Lacoste loses logo battle with dentists - pays court fees like loosers do.

The four year battle over having a croc as a logo is officially over - Lacoste lost. Dentists Dr Tim Rumney and Dr Simon Moore have been using a green grinning croc on the sign to the The Dental Practice in Cheltenham since 1991. It wasn't until 2004 when they went to register their new logo that Lacoste yelped "it's too similar to our croc!" and the court dance began. The Dentist's defence: That people were not likely to mistake their single-storey brick building behind a car park and next to a petrol station for a boutique selling Lacoste fashions.

If that logo hasn't been done by tracing the Lacoste one, I'll eat my hat with A1 steak sauce. Edit: That twin croc logo was from the electric new paper and it turns out it's likely not the actual logo of the dentists as Pilo points out in the comments. / edit.

Telegraph:

Lacoste was ordered to pay £1,000 towards the dental practice's legal costs at the initial hearing as well as a further £450 towards the costs of the second hearing.

Back in 2004 Lacoste lost its trademark suit against rival Crocodile International over a similar croc logo - but that one did in fact look different.

Related: Logo's that become Legends at the Independant mentions the Lacoste suit and this tidbit on another famous logo:

The Swoosh is one of the world's most instantly recognisable logos and is seen adorning countless trainers and items of sportswear. Yet the emblem, which became the basis for the multibillion-dollar Nike brand, was designed by a little-known university student named Carolyn Davidson who charged Nike just $35 for her design.

Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University, was approached in 1971 by a University of Oregon track runner, Phil Knight, and his coach, Bill Bowerman, who needed a logo for a new line of running shoes they were to introduce. The pair, who had set up the Blue Ribbon Sports company, asked Davidson to suggest some designs for the new line, which they had decided to name Nike after the Greek goddess of victory.

Davidson agreed and charged the pair a fee of $2 per hour for her work, eventually submitting a bill for $35. She was subsequently recompensed through stock options as the company grew. After she handed it over, Mr Knight was slow to see its potential, reportedly saying: "I don't love it, but it will grow on me."

Whenever there's an article about that Nike logo, the story is pretty much told exactly like that, right down to the Knight quote. Anyone fancy picking up the phone, just once and asking Carolyn Davidson how she feels about her bargain bin logo being one of the most famous ones in the world? (and how it feels to have sold it so cheap?) That would be neat.