Yeah, we've seen this before

Is there a copycat movement among NBA designers? Appears to be. After the wild success of the Nets logo, designed by Jay-Z in 2012,  the Raptors tried their hand last year and came up with something very similar.  Same thing: black and white ... with some color variations (check), circular (check) a basketball within a ring (check) and the city name imprinted on ring (check).

Look familiar?

Now comes the 76ers who on Monday applied for trademark protection on 30 different applications of five basic designs, with one, their new primary logo, sure looking like a ripoff of the Jay-Z design  It's not black and white but is circular (check), has a basketball within a ring (check) and the city name imprinted on ring (check).

For the record, here are their five designs the Sixers applied for.  Trademark applications don't contain color so we don't have full idea of what they will look like and, to be fair (not our strong suit), only one seems to have a Nets forebear. It is, however, the primary one.  Personally, we like Ben Franklin.

We're waiting on the Knicks now.