Court Says Law Blocking Blogger From Displaying County Logo On Stories Violates The First Amendment
from the logo-wars dept
Governments are pretty touchy about their logos. Last year, the FBI threw a hissy fit when it discovered that Wikipedia accurately displayed its logo on a page about (you guessed it) the FBI. Similarly, the White House got upset with a blogger who used the White House logo in a post about a meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. And, while there is a federal law against misuse of logos, that's for people using the logos to misrepresent themselves. Going after Wikipedia or journalists for using logos in a descriptive manner is silly.However, Fluvanna County, Virginia, decided that it had nothing better to do than to pass an ordinance similarly banning the use of its logo, in an effort that appeared to have been directed at a blogger who used the logo... on stories about the county. Thankfully, a court has struck down the law as being a First Amendment violation:
This sweeping prohibition encompasses a substantial number of uses of the seal that would not suggest government endorsement, such as the display on a website of an exact copy of an official County news release that contains the image of the seal next to the text, or the publication in a newspaper of a photograph of a County official delivering a speech from a podium upon which the County seal is attached and visible.The court does compare it to the similar federal law, but notes that at least the federal law makes it clear that it's only intended for use where there may be confusion over a potential endorsement. And, with that, here's the damn logo that the county can't sue us over.
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Filed Under: first amendment, fluvanna county, government, logo, reporting
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I'm confused
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It's not even illegal,
Reference: http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml
"What is a U.S. government work?"
A United States government work is prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties.
It is not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction,
derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work. Anyone may, without restriction under U.S. copyright laws:
reproduce the work in print or digital form;
create derivative works;
perform the work publicly;
display the work;
distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.
It goes on.
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It's not even illegal,
Reference: http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml
"What is a U.S. government work?"
A United States government work is prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties.
It is not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction,
derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work. Anyone may, without restriction under U.S. copyright laws:
reproduce the work in print or digital form;
create derivative works;
perform the work publicly;
display the work;
distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.
It goes on.
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Re: It's not even illegal,
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Re: It's not even illegal,
You cannot use U.S. government trademarks or the logos of U.S. government agencies without permission. For example, you cannot use an agency logo or trademark on your social media page.
Won't be so fast to post next time.
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Re: Re: It's not even illegal,
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Re: Re: It's not even illegal,
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Re:
But it made me wonder how they expect a writer to represent the subject of an article about the county should the writer wish to provide an illustration, like any other article might include a photo of its subject.
Graphics provide a window in a wall of text, it's a design decision. What else would you use? A picture of the town hall for an article on county issues that don't happen there doesn't make visual sense. It's rather stifling, eh?
The whole thing's silly and glad to see a court say the same.
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I wish...
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Re: Re: It's not even illegal,
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Its True
Look, Ive been to Fluvanna, they really dont have anything better to do.
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Re: It's not even illegal,
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ok
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still under copyright
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