Gatineau Police Ditch New Logo After Copyright Concerns Surface
Just across the river from Ottawa, the Gatineau Police Service has quietly pulled its brand-new logo — and gone back to the old one — after a copyright question threw the whole redesign into doubt.
The force confirmed it is reverting to its previous logo after it came to light that, while the City of Gatineau holds a licence to use a stock image incorporated into the design, it's not clear that licence extends to using the graphic specifically within a police logo. The legal grey area was enough to pump the brakes entirely.
A Stock Image Gone Wrong
Branding headaches involving stock image licences are more common than you might think, but it's unusual to see them play out so publicly for a police service. Stock image licensing agreements can be notoriously specific — a licence that permits using an image on a website, for instance, may not automatically cover using it on government insignia or law enforcement materials.
In this case, the City of Gatineau may well have done everything right when it acquired the licence — but the specific context of embedding that image into an official police logo apparently falls into a murky enough zone that the safest move was to step back and reassess.
What Happens Next
Gatineau police haven't said whether they plan to revisit the new logo with a redesign that sidesteps the stock image entirely, or whether the branding refresh is on hold indefinitely. For now, officers and vehicles will continue to display the previous logo while the situation is sorted out.
It's a small but telling reminder of the complexity lurking behind even routine government rebranding projects. What looks like a straightforward logo update can quickly become a legal puzzle once intellectual property rights come into play.
Ottawa-Gatineau Connection
For residents of the National Capital Region — on both the Ontario and Quebec sides of the Ottawa River — Gatineau police are a familiar presence. The force patrols a city of nearly 300,000 people directly adjacent to Ottawa, and the two forces regularly coordinate on cross-river matters. Any change to the Gatineau force's public identity is noticed by the broader NCR community.
Whether this turns into a full logo redesign or a quiet resolution once the licensing questions are settled, Gatineau police will likely want to put this chapter behind them as quickly as possible. Few things undermine a rebranding effort faster than having to undo it before it's barely launched.
Source: CBC Ottawa
