Seattle Seahawks send Tiffany Smiley a cease-and-desist letter
The Seattle Seahawks sent a cease-and-desist letter to Republican Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley, joining several Seattle-based organizations in demanding she stop using their branding in her campaign advertising.
The Seahawks sent the letter demanding Smiley remove or blur the team branding visible on her husband's jersey in a campaign ad. Her husband, Scotty, is an Army veteran who was blinded while serving in Iraq, and the team honored him as part of a campaign back in 2014.
“Absent an agreement with the National Football League (“NFL”) or the Seahawks, third parties are prohibited from using Seahawks Trademarks in any manner that may suggest that it is in any way endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated with, the NFL or the Seahawks," the Sept. 6 letter says. "Given that the Smiley for Washington campaign has no such agreement with the NFL or the Seahawks, we must ask that it immediately cease its unauthorized commercial use of Seahawks Trademarks. ... It is our hope to resolve this matter quickly and amicably.”
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Another campaign ad that launched on Sept. 20 highlights public safety problems in Seattle and got hit with two more cease-and-desists letters from Starbucks and the Seattle Times. In this ad, Smiley appears before a dilapidated coffee shop with a Starbucks sign on the building and uses headlines from the Seattle Times that include the paper's nameplate. Instead of complying, Smiley's campaign published the letters and accused them of unfairly targeting her when her opponent, Sen. Patty Murray (D), has used logos in similar ways.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/seattle-seahawks-wade-into-washington-senate-race-with-cease-and-desist-letter/ar-AA12ympl
Once again it shows Republicans don't give a shit about copyrights.
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