Plagiarized PlayPark All-Stars logo on the PBA All-Star 2018 logo contest
In early 2018, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) launched the "Sketch the PBA All-Star logo" contest for its upcoming PBA All-Star 2018 Weekend event. The winner of the event was found to have plagiarized the PlayPark All-Stars 2018 logo and was disqualified.
PlayPark All-Stars is an annual tournament series by the live service gaming publisher PlayPark.
Background
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Star Weekend is an annual event by the PBA. For the 2018 season, the three all-star games were held on three legs on May 23, 25, and 27, 2018, in the cities of Digos in Davao del Sur, Batangas, and Iloilo, respectively.
On February 23, 2018, the PBA announced that it would be holding a logo-making contest for its All-Star Weekend. The winner would receive an all-expense-paid trip for two to one of the three legs of the event. The contest ran from February 23 until March 9, 2018.[1]
About
Winner
On March 15, 2018, the PBA announced the winner of the competition. Over 100 logos were submitted for the event, and the chosen logo was made by John Paul Limos, a 25-year-old part-time photographer and graphic design artist. Limos beat 44 other finalists.
According to the announcement, "The three stars prominently displayed above the winning logo suggest the move of holding the mid-season spectacle nationwide in a three-leg series. Just below the stars shows the PBA logo and the words All-Star written in bold letters, while in between are the three provinces hosting the event - Davao del Sur (Mindanao), Batangas (Luzon), and Iloilo (Visayas). The year 2018 is then written across a half shape basketball found underneath the logo."[2]
Controversy and disqualification
The news was posted on the official PBA Facebook page, along with the logo. Users immediately began noticing the logo's similarities to the PlayPark All-Stars logo, more specifically, the 2018 edition.
A day after the controversy, the PBA announced that it had disqualified Limos' entry for violating the contest's rules,[3] more specifically rule 2, which specified "[...] logo entries must be an original work of the artist."
The PBA held a new round of selections. On March 19, 2018, a new logo was selected as the winner.[4]
PlayPark commented on the incident in a now-deleted Facebook post, while also thanking the PBA "for taking immediate action regarding [the] matter."[5]References
- PBA launches sketch the All-Star 2018 logo contest. February 23, 2018. PBA.ph team. PBA.ph website. Retrieved on 2025-08-31.
- Part-time photographer wins PBA 2018 All-Star logo contest. March 15, 2018. PBA.ph team. PBA.ph website. Retrieved on 2025-08-31.
- All-Star logo contest winner disqualified. March 16, 2018. PBA.ph team. PBA.ph website. Retrieved on 2025-08-31.
- PBA All Star 2018 logo has a retro touch. PBA All Star 2018 logo has a retro touch. PBA.ph team. PBA.ph website. Retrieved on 2025-08-31.
- PBA All-Star logo contest winner DQ'd due to copied entry. March 16, 2018. Ivan Saldajeno. Dugout Philippines. Retrieved on 2025-08-31.