The mountaineer mascot has been around for years for Tuscola High School. But Appalachian State University said the logo is virtually identical to its copyrighted version and wanted to see changes made to Tuscola's.
There are two designs on the table to help solve the copyright dispute, and one of the designs was created by Tuscola senior Ava Kirkpatrick.
“It's all up to other people I guess,” Kirkpatrick said.
She hopes her rework of the mascot wins.
“I think it looks a lot better,” she said of her design.
Earlier this year, Appalachian State officials said the mascot Tuscola High had been using looked too much like the university's and asked Haywood County Schools to discontinue using it.
“Their intent in all of this was just to be sure that we phased it out over time,” Haywood County Schools Associate Superintendent Trevor Putnam said.
Two new versions have been drawn up and submitted to App State for review. One design is by yearbook publisher Josten and the other created by Kirkpatrick. The goal is to mitigate copyright concerns.
App State officials prefer the Josten version, but the Haywood County Schools Board of Education has given the nod to Kirkpatrick’s design.
“And so, they sent that to a copyright lawyer for review of the student rendition,” Putnam said. “Our hope is that the student rendition will be acceptable and be substantially different enough that we can use it."
Avoiding copyright infringement requires three distinct differences. Kirkpatrick said her mountaineer concept more than meets those criteria.
“There's a T in the hat to represent Tuscola. His nose is actually up instead of, like, curved down. We've changed the eye to look a little bit more fierce,” Kirkpatrick said.
And she changed the mountaineer's collar to plaid.
“That's a big difference,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick also eliminated the pipe.
“The pipe is gone because why would we want to promote smoking in schools? I feel like that's a big problem that we have,” she said.
Kirkpatrick hopes to win the day and put a feather in her cap for a future career.
“I want to go into design. I mean, that is my career path I'm looking forward to. So, this would be a huge step for me,” she said.
There's eager anticipation for school leaders.
“We're kind of at a standstill as far as purchases on new equipment, new uniforms until we know or have a definition on whether this is an infringement on copyright or not,” Putnam said.
Kirkpatrick is excited at the prospect of her concept being chosen.
“That'd be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to what they say,” she said.
Haywood County Schools leaders said they're not sure when they'll hear back from the copyright attorney on the legality of the new designs.
Appalachian State University issued this statement Monday afternoon:
“It is standard practice for the university to reach out to entities that are using App State's licensed name and/or marks to work with them on authorization or the most appropriate next steps.
We appreciate the efforts of Tuscola High School and Haywood County Schools to find an amicable resolution and ensure they are developing a unique design.” -- Anna Oakes, News and Media Relations Director, University Communications, Appalachian State University