Coincidencia? Or is the Mexican Government ripping off Apple?
Eagle eyed Faithful Macenstein reader Christian noticed a little potential Mac-infringement down Mexico way.
“Doc,
look at the image, its the pic of the infonavit (something like fannie mae or freddie mac, a house mortage corp operated by the government in mexico) they are using a variation of the finder logo in red -look center to the right the logo acts as an “A” inside the word contacto-
the image is also used in printed banners and promos
the web is
http://contacto.infonavit.org.mx/
best regards, Christian”
Hmm… Well, their icons doesn’t seem to be as happy as the Finder (in fact, without the mouth it kind of looks scared…), but yeah, it does seem somewhat derivative. Well, it’s nice to know that Mexican web designers use Macs too!
how do they see an “A” iin it?
@ Kuzya,
Good point. Looks like an “O” if anything
– The Doc
actually the word “contocto” does not existe, the only available is the “A” as in “contacto”
something like “get in touch”
i think that since the finder logo its sometimes synonymous of apple, thats where the A comes from, from the the A on Apple
“… it does seem somewhat derivative.”
Of course, the happy Mac face is often considered as being derivative of the classic yin and yang design.
Huh – I saw the title, and I thought this referred to the 50% retail tax on electronic goods down here. A base MacBook (non-Pro) aluminium goes for around $1900 here. Insane! It’s a miracle anyone buys a computer in this country.
I live in Mexico, and Every designer i know uses a Mac…
Yes all the electronic goods are more expensive than in US, but now i see more Mac users than ever, and since the introduction of the ipod (and iphone) the people is getting more familiar with Apple products.
Besides, in the past was more difficult to buy a Mac, now we have a lot of options, including the Apple Store online.
I bought my Macbook pro and powerbook in US though.
And, I don’t know why they used that icon as an “A”. Maybe they just liked the happy face.
I think this one has a lot more similarities: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/314113/blarneycastle.JPG
I took the picture in Blarney castle, Ireland
The rip-off is the time honoured adaptation of the Yin-Yang symbol, which Apple also uses.
There was also an ancient tradition amongst some of Mexico’s lost civilisations of creating masks divided in half with one side being normal and the other being evil or animalistic, representing the duality of human nature. So it’s probably more likely that this logo is supposed to evoke a sort of link back to Mexico’s past, rather than being a rip-off of Apple’s Finder logo.