The 10% Myth

Have you ever heard ‘Change a logo by 10% and then you can legally use it’?

Unfortunately for some businesses, it’s untrue.

There is no legal ‘percentage rule’ for altering logos, illustrations, or artwork.

If the new version remains ‘confusingly similar’ to the original or reproduces a ‘substantial’ part of it, you risk trademark infringement, lawsuits, or cease-and-desist orders.

In simpler terms, it’s whether a consumer will believe a product to be something it isn’t.

Here’s two examples:

Taylor Swift vs Swift Home

Image #1

Image #2

Image #1 – Taylor Swift’s signature, used on much of her merchandise and very-much trademarked.

Image #2 – a new brand called ‘Swift Home’ from Cathay Home, a large manufacturer of homewares sold in department stores like Target and Nordstrom.

From a visual point of view, they are clearly different. Easily fulfilling the ‘10% changed’ benchmark.

Taylor Swift’s lawyers opposed the trademark, citing similarities of the cursive ‘Swift’ to Taylor’s signature, claiming it will cause confusion, with consumers mistaking Swift Home products as being related to Taylor Swift.

Rather than fight the case, Cathay Home abandoned the identity, so we’ll never know for certain who would have emerged on top in court.

But all the lawyer-ing in the world doesn’t change the high probability of a Swiftie answering “Yes” to a simple question: “Do you think this product is from Taylor?”

Tabasco vs Stoli

In late 2025, Stoli (previously Stolichnaya) released a vodka called Halapēno Pepper (far left).

The bottle top and neck sleeve colours changed to Red & Green, deviating from the standard Stoli Gold & Red packaging (second from the left).

What product has a recognisable red bottle top and green neck sleeve? Tabasco Pepper Sauce (second from the right).

Sure, the label is a circle rather than a diamond, and they’ve kept the Stoli branding. Compared to Tabasco’s branding, they’ve definitely changed more than 10%.

But picture this.

You’re standing at the bottle shop, looking for a spicy vodka to make Bloody Marys at your next cocktail party. You spot the Stoli vodka. Sub-consciously, the bottle reminds you of something. An image of the Tabasco bottle pops into your mind. Bam. You trust Tabasco as a good product and buy the vodka. Except, it isn’t a collaboration with Tabasco at all.

That’s why Tabasco is suing Stoli.

The other element adding weight to Tabasco’s case: in 2024, both companies explored a collaboration, which didn’t go to market (mockup image on the far right).

Fast forward to now and Tabasco has sued Stoli over what’s called “Trade Dress” infringement, where the overall look and feel is protected (rather than simply a logo).

The dispute is yet to appear in front of a judge, but rest assured there will be ‘hot takes’ on this ‘spicy topic’.

And that 10% rule?

Myth busted.