The big fight over Coexist

When Piotr Mlodozeniec designed the first Coexist logo, he had no idea how quickly — and how far — it would spread. His design for Museum on the Seam became iconic, and it was also closely copied by a designer t-shirt company, worn by U2s Bono on stage, and aped by hippie bumper sticker makers — all without his permission. This is how it happened and what the Coexist logo really means.

[MERKJONES]

Trademarking something that's not yours, suing everyone into the ground, and selling shirts at $58 a pop is the complete opposite of Coexisting.

[xisumavoid]

fighting over the coexistence sentiment. How tragically human

[osmanhameed]

I feel bad for this guy. its the worst feeling when someone steals your work

[mahari]

"Jesus, Jew, Muhammed..."
Jew is my favorite religious figure in history, they really brighten my point of view in life

[bserver]

make a sign for unity then people tear each other apart to trademark it....oh the Irony

[OMGshinyobject]

Wow I hope those college kids got their degree stripped. What disgusting behaviour

[viccasaur]

Piotr: I made this
America: You made this?
Piotr: Yes, I made this
America: *thinks long and hard* ....I made this

[magnus]

“Oh, are you religious?”

“Yeah, I’m a Jew”

“Ah cool, I’m a Jesus”

[KayleLang]

I really cringed at the Bono part. Him repeating "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed" just seemed like he had no idea of Judaism. He didn't know the major prophet of the Jews, so he just said Jew instead. It just tells me he never actually looked into the complex relationships between religious groups and thinks everything could be solved with catchphrases.

[saud]

this man should be compensated for his work. Sad how people rip of anyone if it means they can make money

[dothedeed]

The university should take back their degrees if they earned it by plagiarism. They should also be made to turn over all profits.

[bobthedj]

Yes the well known gender an internationally recognised symbol.

[Traitor-Joes]

The design he created was much simpler, neater, and significantly better and made from a creative mind, not just slapped together with a bunch of symbol like others that plagiarized his work

[violetzhana]

"I will put the Hippie symbol on it."
couldn't have said better myself

[teamtwiistz]

1:50 Classic America. Steal something, and claim it as your own.

[ramaken]

people should take graphic designers and programmers more seriously.

[putridsunrise]

Yeah I prefer the original design. The point was very clear and specific as it was targeting the 3 abrahamic religions who have been well lets face it, killing each other since whoever had the bright idea to come up with those beliefs in the first place. The newer version mucks it up and it looks a bit too jumbled. Still a good message though.

[Phineas_Freak]

Goes to show that you may be able to coexist but you are not able to escape capitalism. Respect to the original designer

[icreatedanaccountforthis]

How could those American students trademark a design that wasn't theirs?

Also, "lifestyle design degree".... WTF

Also, Bono.... WTF

[yocampout]

I'm glad vox decided to tell this story