Copyrighted logo lands candidate in a pinch

By Alan Panebaker

City Council candidate Nick Frost's "Made in Ashland" campaign logo wasn't as home-grown as he thought.

Frost, who is running for council seat four against incumbent Kate Jackson and two other newcomers, designed a logo with a yellow pear missing a bite out of it. On the pear, a sticker reading "Made in Ashland," marks Frost's campaign platform of re-localizing the Ashland economy.

Apparently, Frost's "A" looks too much like the copyrighted City of Ashland logo. City attorney Mike Franell approached Frost at a Sept. 6 council meeting to inform him of the problem.

"It's kind of like you're walking along, and you hit a sliding glass door," Frost said.

On Sept. 8, Franell sent Frost a letter stating why the logo was an infringement on a copyright by Eric Warren and Rogue Design Group — a consultant the city hired to design its logo in 2000. Frost thought he did due diligence by slightly modifying the logo, but that was not enough for the City of Ashland.

"We do not think your use of the logo falls within fair use provisions even though you claim to have altered it," Franell's letter reads. "This is primarily because it is still intended to make the reader think of the City of Ashland when reading the material."

Frost started using the logo in the middle of August, and two weeks passed before anyone mentioned the possibility of a copyright violation. Although he thinks he was in the right, Frost started working on a fresh logo Monday. He said he sees the logo as something similar to the American flag that represents everyone in the city and is disheartened by the fact that he had to design a new one. He does not intend to take the city to court over the issue. Frost sees his logo as representing the people of Ashland — not the incorporated government.

"Part of it is also I think the city's started acting more as a corporation than city government," Frost said.

Jennifer Bridges, a copyright attorney in Ashland, said local governments can hold copyrights on logos, but minor typographic variations are not copyrighted.

"It doesn't have that work of art minimum that's required for copyright protection," Bridges said.