You're right in the sense that comparing a logo to a font isn't like-to-like.
However, his point for me is wider than that - if the logo triggers a mental link to something else, even if it's a different concept, that's potentially very bad.
The author is referring in lay terms to the legal concept of trademark distinctiveness (ie, not-being-generic-ness) rather than the concept of conflict between two brands (a different legal principle, albeit one that is clearly important). I don't know whether or not this is deliberate, but either way it's done very well.
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The logos of Path and Pinterest are very similar.
Pinterest was actually designed by Mike Deal and fontographer Juan Carlos Pagan. The letter P looks like a needle & thread (i.e. a pin).
http://blog.pinterest.com/post/31465690453/new-logo-design-n...
Path... is a font.
http://www.dafont.com/forum/read/32786/path-logo-font
Yeah but you don't pin things to bulletin boards using needle and thread so while clever, it doesn't really match their concept like you suggest.
Pinterest is about the ideas and projects that are being pinned more than just about the act of pinning.
A needle and thread is a nice way to represent those ideas that are being shared.
You're right in the sense that comparing a logo to a font isn't like-to-like.
However, his point for me is wider than that - if the logo triggers a mental link to something else, even if it's a different concept, that's potentially very bad.
The author is referring in lay terms to the legal concept of trademark distinctiveness (ie, not-being-generic-ness) rather than the concept of conflict between two brands (a different legal principle, albeit one that is clearly important). I don't know whether or not this is deliberate, but either way it's done very well.