They may not be aware of it but companies who are altering their logos a bit to spread the word about social distancing in the time of COVID-19 face some legal risks, according to some lawyers.

McDonald’s in Brazil split up its golden arches to come up with two clearly separate arches to stress the need for social distancing. The hamburger chain posted this new logo version in its Facebook page.

Coca Cola put out its newly tweaked logo in its New York Times Square billboard: the letters C-o-c-a  C-o-l-a with ample space in between the letters.

“This change in logos also needs to be legally compliant as there is a possibility for many of these transitional logos to infringe third party rights,” says Safir Anand, senior partner and head of trademarks contractual & commercial IP in Anand and Anand in Noida.

“If the existing logo has been protected as a Chinese trademark, please be advised that the use of the redesigned logo will not be deemed as evidence for trademark use of the existing logo due to the non-identicalness or be used to rebut a cancellation request,” says Xia Zheng, founder of AFD China in Beijing. 

“In order to formally protect the redesigned logo, we suggest the owner file a new trademark application for it as soon as possible,” says Zheng.

In the past few weeks, more companies decided to take similar action to remind the public about social distancing policies.

Audi yanked its four rings away from each other and inserted the words “Keep Distance, Stay Together” as tagline. 

Volkswagen did a similar thing with the “V” and “W” and showed the two letters separated from each other in a video to promote social distancing.  

Hyundai also altered its logo by halting the depiction of the handshaking act. The South Korean automotive manufacturer’s original logo symbolizes two people shaking hands. 

Meanwhile, Mercedes Benz reduced the size of its three-pointed star so that it no longer touches the ring around it. 

Espie Angelica A. de Leon