[HN Gopher] One Logo, Three Companies
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One Logo, Three Companies
Author : ghc
Score : 57 points
Date : 2025-03-03 18:54 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (estilofilos.blogspot.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (estilofilos.blogspot.com)
| soamv wrote:
| This leaves me with more questions than answers, how did these
| three companies come up with the idea of using that logo? Did
| they just independently arrive at same design (seems unlikely)?
| And how did the trademark registration process go for the second
| and third companies that registered it?
| dmurray wrote:
| It's mentioned in TFA that it comes from the Mitsubishi family
| crest. So the logo is conceptually much older than any of their
| registrations.
| yellers wrote:
| Well I'm glad that TFA really explains the connection between
| Jinroku Masaki and the Mitsubishi family crest because
| otherwise I'd still be confused. (Or maybe it's a westerner
| thing expecting the name of the founder to match the crests
| family in name)
| suspended_state wrote:
| The company history page on the corporate web site of
| Mitsubishi Pencils provides a reason behind the name:
| https://www.mpuni.co.jp/en/company/history.html
|
| It's not clear why the 3 companies got the right to use the
| same logo. Perhaps they could each demonstrate that they
| used that logo before Japanese law required for it to be
| formally submitted for trademark?
| Etheryte wrote:
| Turns out they used to be one conglomerate, but World War II
| changed that [0]:
|
| > The Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi
| zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 1946. The
| company, along with other major zaibatsu, was disbanded during
| the occupation of Japan following World War II by the order of
| the Allies. Despite the dissolution, the former constituent
| companies continue to share the Mitsubishi brand and trademark.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi
| abhorrence wrote:
| The pencil company referenced in the article does not appear
| to have been part of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu however.
| chychiu wrote:
| The Kanji for Mitsubishi is San Ling , which literally means
| "three rhombus". It is possible that they were independently
| invented, but the hypothesis on family crest crossovers still
| feels more likely
| madcaptenor wrote:
| Independent invention seems unlikely to me - there are
| different colors, different ways to arrange the three rhombi,
| etc.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| The design is much older in east asia, I've seen it on 19th
| century textiles and pottery for sure but I suspect it goes
| back a lot more than that.
|
| The shape is somehow associated with the _name_ mitsubishi,
| possibly through visual or phonetic punning that is common
| in pictogram-based writing systems and tonal languages.
| Mitsubishi the name is more widespread than this one family
| or this group of companies, and the symbol appears to have
| long associated with the name per se rather than this
| specific mitsubishi. Mitsu sounds like three, I don 't know
| what the rhombus connection is.
|
| That shade of red has a specific proper name in japanese
| (think like alice blue in english) and has long been
| associated with japan by the japanese.
|
| I don't think any of this is a coincidence there's a
| connection between all this stuff. But I don't know what it
| is and I don't think the article author does either.
| johng wrote:
| I first heard the word Kereitsu in the movie Rising Sun with Sean
| Connery and Wesley Snipes. The movie involves large Japanese
| corporations and this word is used a lot. It's a great movie,
| well worth watching -- though I have no idea how accurate it is.
| It depicts large Japanese corporations vying for an American
| technology company.
|
| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107969/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8...
| tobr wrote:
| Reminds me of Yamaha, pianos and motorcycles sharing name and
| logo.
| Hamuko wrote:
| With the motorcycles having tuning forks in the logo, despite
| having nothing to do with motor vehicles.
| tobr wrote:
| Motorcycle forks look rather similar, though.
| Lio wrote:
| I beleive that Yamaha Motor Co was spun out of Yamaha Corp. So
| they share the same logo because they were once one company.
|
| This is not too unheard of even in the West.
|
| Rolls Royce Motor Cars is owned by BMW but they just bought use
| of the name.
|
| The old Rolls Royce Motors who used to make the cars was sold
| to VW (but not the name).
|
| Rolls Royce Holdings Plc., the defence and aerospace firm,
| actually own the name but don't make cars.
|
| Clear as mud.
| dmoy wrote:
| In that case, they used to be the same company, and one was
| spun off. In the Mitsubishi case, there were at least 2 or 3
| separate companies that were never really related
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