‘Cease and desist’: Victoria band’s logo runs afoul of BC Ferries – BC

It’s often said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but one Victoria band says it’s landed them in rough waters with BC Ferries.

The ferry company recently sent rockers Three Sailing Wait a cease and desist letter over their logo, which featured a blue font and two-part swoosh evocative of its own wordmark.

The group is now sailing ahead with a new look — and a new track making light of the dispute titled, you guessed it, Cease and Desist.

“We informed our fans that we were being forced to retire that wordmark, and we created a new band logo,” band member Cam told Global News.

Not only did they change the logo, they scrubbed social media of the old one.

Like their name, the band’s logo is clearly in jest.

And fans of the band have been asking why the corporation thinks going after a Victoria band with a loyal but small following is worth the effort.

“We are just guys trying to have fun with our music, we started just playing covers at the bonspiels at the curling club,” Cam said.

BC ferries says the cease and desist letter was the only step it took regarding the band.

But the company said it has to take any matter, joke or not, dealing with its logo seriously.

“Trade mark law requires us to act when something could cause confusion, if we don’t we risk losing the ability to protect our brand against more serious or misleading uses in the future,” spokesperson Ritinder Matthews said.

“And we did have people ask if the band was sponsored or connected to BC Ferries.”

The band is having fun with the ordeal, liquidating its stock of logo stickers — modified with a little help from a sharpie.

And they say they hope BC Ferries would consider them if the company ever needs to entertain customers waiting on a busy sailing day.

“That would be a gig of a lifetime, we would love that so much,” Cam quipped. “We would put a business plan out and everything.”

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