Brisbane's I love BNE campaign annoys New York lawyers ...

Things seems to be going from bad to worse for the Brisbane City Council and its attempts to use New York's famous tagline for its environmental campaign.

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

Big Apple's court threat

11 November 2007

New York has taken the first step towards dragging Brisbane City Council through the courts for ripping off its "I love NY" logo.

The Big Apple's lawyers will send Brisbane a strongly worded letter as the row over the iconic trademark heads towards a costly legal battle, with ratepayers to pick up the bill.

Despite warnings not to use New York's world famous trademark, the Brisbane City Council plans to use a green "I love BNE" logo to promote its $670,000 Greenheart CitySmart environmental campaign.

The city argues the logo is being used to inspire those in Brisbane to go green, and not as a tourism promotion. The six-month campaign will see the logo plastered on council buses, ferries, T-shirts, stickers, mouse pads and coffee cups.

But New York argues it is irrelevant how Brisbane uses the logo because it is a clear breach of its trademark.

Thomas Ranese, the chief marketing officer for New York's Empire State Development Corporation, said lawyers this week had advised New York to take the first steps of a legal battle.

"We still think this is a very serious matter and we plan on issuing a letter to cease and desist, the standard letter we would send to anyone who violates our trademark and is using our logo against our wishes or without our permission," he said.

See - Big Apple's court threat.