saying anything about copyright infringement? Also, how many websites have an "O" set in a blue field?
This is a nice comparison of the two websites.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-lQ7I9OMnns/Sk4pO9ZE_FI/AAAAAAAAAI8/W6WrP4Xkk2...
Les Otten's website is an attempt to rip-off of President Obama's campaign
website. While it doesn't have the clean, beautiful simplicity of Obama’s logo
and site, it clearly uses the same color palette, layout and fonts. And, Le Otten's logo
is over-designed. So is his website. Was this a case of an amateur graphic designer
trying to copy an immensely effective and graphically perfect political campaign,
or a creative director listening to some desperate political communications director?
How unfortunate for Les Otten to hire a graphic designer not confident enough to
produce a logo and website that is new and bold; as his campaign promises.
I am an art director, not a writer but it is obvious that even the website
writer copied President Obama's website text.
Lana Rae
Seattle, WA
Has a good article on the whole thing.
Both logos are round. Both have wavey lines. It was a poor choice because of the similarities, but it does not amount to plagiarism. President Obama does not have a copyright on round logos with wavey lines. The big problem is that Mr. Otten is running for public office and chose a logo that is similar to a very successful political campaign logo. If this were his new logo for an electric engine business, no one would care. But because he's running for office, it's hard not to draw the comparisions.
All that said, it's only natural (although extremely unfortunate) in politics that people become totally outraged by the most trivial matters. In all campaigns these days it seems an enormous amount of energy is devoted to things like logo selection. I have unsubscribed to my own political party's newsletters because I'm tired of the rhetoric. Blog entries like this one are of little help.
yeah no. Just because he's just on this side of the law about it doesn't make it right. Same layout, really? His design team (who incidentally have been known to rip off website designs) just magically came up with the same header height? The same shades of blue? The logo alone would be a little fishy but with everything else, sorry, it's a blatant rip. Instead of arguing, he should pay a reputably firm and redo it right.
Tim, this isn't trivial. Maybe in a political sense but people pay good money to have a customized website. I don't know if Otten was complicit in this but if he wasn't he was ripped off. If he wasn't aware, this firm put his reputation on the line because they were too lazy to work something up for him from scratch. People put a lot of care into creating an appealing website. It's hard work. Just to have some joker come along and rip it is infuriating.
Honestly, this should be a warning sign to everyone about a guy who (like so many other politicians - or wannabe's) is interested only in himself. Haven't we had enough egotism in politics? What Augusta needs is all the old pork barrel croneys thrown out and new blood brought in on the local level. It's as self serving there as our nation's capital.
Taken from a person who knows the guy personally, Les has an ego big enough for all of us. If you believe this is about saving your ass, your money, taxes, state economy or whatever - forget it!
Les got cocky and messed up a great ski area in Maine because he got greedy and was thrown out on his rear in the end. His part of the Red Sox is so minor, it's laughable. The web site is a cheap copy... he's wasting his time and money on it all! Sorry les.
Les Otten or no Les Otten, what is so interesting to watch is all the Maine Dems running scared like rats from a sinking ship (which, coincidentally is an appropriate descriptor of the Maine economy)! Ask yourselves, are we better off today than we were eight years ago? Only an idiot would say "yes"!
I do think that the web site discussion was a very interesting splash into the race by Otten and was very telling as to who he is. What I am equally interested in is this Red Sox background. Does anyone know his specific ownership in the Red Sox? I am having a very hard time finding this info.
http://curtfletcher.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/less-spin-les-please/
Les Obmamotten!!
Les Obmamotten!!