The Time NBC Used a Plagiarized Logo

On January 1, 1976, NBC wanted to mark its fiftieth year of broadcasting by launching a new logo. Now known as “The Big N,” the new logo featured two trapezoids, one red and one blue, that created the shape of an abstract letter N.

However, this log would turn out to be a very expensive mistake.

The logo’s development cost NBC $750,000 ($4.25 million inflation-adjusted). This was already a high price tag, but worse news was on the horizon.

Just nine days after the logo debuted, on January 10, 1776, Saturday Night Live lampooned the design. In just their ninth episode, Chevy Chase, at the Weekend Update desk, noted that the logo was similar to Nebraska ETV’s. He then went on to list other fictional small businesses that had similar logos.

But, while the majority of the businesses were fictional and for comedic effect, the issue with Nebraska ETV was real. A public television and radio network based in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nebraska ETV had been using a similar logo since 1974. Even worse, their version cost less than $100 ($588 inflation-adjusted).

The only difference between the logos was the coloring. Where the NBC logo had a bright red and blue shape, the shapes on the Nebraska ETV were the same and darker red.

In February 1976, Nebraska ETV sued NBC for trademark infringement. However, the case was quickly settled out of court. NBC gave Nebraska ETV $500,000 ($2.84 million inflation-adjusted) in new equipment and paid $55,000 ($312,000 inflation-adjusted) for them to create a new logo. This allowed NBC to continue using the logo.

NBC continued to the “The Big N” in various incarnations until 1985.

Today, it’s mostly a funny story of how NBC, likely accidentally, ripped off a much smaller broadcaster and got shamed for it on their own network. However, it’s also a warning to companies everywhere. Mistakes like this can be very costly.

Fortunately, these days, they are much easier to avoid.

What Likely Happened

To be clear, I don’t believe that NBC deliberately plagiarized the Nebraska ETV logo. Though we don’t know who designed the NBC logo, other than they were based in New York, I don’t think their designers did either.

The simplest and most likely explanation is that neither the designers nor the NBC employees working on the logo were aware of the Nebraska ETV logo. Not only was the logo relatively obscure (especially to New Yorkers), but it was also recent. Nebraska TV had only changed a year prior.

Given the amount spent on the logo, NBC likely was working on its graphic when Nebraska ETV adopted its version.

This makes it difficult to say that NBC didn’t perform due diligence. They likely did check for similar logos. However, the internet didn’t exist then, and the Nebraska ETV logo may not have made it into relevant databases. Even a thorough check likely turned up nothing.

In short, I think this is a case of terrible timing for NBC. I believe both NBC and Nebraska ETV independently devised the design, but Nebraska ETV was clearly first. However, they weren’t so far ahead of NBC that NBC had a good opportunity to learn about it.

To that end, NBC handled the situation as well as could be expected. They reached a fair agreement that let them keep using their new logo and boosted Nebraska ETV significantly.

I would call it a win-win for the parties involved, though I doubt NBC would see it that way.

Lessons for Today

Fortunately, such things are much less likely to happen nearly 50 years later. The internet makes it easier to search for similar logos. Reverse image searches and sites like Logopedia also make it easy to find similar marks, both current and past.

If someone makes a mistake of this caliber today, it’s most likely caused by a lack of due diligence rather than poor timing.

That said, independent creation is still a thing. In February 2015, we looked at how two photographers accused each other of plagiarism when, in truth, they had just gone on the same artist cruise.

In copyright, this isn’t much of an issue. If two works are similar but can be shown to be independently created, both creators have rights to their versions and can use them without issue.

However, things get trickier when dealing with trademarks. For example, two characters named “Dennis the Menace” debuted on the same day in 1951. It was a clear case of independent creation, as the characters were different, and an ocean separated the creators.

Despite that, the two artists agreed that one would stay in the US and the other in the UK. That agreement has generally held up to today.

Similarly, NBC needed to resolve this dispute. However, since they couldn’t just divide the territory, NBC agreed to pay to continue using their new logo. It was a sensible solution to a bizarre and, even then, rare problem.

Bottom Line

Ultimately, it’s very difficult to fault any parties involved in this story. NBC and its designers were likely unaware of the Nebraska ETV logo, and Nebraska ETV had an obligation to defend its trademark.

The only hole in that theory is that SNL noticed the similarity within nine days. That is a big mystery to me. It’s possible someone at SNL was simply aware of the Nebraska ETV logo or that they did a different check. It’s also possible that the Nebraska ETV logo became more widely known between NBC’s final approval of the logo and its debut.

Simply put, we don’t know the timeframe of when NBC started work on the logo and when they approved it. Given the cost, it was likely a lengthy process, and it was likely finalized months before its debut.

Still, this case points to the importance of performing due diligence when preparing for a major launch like this. That due diligence shouldn’t stop once the final approval has been received. It needs to continue up to and after its debut.

You always want to be the first to learn about problems with your work.

However, you certainly don’t want to learn about it on a fledgling comedy show on your network…