When the allegations started, the Olympic committee defended designer Kenjiro Sano’s work saying just a few days ago, “We are confident that the Games’ logo design is original.”
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The plagiarism claim comes from Belgian designer Olivier Debie, who says the logo looks similar to his design for the Liege Theatre. He went as far as to file a lawsuit to prevent the logo from being used.
“We’re certain the two logos are different,” Toshio Muto, director general of the Tokyo organizing committee, said during a news conference, via BBC. “But we became aware of new things this weekend and there was a sense of crisis that we thought could not be ignored.
“We have reached a conclusion that it would be only appropriate for us to drop the logo and develop a new emblem. At this point, we have decided that the logo cannot gain public support.”
Sano recently admitted to stealing work in the past. He issued an apology saying he and his staff took designs from a promotional campaign for a Japanese beverage firm.
There will be a competition for a new logo “as soon as possible,” the committee said.
