Google and Jessie explains why the Aboriginal Flag was removed from Australia Day Doodle
Posted on January 26, 2010 by by valerirojas
I published a post earlier this morning about the new Google Australia Day doodle and there were questions why the aboriginal flag from the original competition doodle was missing? in fact you can go to the google homepage and search for Google Australia Day and you will find many articles asking the same question.
As mentioned in a comment from my previous post by Club Troppo, the reason why the aboriginal flag was removed was because the flag was protected by copyright and Google was unable to publish it on the homepage today.
You can read Google’s explanation at Google Australia Blog site where you will also find tips and ideas about celebrating Australia Day.
“The Aboriginal flag is protected by copyright. In 1997 the Federal Court of Australia recognised Harold Thomas as the flag’s author. The flag may only be reproduced in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 or with the permission of Mr Harold Thomas.” Club Troppo
Obviously Google and Mr Harold Thomas could not agree on publishing the flag in the Google homepage, however the original doodle with the flag is displayed in the Doodle for Google Competition website.
UPDATE:
Jessie Du was kind enough to comment on my previous post about the Google Doodle Australia Day with the comment here:
“The Aboriginal flag was removed because of copyright reasons. Harold Thomas didn’t allow Google to upload my logo with the Aboriginal flag, as he is the owner and designer of the it. So, they had someone to digitally remove the flag, leave the ’sun’ and add more ’sky and stars’. I was really disappointed when we got an email telling us this, but yeah, it’s not like I can do anything about it. :l”
You can also visit her website where she has a post from last Thursday  about the removal of the flag, it seems to me that it
“Edit : Mum got a call this morning from Google, seems like, because of copyrights, they have to remove the aboriginal flag in [link] . Apparently the designer of the flag, didn’t approve of it”
So there you have it, you can’t mess around with any copyright work or you could get in trouble but by the looks of it Google just got in trouble anyway.
24 Comments to “Google and Jessie explains why the Aboriginal Flag was removed from Australia Day Doodle”
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Ive always been under the impression thats its NOT a flag Its a banner.
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Ive always been under the impression thats its NOT a flag Its a banner.
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[...] another update: Valeri at Typeboard has more, including a comment from Jessie. This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 9:07 [...]
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Having had the unfortunate experience of doing business with Harold Thomas in the past I can only imagine that he asked google for 1 billion dollars.
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Wow, a billion? If it’s THAT much, I don’t have any complaints to Google.
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Congratulations Jessie – that is a fantastic design and you should be proud of it.
It’s a shame that Google couldn’t use it in it’s original state but that is neither your fault nor theirs.
A really fabulous effort.
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I agree with Di, great design, congratulation Jessie.
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[...] come to symbolise, then we should also be having a look at the debate raging (here, here, here and here) over Google vs. Howard Thomas as to who is to blame for the Aboriginal flag being dropped from the [...]
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Original version with flag is viewable if using your mobile.
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Congratulations on the doodle to Jessie and shame on that Harold Thomas, so does this guy charges anyone who wants to use the aboriginal flag? is that ridiculous or what?
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Typeboard, valeri. valeri said: RT @typeboard: Google and Jessie explains why the Aboriginal Flag was removed from Australia Day Doodle http://bit.ly/6WhCe8 [...]
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I have never heard of having to pay anyone to display a flag, nice one Thomas.
Maybe it is time for the government to design a national aboriginal flag that anyone can use without having to pay for it, what a joke.
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Unfortunately, the flag is now recognised as an official flag under the flags act of australia, and the commonwealth must pay royalties to mr Thomas. You are allowed to fly an aboriginal flag any day of the year but only if it is one made by the company he has granted a license to reproduce the image to. I think it is ridiculous that something that represents the aboriginal people, in which he even admits to, can be held at ransom! there is an article about how he doesn’t want his image being put on the australian flag if we become a republic but if they offer him enough money he will consider it. What happened to not using it for commercial purpose! thats what you said Mr Thomas! I have read the judgement on this ase when it went to the federal court, and there is no reasoning as to the policy arguments of what implications granting copyright would give, but rather which out of the three applicants was the true designer. I think if you want to say he has copyright then fine! acknowledge him, but the copyright tribunal shouldnt have granted him royalties! its unaustralian. Clearly jesse’s design shows that the aboriginal flag is part of australia not just his!
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Odd that the original version is plastered all over the net, but Google couldn’t publish it.
So aboriginals have chosen a flag whose copyright is beholden to some guy. Losers.
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Do you really think Aboriginal ppl sat down and thought ‘yeah lets use this flag design becasue its copyrighted’ NO lol it was uniting symbolism during a time of segregation that ppl readily accepted with pride. You are seriously the loser for even making that comment, really! think before you speak such idiodic crap lol
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I saw many many people walking around yesterday with the aboriginal flag panted on their cheeks.
I do a bit of face painting myself and this episode has alarmed me. Could I be breaching Mr Thomas’ copyright?
The NAIDOC website has this to say:
“The Australian Aboriginal flag is protected under copyright and may be reproduced only in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 or with the permission of Harold Thomas. Contact details are:
Mr Harold Thomas
PO Box 41807
Casuarina NT 0810″
(link: http://www.naidoc.org.au/NAIDOC-about/aboriginalFlag.aspx)
Well, I don’t believe my face painting activities allow me to reproduce the flag “in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968″, therefore I must require permission from Harold Thomas.
Therefore, I am in the process of composing a letter to Mr Thomas. I’m going to ask him if he would like to suggest some sort of royalty structure for my face painting activities.
I strongly suggest all other face painters do the same.
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Unfortunately, yes you would be breaching copyright! ridiculous
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I liked the style of the animals in the doodle. Very artistic, and a nice gentle colour scheme.
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Fantastic drawing Jessie. The use of soft colours is excellent. However I am very disapointed that your original design could not be used. As an Aboriginal Australian I am embarressed. Mr Thomas, you should hang your head in shame, this was a childs artwork done in good faith and showed age beyond her years, and it was only to be displayed for 24hrs on a day where all citizens of our country should unite. I wonder how much money he actually for it.
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That Thomas guys must be so into money, fancy not allowing it. And fancy anyone ‘owning’ the aboriginal flag. Stupid. So who ‘owns’ the Australian flag then?
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The British government of course! We don’t have our own flag yet. We’ve fought every war under a British colonial flag since colonisation. The Australian government shares copyright with the British government. When I was at school I remember we were suppose the pay twenty cents every time we raised the flag each morning, ten cents to the government and ten cents to the queen, or something like that (not that we actually did). We’re the only member of a commonwealth that no longer exists. I love Australia, it’s like living in a country invented by Terry Pratchet.
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Some more from this Thomas guy in news.com.au, he just had to tell everybody why Google didn’t want to pay him millions for his flag.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/disrespectful-google-offered-pittance-for-flag-says-designer/story-e6frfro0-1225824568927
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Interesting reading, thank you Scoop. I have to wonder this comment The prizes had been issued before I’d been contacted – that put me on the back foot, in a defensive manner. by Mr Thomas, if he was going to ask for money from the child ?
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Hi,
I am new here..First post to just say hi to all community.
Thanks
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