Fountain Hills mayoral candidate Brenda Kalivianakis may face legal action from his continued use of the town logo in his campaign materials.
The town issued a demand letter on Wednesday as a followup to another cease-and-desist letter they sent to Kalivianakis, a councilmember for the town and an attorney, earlier this month. The town retained the services of Womble Bond Dickson law firm to facilitate the letter.
In their demand letter, which the Arizona Daily Independent reviewed, the town gave Kalivianakis until April 29 to cease using his campaign logo.
In order to be in full compliance, Kalivianakis would have to remove his logo from all campaign materials, cease distribution of existing materials bearing the logo, and provide written assurances that no third parties acting on his behalf would use the infringing imagery going forward.
The letter noted that use of town-identifying imagery in campaign materials would expose the town to legal harm.
“This risk of false endorsement is especially problematic in the municipal election contest. The town must remain scrupulously neutral and is legally prohibited from using town resources to influence the outcome of an election,” stated the letter. “The town prefers to resolve this matter promptly and without litigation, but it must protect its intellectual property and its obligation to maintain strict neutrality in municipal elections.”
State law prohibits municipalities from using resources for the purpose of influencing election outcomes. The town logo is trademarked and qualifies as intellectual property.
Each violation of this state law could incur thousands in civil penalties.
The demand letter identified three critical shared similarities between Kalivianakis’s logo and the town logo: an identical central fountain depiction, an identical water plume and spray configuration, and three identical horizontal “water” line elements. These elements, the letter noted, were direct copies that made independent creation impossible.
“These are not generic or incidental design features. They are distinctive, original elements that form core visual identity of the Town Logo and that the public associates with the Town itself,” stated the letter. “Although your campaign logo adds wording (‘Brenda for Mayor’) and additional line elements to the plume to form the letter ‘K,’ those additions do not meaningfully alter the overall commercial impression created by the copied fountain imagery. To the contrary, the shared elements are dominant and are likely to cause confusion as to sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement, suggesting — incorrectly — that the Town endorses or supports your campaign.”
Attached to the demand letter was a voluntary agreement also noting that continued use of the logo after April 29 would result in legal action.
So far, Kalivianakis’s only public response has been one of denial as to any wrongdoing.
Kalivianakis claimed in Facebook posts made earlier this month and last month that the initial cease-and-desist letter was mostly a political attack attempting to “silence” him, and not so much a protective measure to prevent the town from running afoul of state law.
“It has nothing to do with any trademark,” said Kalivianakis. “The Fountain brings us all together. It’s how we orient ourselves; how we know where we are; it’s what connects us to this community.”
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