City goes after council candidate over logo use in campaign flyers

The City of Mesa is upset that Whittaker is using its three-tiered logo. (credit: Jeremy Whittaker for Mesa)

A well-known First Amendment lawyer has formally responded on behalf of a city council candidate in Mesa, Arizona, who is accused of abusing the city’s trademarked logo in his campaign literature.

In his Monday response letter, lawyer Paul Alan Levy informs the City of Mesa’s lawyer that “not every use of a trademark constitutes infringement, and the First Amendment protects Whittaker’s use of these logos for purposes of noncommercial political expression.” Levy represents political hopeful Jeremy Whittaker.

The dispute represents yet another seemingly overzealous attempt at restricting speech using intellectual property laws. Levy has proven successful at halting such cases: earlier this year he defended an anonymous YouTube user whose identity was attempted to be revealed by the rogue Georgia dentist who was the subject of this user’s video.

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