Donald Trump fights fire in Phoenix copyright row
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has been slapped with a cease-and-desist letter by the City of Phoenix.
Brad Holm, city attorney, sent the letter yesterday, September 29, to Trump’s presidential campaign, demanding that a campaign advertisement be taken down immediately.
The advert, titled “ Movement”, shows Trump meeting a number of people and includes images of several Phoenix police officers in uniform and at work.
According to the letter, the ad contains unauthorised use of images of the City of Phoenix bird, badge, police department uniforms, and on-duty employees.
The ad was originally aired on September 20.
“As owner of this intellectual property, the City of Phoenix hereby orders the Trump campaign to immediately cease and desist from your unauthorised use,” said the letter.
It added that Phoenix owns the exclusive right to use the distinctive designs under federal and state law, including the US Copyright Act.
The letter added: “The officers were unaware that they were photographed and videotaped, and they did not consent to the use of their on-duty images in any Trump (or other) campaign advertisement.”
Phoenix ordered that all images, videotape and other material bearing the City of Phoenix’s name or IP that Trump’s campaign possesses or has been distributed to third parties must be taken down and removed from every medium.
Along with copyright infringement, Holm claimed that the ad “unmistakably and wrongfully” suggests that Phoenix endorses any candidate for president of the US.
The letter can be found here, on news website AZ Central.
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