[2025] EWHC 1954 (IPEC)

Legions Logo

Again, both Mr Bray and Mr Lant claim authorship of this logo, but again there were many versions of a logo of this sort in evidence. Mr Bray said that he drew a version which had an inverted cross through it, as can be seen on the back cover of the Bloodlust single from 1982. He also said that he had drawn a version of the logo in which a sword replaced the cross. However, Mr Bray accepted in cross-examination that Mr Lant had drawn a sketch for the version which is now in issue, which was significantly different to the version used on Bloodlust, and has a sword with a double-layered cross guard. That admission contradicted the Defendants’ pleaded case about this logo, which was that the work was created by Mr Bray in 1981.

Mr Lant’s case on this logo was also somewhat inconsistent. He said that he had created the logo in 1980/1 for the band’s ‘legion’ of fans but accepted in cross-examination that the band had not had many fans until after the release of its first record in 1981. Then he said that the drawing had been done earlier and chosen for the fans’ logo. He also suggested in his witness statement that the work in issue was used on the Bloodlust single. In my view, that is incorrect, as important details of the pommel and cross guard of the sword in the Legions logo are missing from the version used on the Bloodlust single.

Despite the rather unsatisfactory nature of Mr Lant’s evidence about the Legions Logo, given Mr Bray’s concession that Mr Lant drew the sketch for the version of the logo which is in issue, and in the absence of any suggestion that the Legions Logo lacks sufficient originality to attract copyright protection, I find that Mr Lant is the owner of the copyright in this version of the logo.