SubscribeAfter 9-11, Glaser adapted his logo to "I ♥ NY More Than Ever" and added a stain on what he has called the "lower west side" of the heart. (Village Voice)And from an interview in The Believer:
MG: I also have to say that a bureaucrat from the Commerce Department called me and said, “You know, we’d like to use that.” And the irony is, I had sent them the thing at the outset and they didn’t respond at all. So after it came out in the news, a bureaucrat from the Commerce Department called and he said, “We’d like to use the ‘I Love New York,’” I said, “Great.” He said, “But we’re not going to put the black mark on the heart.”
CK: What?!
MG: And I said, “Sorry, you can’t do it without the black mark on the heart, because that’s the whole point of it.”
CK: [Laughs]
MG: And he said, “We’re not going to put any black marks on our heart.” I said, “OK, so you can’t use it.” He said, “You know, you’re in violation of our trademark.” And my heart sank, and I said, “Yeah,” So he said, “So don’t try to use it in any way.”
CK: What! Now, wait, who is this?
MG: No, I can’t tell you.
CK: No, no, no, not names, but what does he do?
MG: Let’s just say it’s someone who’s involved with administrating the “I Love New York” logo and making sure that nobody uses it without paying for it, because years after we introduced it the state registered it. So now there’s an agency that gets money for every time “I Love New York” is used anywhere. I’d be very curious to find out how much money they’ve raised. I’d suspect it is significant. So anyhow—
CK: So you’re not bitter at all about not seeing any of it?
posted by fvox13 at 1:19 PM on May 25, 2006