To Boldy Plagiarize
Day 107 – November 6, 2011
For this springtime Sunday in our neighborhood around Lima, Peru, the family and I once partook of the Saludable Carretera (Healthy Road) where the district officials close down the street to car traffic so that pedestrians and bicyclists can enjoy the wonderful weather.
Along the road are stands and kiosks manned by local companies to drum up business. One of those enterprising organizations is a roller skating shop. This makes perfect sense for them as they can rent out their wares to people so they can try on their skates and roll around the street.
What caught my eye about one of these skate companies in particular was not just their name, but their logo.
Peruvian Flyer
To my knowledge, “Enterprise” is not a Spanish word so where did this company name come from.
Well, “Enterprise” is the name of the starship in the television show Star Trek (and some its spin-offs such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Enterprise) and that program featuring the characters of Kirk, Spock, and Scotty is quite popular (so I’m told) here in Peru. So, I guess it’s not that large of a leap to think that the company, Enterprise Roller, would take the name of the craft with the designation NCC-1701.
However, when does a tip of the hat to a television franchise become plagiarism? It’s one thing to take the name of Enterprise (I doubt anyone thinks Enterprise Rent-a-Car is ripping off the creation of Gene Roddenberry), but what about a copying logos? Side by side, let me show you the logo of Star Trek’s Starfleet Command and the logo of Enterprise Roller.
What would Apple and Samsung say about this?
I don’t know what the plagiarism and intellectual copyright laws are here in Peru, but I can imagine what the captain of the USS Enterprise-D, Jean-Luc Picard, might say…
Criticism always sounds better with an English accent
Posted on September 24, 2012, in Difference, Peru and tagged advertisement, logo, Peru, Star Trek, travel. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
I didn’t notice the logo at first, since the Starfleet emblem blended into the background. How funny – and very enterprising! A bit of trivia: both the rental carcompany and Roddenberry’s ship were named in honor of the USS Enterprise, one of the most decorated ships in the US Navy. Founder of Enterprise rental company served on the Enterprise during WWII. Dont know about Roddenberry’s inspiration, but it was Trekkies who petitioned the President to name the first space shuttle after the Star Trek Enterprise!
Thanks for the info. I’m not sure either where Roddenberry got his inspiration from. I was able to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise when it was housed at the Smithsonian Air & Space Annex by Dulles Airport. It now resides at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum in New York.
I alwayys wanted to see a space shuttle launch. Waited for 5-6 hours once, on a cold, rainy day before the launch was scrubbed. Maybe sometime when I’m in NYC I’ll see it up close at the Intrepid. I’ve been there before but not since it was revamped a few years ago, though I did watch them tug ithe Intrepid out of the harbor from my office in Jersey on its way for repairs.