The Belgian designer of a logo he charges has been plagiarized says he will take the International Olympic Committee to court over use of the design for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The IOC said last week it did not believe there was any problem with the design by Japanese artist Kenjiro Sano.

Sano rejected the plagiarism claims on Wednesday as "completely baseless," saying he was "convinced this is a piece that has no parallel in the world".

Designer Olivier Debie begged to differ. In a joint statement with his lawyer Philippe Mottard, Debie said yesterday they had decided on legal action because Sano had not demonstrated that he had arrived at the logo design on his own.

"Sano gave no explanation showing the artistic progression and development of his logo. He only explained how, according to him, the philosophy behind his design was different," he said.

Sano argued that his logo featured basic geometric features around the letter 'T' — for Tokyo, team and tomorrow, with a red circle representing a beating heart.

Debie's design for a theater in the eastern Belgian city of Liege, has a very similar shape in white against a black background but without the red circle.

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