On March 5, the California Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit against the Asian American Small Business PAC, charging that the PAC sent campaign literature on behalf of a Republican running in the March 17 State Senate special election, district 7. The complaint is that the campaign literature uses the party’s elephant logo, even though the candidate, Michaela Hertle, is not endorsed by the Republican Party. Here is the complaint in the case, which was filed in the eastern district, 2:15cv-505.
The Republican National Committee trademarked its logo in 1969, according to the Complaint.
When the Washington state top-two case, Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange, was heard in the Ninth Circuit after being remanded by the U.S. Supreme Court, the lower federal courts said the Lanham Act doesn’t apply to political party names and symbols. The Lanham Act is the federal law concerning trademark infringement.
Perhaps a medium should be brought in to reach Thomas Nast for his opinion!
The District Court did not say that the Lantham Act does not apply to political party names and symbols. What the District Court did say was that, in general, trademark protection only applied to commercial activities. In printing ballots with the names of candidates, including their self-expressed political beliefs, there is no way to construe that the State of Washington was engaging in commerce. The Court also said that any misappropriation of the name or symbols could be by other private parties.
The 9th Circuit noted that the State of Washington was not competing with the Libertarian Party.
The mailer by the Asian American Small Business PAC was not on behalf of candidate Michaela Hertle, who had withdrawn her candidacy.
The interesting question is whether Bill Wong, political director of AASB-PAC, is the same Bill Wong who made a non-monetary contribution of AASB-PAC and listed his occupation as chief of staff for Assemblyman Anthony Rendon?
As you may recall, Rendon was one of the more noteworthy contributors to John Perez’s scheme to skirt campaign finance laws. Democratic candidates would collect individual contributions, ostensibly to support their run for office. The candidate would turn around and contribute the money for more competitive races. Rendon won his race with 70% of the vote. As a freshman assemblyman, Rendon was appointed a committee chair by Perez.
If the case goes to trial, discovery could be interesting.
California doesn’t permit candidates to withdraw. The candidate is free to tell people not to vote for her, but she is not permitted to withdraw and in fact hasn’t withdrawn.
ANY stuff in the allegedly sovereign 50 States about Assumed Names and logos / symbols ???
— even *common law* stuff ???
John’s Food Store, etc.
In the past two weeks the Asian American Small Business PAC has received $115,000 in contributions from union-based PACs:
$25,000 AFSCME
$25,000 Firefighters Union
$10,000 Nurses Union
$40,000 Service Employees Union
$15,000 School Employees Union (PACE).
This about matches the expenditures of AASB PAC in the special election for SD-7. Did they know that their contribution was going to be use to misappropriate the symbols of the Republican Party.
About $8,000 was spent at a print shop owned by the firefighters union. Was this a kickback? Would the printers union sue if someone used the union bug on a mailing?
The phone number for the Bill Wong, AASB PAC political director matches that of Bill Wong, who is (or was) chief of staff of Assemblyman Anthony Rendon.
She has not campaigned, and apparently has not met the $1000 threshold for campaign finance reporting, and has endorsed another candidate.
Acting “on behalf of” someone has a specific meaning. Your use implies that the candidate had hired the PAC as her agent, It really appears that the AASB PAC was acting on behalf of the unions that dumped $100,000 into its coffers.
The California Ballot does not even carry party labels. So why should the GOP care of who uses the stupid looking elephant? There was a time when a label make it easy for the illiterate voter to vote a certain party – especially in the South where the Rooster was the most used label. And to be honest, it was used by the Republicans for what few voters they had.
Many people said that in 1964, when people went to the polls to vote for Goldwater, they just marked the elephant,not realizing that it gave votes for Republicans running for lesser office. This is one reason why Republicans won 5 out of 8 Congressional districts in 1964, plus hundreds of local offices.
Today, most voters can read, and they know how to split their ticket. Party labels are useless, unless they are still used on the ballots.
I am surprised you think the California ballot does not carry party labels. The California June and November ballots, for president, congress, state executive offices (except Supt. of Public Instruction) and legislature certainly do carry party labels.
What Alabama Independent refers to is more commonly called the “party symbol” or “party emblem”. Alabama ballots do carry the party symbol as part of the straight ticket device.
Interestingly, the parties with a straight ticket device depends on which parties are running in that locality.
http://www.alabamavotes.gov/ElectionInfo/2014SampleBallots.aspx?a=voters
In 2014, there was a straight ticket device for the Alabama Independence, Libertarian, and Constitution in certain parts of the state.
The Libertarian Party symbol was the the Statue of Liberty on an outline of the state with a banner reading ‘Libertarian Party of Alabama’ It was used in Bibb, Chilton, Jefferson, and Shelby counties where the party had countywide candidates.
The Constitution Party symbol was a stylized eagle with a star for the eye. It was used in Elmore and (part of?) Marshall counties.
The Alabama Independence Party symbol was the cross of St. Andrew, with what appears to be a sun symbol on a pedestal. These are enclosed in a circle with the words “Alabama Independence Party” around the edges. It was used in HD-69 in (parts of) Autauga, Lowndes, Montgomery, and Wilcox counties.
The Democratic Party symbol was a donkey head looking through a window shaped like an outline of Alabama, inside a circle with the words “Alabama Democratic Party”. It is really a poor design when rendered in black and white on a ballot. Hopefully voters can read.
Until 1996, the rooster was symbol of the party, though the “White Supremacy” banner had been dropped at an earlier date.
The Republican Party symbol is the stylized elephant logo at issue in the lawsuit in California, with the text “Alabama Republican Party” underneath.
If Washington or California used these party emblems on their ballots, the parties might have had a better case.
But instead, they have a statement of each candidate’s personal political beliefs.
How many different logos for the same robot party hacks in the various States / DC / occupied colonies ???