Correction appended

Three politicians running for Georgia governor and Georgia senate in 2010 remain ambiguous as to whether or not their campaigns will stop using the University’s registered trademarks on campaign materials.

The three politicians – gubernatorial candidates John Oxendine and Eric Johnson and state senator David Shafer – did not seek or gain permission from the University to use its trademarks, according to Assistant Athletic Director Alan Thomas.

“I haven’t seen a request from a politician to use a University logo,” Thomas said. “This happens every election cycle. I don’t know if we would allow it to be used by any politician.”

In the election cycle last fall, the University’s trademarks showed up on material promoting politicians such as presidential candidate John McCain and U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin. Neither of them was granted permission to use the trademark.

Tim Echols, manager of the Oxendine campaign, said it would cease using the University trademarks on campaign stickers until the proper paperwork could be processed, in an e-mail Monday afternoon.

An hour later he contacted The Red & Black with a different statement.

“We are proud to show our support for the Bulldog Nation,” Echols said in a phone interview Monday. “And anticipate that the long and proud tradition of candidates choosing to identify with UGA will not change anytime soon.”

Echols said Gov. Sonny Perdue used the official University logo on bumper stickers in his two campaigns for governor. Perdue was not granted permission either.

“There is a deep and time honored tradition in Georgia politics where candidates from both the Democrat and Republican parties have used various official logos from UGA,” Echols said.

On Tuesday evening, Echols again contacted The Red & Black and said the campaign’s stance had changed once more. Echols said the campaign would not be printing any more stickers with the University’s trademarks.

“The President’s office [of the University] brought it to our attention that UGA is more protective of its trademarks now, so, we will not be using UGA’s official logos any more,” Echols said.

Echols, however, said the campaign may still continue distributing “Dawgs for Oxendine” stickers without the trademarked Georgia “G” oval.

Last week, Oxendine spoke to the University Law Republicans on campus, where he brought a stack of the stickers containing the “G” and distributed them to the audience.

Ben Fry, Johnson campaign manager, said in an e-mail Tuesday the campaign apologized for getting ahead of itself in its support of the University.

“I do make this commitment – the minute we start making a profit on free stickers, we’ll be sure to turn over any income to the University,” Fry said.

But Fry did not say whether the Johnson campaign plans to stop its use of the trademarked oval “G” and the “Bulldog Head” mark in its campaign material.

David Shafer, a University almnus and one-time candidate for lieutenant governor in 2010 but has dropped out and will run for reelection in the state senate, has also been using the University’s registered trademarks on campaign material. Attempts to reach the Shafer campaign for comment were unsuccessful as of Wednesday.

Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs, said the University does ask politicians to cease and desist in their use of University trademarks as soon as it finds out about their use.

“Every time it happens, we contact them and ask them to stop,” Jackson said. He said the University has never given any politicians the right to use University trademarks and never will.

“We can take legal action against them if pushed to that, but that usually is not the case,” Jackson said. He said the University will ask politicians to cease and desist in its use of campaign material which intends to relate to the University.

Open records requested by The Red & Black indicate the politicians in question never filed a request through the University to use the registered trademarks. All requests to use the University’s logos and trademarks must go through the University’s Office of Financial Services.

The OFS is the designated “gatekeeper” of all trademarks and logos for the University, according to its Web site. This includes all trademarks within the University, Athletic Association, Alumni Association, Arch Foundation and University of Georgia Foundation.

Any organization or individual requesting the use of a University mark must first complete an approval form through the OFS.

William Lee, a professor in the Grady College and legal expert of public communication, said a trademark is important to any organization that registers it because it assures customers of its product. Improper use of a trademark could mislead people and tarnish the image of an organization or company, Lee said.

“Trademark can be damaged through counterfeiting and dilution. [Dilution] is where there’s unsavory use of a trademark in a way that the trademark owner might object to,” Lee said.

Open records indicate many requests to use University trademarks and logos have been denied on the basis of dilution of the University’s image.

In July, the University wrote a cease and desist letter to Anheuser-Busch Companies asking it not to “wrongfully associate its products with UGA” as part of its “Team Pride program.”

As of late Thursday, all three political campaigns still had Facebook groups up with pictures associating its campaigns with the University.

The original version of this report stated David Shafer is a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2010. He was a candidate but dropped out earlier this year but will run for reelection in the state senate. The Red & Black regrets the error.