City Of Marathon Hand-Waves Stupid Cease And Desist Sent By Councilman Over City Seal

from the be-gone-with-ye dept

Earlier this month, we were discussing the odd (read: stupid) campaign by a City Councilman for the City of Marathon in Florida to get his city to trademark the city seal. The whole thing was frustratingly stupid for all kinds of reasons. For starters, trademark law is very clear that municipal governments can't trademark their seals, full stop. Councilman Mark Senmartin wanted his own government to do something it couldn't legally do. Cool. The city seemed mostly unaware of this at the time, instead refusing to bow to Senmartin's demands since there had been virtually zero issues with people using the seal inappropriately elsewhere, with one minor issue during a local political campaign notwithstanding. And, to wrap the absurdity of it all in a nice little dumb bow, Senmartin proceeded to apply for the trademark himself and send his own city a cease and desist notice, apparently in an attempt to prove a point.

That point appears not to have taken, however, as the City of Marathon has flicked the C&D off of its shoulders, having apparently educated itself on trademark law.

The Marathon City Council’s refusal on March 12 to canonize an official city seal led to Councilman Mark Senmartin applying to trademark the town’s logo with the state a week later. However, according to Marathon City Attorney David Migut, that won’t prevent the city from using the logo.

Senmartin gave the city a 30-day cease-and-desist notice March 26 at a Marathon council meeting, but Migut said after researching the matter that state and federal law recognizes “first-to-use” rights regardless of a trademark application being filed. The city chose the logo during a design contest after incorporation in 1999 and began using it in 2000.

Migut wrote in a memo to the council April 9 that first-use rights mean the city does not have to worry about the cease-and-desist notice. Migut also wrote that a municipal insignia cannot be registered as a trademark, according to state and federal law. He added that if the city wanted more enforcement power over use of the logo, it could adopt an ordinance. Thus far, three councilman have refused to pass such an ordinance.

It's enough to make you wonder if one of you fair folk simply sent Migut a copy of our post on the topic, because he basically tracks the arguments we made. I shudder to think what the reaction from Senmartin will be, given the brash displays of ignorance in the past, but hopefully this will now all go away. I also can't imagine he made many friends in the government of which he is a part, having tried to C&D his way to a point that never had any validity.

Still, there's something refreshing in the age of ownership when a group so forcefully pushes back on the idea of trademarking all the things.

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Filed Under: city seal, david migut, florida, marathon, mark senmartin, trademark