Tokyo 2020 scrapped its Olympic logo after the designer's team was caught copying

In July 2015 Tokyo unveiled the emblem for its 2020 Olympics, designed by star graphic designer Kenjiro Sano. Within days Belgian designer Olivier Debie pointed out that it was almost identical to his 2013 logo for the Théâtre de Liège and sued to stop its use. The organizing committee initially dismissed the claim — Debie's design was not a registered trademark.

Then more copying surfaced: Sano's team had used a photograph from a website without permission, his proposal resembled a work by German typographer Jan Tschichold, and he had already admitted that tote bags made for a brewery incorporated other designers' work, blaming assistants. On 1 September 2015, at a crisis meeting with Olympic minister Toshiaki Endo, organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe and JOC head Tsunekazu Takeda, the emblem was scrapped — weeks after organizers had defended it.

Sano denied plagiarism, calling the claims 'completely groundless' and saying his design was inspired by the 1964 Tokyo emblem. The committee opened a fresh competition, and a replacement emblem followed in 2016. Japan Airlines and other sponsors had already used the scrapped mark — an awkward finish to a summer that had also seen Zaha Hadid's stadium design abandoned.