Boundary County Officials Cry Wolf and Waste Taxpayer Resources on Use of County Seal

The Boundary County Commissioners and the Boundary Prosecutor need to stop wasting taxpayer resources regarding the Boundary County seal. The actions by these people are quite immature, at best. They need to grow up and start acting like adults.

They have attempted to intimidate and coerce The Boundary County Watchman, Adrienne Norris into stop using an extremely low-resolution version of the Boundary County Seal on a flag banner background. the County has also colluded with a local “newspaper” to attempt to make a case for bullying individuals to not use the Boundary Seal in any capacity.

Here is the actual example of the emblem that The Boundary County Watchman used:

Here is the pitiful version of the actual seal that you can find online:

The State of Idaho has set a precedent for how the official seal should be shared; Boundary County should follow the lead of the State. Boundary County should also offer a high-resolution version of the County Seal for download. Instead, the County officials choose to bicker with citizens who use the County seal in a flag/banner format in an unofficial capacity. Instead of wasting taxpayer resources going against the use of the County Seal, the County should encourage people to be proud enough to use it, in an unofficial capacity.

The State of Idaho offers the Idaho Seal for download. In fact, there are several, beautiful, high quality versions of the state seal readily available for the public to download from the Secretary of State website. This is simply good practice by the Idaho Secretary of State.

Here is an example of some of the images available from the Idaho Secretary of State. Click on the images to access the direct download link:

The commissioners and the county prosecutor are now pondering if they should trademark the county seal. State law has something to say about the trademark of a county emblem.

Idaho State law appears to actually forbid municipalities from trademarking their official seals. Even if they were legally able to trademark the county seal, they would still have to adhere to the “Fair Use” laws. In fact, Fair Use allows individuals to use a trademarked material in not-for-profit, and a non-official manner.  The law regarding trademarking states the following:

“TITLE 48 MONOPOLIES AND TRADE PRACTICES CHAPTER 5

REGISTRATION AND PROTECTION OF TRADEMARKS

48-502.  REGISTRABILITY. (1) In order to be registered, a mark must have some element of distinctiveness, arbitrariness or uniqueness, which may be inherent to the mark or acquired through extended usage and establishment of a reputation.

(2)  A mark by which the goods or services of any applicant for registration may be distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be registered if it:

(a)  Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive or scandalous matter; or

(b)  Consists of or comprises matter which may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute; or

(c)  Consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation, or any simulation thereof; or”

It is also important to note that you can download the US seal, the US Presidential Seal, the DISA seal, the USAF Space Command seal, and the DHS seal. The United States Government allows its seals to be available to download and use, in an unofficial capacity. Note that the Wikipedia pages do link to the official websites.

Click on the images to access the direct-download links.

The Boundary County officials need to stop acting like foolish children, grow up, and stop the insanity.