On Aug. 22, The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit settled a dispute between two political organizations that argued over trademark of similar logos.
Alliance for Good Government was granted summary judgment in its trademark infringement lawsuit against Coalition For Better Government in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The appeals court has now affirmed that ruling after the coalition challenged the lower court’s decision.
Although both organizations are very similar -- as they have used their logos for ads and sample ballots to campaign for political candidates in New Orleans -- the alliance was the first organization to create its logo. It did so in the 1960s, roughly 20 years before the coalition created its logo in the 1980s or 1990s.
While the coalition said on appeal that there’s a concern of whether the Lanham Act can be applied to this case “to what it characterizes as its political, non-commercial speech,” the appeals court refused to look at that issue and instead ruled against coalition because it “failed to properly raise them… and the district court never reached them,” according to the opinion.
The appeals court also pointed out Coalition For Better Government’s argument of whether its similar logo would actually cause confusion between it and the alliance. The coalition said the logos are different because its logo has a hawk and Alliance for Good Government’s has an eagle. Still, the appeals court ruled the lower court was correct when it determined both birds are actually identical.
But the coalition was victorious in one aspect as the appeals court disagreed with the lower court that it should also have to change its name along with the logo. The appeals court ruled that coalition would only have to change its logo. Ultimately, the appeals court affirmed the trial court’s ruling in summary judgment for Alliance for Good Government.
Judges W. Eugene Davis, Catharina Haynes, and Kyle Duncan authored the opinion.