This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Democratic Salt Lake County mayor candidate Ben McAdams has proudly touted his bipartisan support, parading out the Republicans for Ben group that includes a half-dozen mayors in the county.
That group has a Facebook page that displays their party stripes to show they still are loyal Republicans but devoted to the campaign of Democrat McAdams.
The page has the Republican elephant logo.
Oops.
Jonathan Waclawski, associate counsel for the Republican National Committee, has written McAdams to point out that the RNC owns the trademark for that logo and the use of it by Republicans for Ben without permission constitutes trademark infringement.
"The RNC is charged with zealously protecting its trademarks, and any unauthorized use can mislead the public to believe that the RNC sponsors, approves or is affiliated with that entity," Waclawski wrote.
He asked that McAdams "cease and desist immediately. Any unauthorized use of the RNC Official Elephant Logo may force our office to pursue legal remedies.
McAdams said the group put the elephant on its Facebook page to show they were Republicans but they changed the red, white and blue colors to blue and orange, the colors McAdams is using on campaign materials. He said he didn't know if the change of colors satisfies the trademark rules but "if they want to squabble about logos" his campaign will look into it and will comply with the law.
"They [the Republican Party] have my cellphone number," he said. "I am disappointed they didn't call me directly rather than involve a D.C. attorney. We could work things out."
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Why Mitt is mum • With the 2012 Summer Olympics getting under way in London in the midst of complaints that the U.S. Olympic team's uniforms were made in China, the Huffington Post points out why Mitt Romney might be shy about weighing in on the controversy.
It's because the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics bought uniforms made in Burma.
HuffPo trotted out complaints made by civil rights groups at the time, citing that country's history of brutal dictatorship.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee, under Romney's leadership, issued a press release at the time that ensured Utah another place in the late-night comedians' joke lineup.
The press release was indignant toward the criticism and it haughtily denied that the uniforms were made in Burma. They were made in Myanmar.
As it was pointed out to Romney and his staff, Burma and Myanmar are the same country.
Burma changed its name to Myanmar in 1989, but the name change is not recognized by all countries.
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Speaking of outsourcing • The Associated Students of the University of Utah recently received its order of day-planners to be distributed to incoming freshmen for the 2012-13 school year.
It's an annual perk ASUU does for the newcomers.
The 7,000 planners, by the way, were printed in China.
University spokesman Keith Sterling says the association would like to have the job done domestically, but the cost difference is significant. It cost about $10,000 to have the job done in China compared to the $20,000 when a U.S. printer did it two years ago.
He says ASUU is exploring what kind of deal in the future it can make with the university's in-house printing office.
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Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet … • It's well-known that the U.S. Postal Service is under extreme financial hardship, but it ought to at least be able to afford a new U.S. flag for the post office at 9265 S. Highland Drive in Sandy.
The flag is in sad condition, badly frayed at the bottom and needs to be retired.
Postal employees ought to be among the first to be sensitive to that.