diff --git a/gga_init.py b/gga_init.py
index 879fda83449178123873d13dcaefbb4e7ebcf0e0..1ae0ce4bb7f9916336fe3646ac8512bf3f84dcb8 100755
--- a/gga_init.py
+++ b/gga_init.py
@@ -64,9 +64,11 @@ class DeploySpeciesStack(speciesData.SpeciesData):
         if constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH in self.config.keys():
             if not config[constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH] == "" and os.path.isfile(os.path.abspath(config[constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH])):
                 banner_dest_path = os.path.join(self.species_dir, os.path.abspath("banner.png"))
-                if not os.path.isfile(banner_dest_path) and not os.path.islink(banner_dest_path) and not os.path.samefile(os.path.abspath(config[constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH]),banner_dest_path):
+                if not os.path.isfile(banner_dest_path) and not os.path.islink(banner_dest_path):
                     os.symlink(os.path.abspath(self.config[constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH]), banner_dest_path)
                     logging.info("Custom banner added: symlink from %s" % self.config[constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH])
+                else:
+                    logging.info("Banner already exists at %s. The banner defined in config is not added." % banner_dest_path)
             else:
                 logging.debug("Using default banner for Tripal pages because %s is not valid in 'config' file" % constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH)
                 self.config.pop(constants.CONF_TRIPAL_BANNER_PATH, None)