Pompey unveil timeframe for badge change

Pompey will take to the field for the 2018-19 season curtain-raiser parading a new badge.
Tornante president and Pompey board member Andy RedmanTornante president and Pompey board member Andy Redman
Tornante president and Pompey board member Andy Redman

Andy Redman insists supporters will be consulted during the ongoing process, with the Heritage & Advisory Board already involved.

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The Blues board member has pledged there will not be ‘drastic change’ to the club badge.

Yet the necessity to secure copyright protection means sufficient alterations are required to meet the criteria for intellectual property.

‘We would like it to be on the front of the kit next season, that’s the aim,’ said Tornante president Redman.

‘With the Heritage & Advisory Board, we were able to get fairly quick approval from the EFL because Mark (Catlin) knows the people there.

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‘It’s harder for me to comment on copyright, but at this moment we see no reason why it can’t be on the kit next year.

‘In terms of changes, largely, we want to stay as close as possible, we love your current crest. If this wasn’t forced by the copyright law then we wouldn’t be making a change.

‘While keeping as many elements as we can, we are going to hopefully have something that we own.

‘It won’t change the commercial revenue in a year or two, but maybe in 30 years. If you are building sustainably that is what you care about, you care about the impact you have on the business 30 years out – and we think this has a real impact 30 years out.

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‘We want to know that whatever we produce on kits, if you buy it off the back of some cart illegally, then the sellers owe us a royalty or we can shut them down or whatever.

‘According to the lawyers we are dealing with, it does not require a wholesale change.

‘What I understand is you need to do either a large number of small changes or a small number of large changes.

‘The legal advice we’ve received is you don’t have to make a “drastic change”. You need to change a number of elements and those people who saw the PST video will have some sense of the types of elements we have looked at.

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‘I will say this, you have a lot of fantastic, easily-definable elements that have already been used in history that we can add a little bit to which we think will get us there.’

The issue of changing Pompey’s badge was raised by Tornante in the build up to buying the club.

Ahead of the 1980-81 season it was changed under similar circumstances, before reverting back in 1989.

Redman added: ‘To be fair, until we attempt to have it copyrighted it will be hard to comment whether a design is enough or not enough.

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‘Copyright law is unique in this way, it’s really you know it when you see it.

Lawyers can tell us if they think it is highly likely to be approved, but even when we finalise it, it won’t be final, we still need copyright approval.

‘Everything is exploratory. Until you get something approved you don’t want to lock yourselves in.’

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