City Logo, Public Domain?

Something that I've addressed in the past is the illegal use of the GM and City of Wentzville logos by Alderman Nick Guccione on his campaign literature. It was pointed out numerous times that they are proprietary and off limits without written authorization from the City. The logo was designed by Leon Tow and copyrighted by the City. I saw a campaign flier designed by Tow's committee for Mayor which illustrated the flag he had designed. Tow approached the city attorney asking his opinion and he suggested that it should not be used, even though it was taken prior to the copyright. Regatding the GM logo, I heard that Guccione got a nasty letter from GM but I have no information of any litigation or fine.

Wednesday evening, April 11th, during Guccione's Alderman's report, He apologized to the Board saying "it was used inadvertently" on some of his campaign fliers. I don't believe that it was an accident. I believe his use of the city logo was strategic. Even though none of the other candidates turned him over to the Ethics Board, where there would have been fines levied, the unauthorized use of copyrights is a serious offense. The Library of Congress has a team of attorneys waiting to be called in to deal with violators, which includes severe fines and even jail time. He said: "I didn't use it for promotion" which begs the question; why did he use it?

Guccione said to the Board that he takes responsibility for his committee and went on to tell them that he is ready to take any punishment or fine they deem appropriate. Guccione filed at least three ethics violations against candidates in this past election which resulted in fines for those candidates. He knew what he was doing then and realizes that at least one of those candidates won their election, that Alderman might not feel so forgiving. Guccione ran a terribly intrusive campaign with slander and ethics violations at it's core. He knew that those candidates would be fined by his actions and it will be interesting to see how his apology is received by this board, half of which were at the butt of his slam campaign and none of them returned his volleys.

Copyright fines at the Library of Congress are stiff and based on a per instance basis. Guccione used the city logo at least six times that I saw, there could be more. Copyright fines could start at $500 for the first instance and increased with each subsequent violation. Even at a flat rate fine of $500 per instance, Guccione could be in for a  lot more than he was looking for when he made his apology.

I don't know the city procedure for levying fines for copyright infringements but I'm sure something needs to be done. If nothing happens and the fine is minimal, I can see companies around town using it on their letterhead. Hell if it's cheap enough, I might even consider using it here on The Wentzvillian. It's in the hands of the Aldermen and city attorney. I wonder, since it's not a personnel issue, or land acquisition, would it be litigation and be held in closed session? I hope not, if it were a public hearing, the citizens would know that it's not OK to use the city logo and that healthy fines would insure it stay out of the public domain.