Who designed The Beatles logo?

[drollman]

I’m talking about signage on Ringo’s bass drum, “The Beatles” with the famous oversized “T” in “Beatles”. IIRC, John & Paul were art school students; did they or one of thier friends (Stu?) design this logo? Was it ever trademarked? Did the designer make any money from it–and does someone “own” it today?

Drollman–over 200 posts with a spelling mistake!

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

Just a WAG, but could it have been their early friend Bob Wooler, the Cavern Club MC? He’s been described in many Beatles books as being fond of word- and letterplay. He would come up with things like an advertisement for a show at the Litherland Town Hall and use the same intial letters for the words “LIvely Time Here”.

[Ceejaytee]

According to this site discussing Ringo’s drumkits (scroll down the page), http://web2.iadfw.net/gshultz/drumhist.html

Sometime in early 1963, Ringo planned to replace his Premier kit, so he went to Music City, a large music store on Salisbury Street in London, to order a new Premier kit. The owner of Music City, Ivor Arbiter, had just been granted exclusive rights to distribute U.S. made Ludwig drums in Britain. Dave Martin, a salesman at Music City, talked up the Ludwig Drums to Ringo. Ringo was familiar with the drums because he had played a Ludwig kit owned by Tony Mansfield (drummer for the Dakotas). Ringo fell in love with the new Black Oyster Pearl drum finish. When he learned that it was only available on Ludwig Drums, the deal was sealed. There was one catch. Ringo insisted that a large Ludwig logo be printed across the bass drum head. At that time Ludwig did not put logos on its drumheads. Brian Epstein, The Beatles’ manager, quickly countered that the band was called “The Beatles” and that the bands name should be displayed on the drumhead. Arbiter, who realized the marketing potential and wanted to save the sale, quickly came up with a compromise. Arbiter thought that a large Beatles logo could be printed across the drumhead, but room could also be left for Ringo’s requested Ludwig logo. He brought out a piece of paper, drew a drumhead and then sketched out the famous “The Beatles” drum logo. Ringo took possession of the new Ludwig kit and new logo on June 17, 1963.

Google is an amazing invention.

[mobo85]

A quick check of the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that the Beatles logo is trademarked. It is owned by Apple Corps Ltd., which I believe is the Beatles’ own company.