Summary Tokyo's Olympic committee announced Tuesday they would drop the scandal-hit logo
BRUSSELS (AFP) - A Belgian graphic designer vowed Tuesday to press on with a court case against the International Olympic Committee despite the bosses of the Tokyo 2020 games scrapping a logo he says was copied from him.
Olivier Debie filed a lawsuit in a Belgian court in August alleging that Japanese designer Kenjiro Sano s Olympic design was plagiarised from the logo Debie made for a theatre in the Belgian city of Liege.
Tokyo s Olympic committee announced Tuesday they would drop the scandal-hit logo, but insisted the move was not in response to the legal action and that the designs were different.
"My initial reaction was to say, There you go, we ve won. But at their press conference, they completely beat around the bush and said they were scrapping the logo for some obscure reasons," Debie told AFP by telephone.
"So the case continues. It remains current because a press conference can t terminate a legal action. The Olympic Committee must recognise the plagiarism of the logo."
The first hearing of the case is due on September 22 in a civil court in Liege, with a decision due in coming weeks or months.
Debie added: "Plagiarism is impossible to prove but the facts are there: the layout and the typography are virtually identical. When I see the Tokyo 2020 logo, I say to myself, that s the logo I created in 2011."
Tokyo s emblem is based around the letter "T" -- for Tokyo, tomorrow and team -- with a red circle said to represent a beating heart. The Liege theatre s design features a similar shape in white against a black background.
Tokyo officials said their decision was due to slumping public confidence and evidence that Sano had improperly swiped Internet images to highlight locations where his logo could be displayed.
The Belgian designer said meanwhile he was half considering entering the competition for a new logo.
"Some Japanese journalists asked me if I was going to compete. I hadn t thought about it but it would be funny. I ll have to see if its open to foreigners," said Debie.
