Bernie Sanders Lawyers to Wikipedia: Take Down Our Logo, You’re Violating DMCA [Updated]
So here’s yet another reason I’ll never fully “feel the Bern” …
A lawyer representing Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has demanded that several of the campaign’s logos be removed from Wikipedia, saying that reproducing the logos violate copyright law. The Wikimedia Foundation has complied with the DMCA takedown notice and removed the notices.
It’s fairly surprising that the campaign would seek to ban wide distribution of its logos, which are clearly positive advertising for the campaign. It’s even more surprising that after getting a call from the Wikimedia Foundation, the Sanders campaign didn’t back down or blame an overzealous volunteer attorney—the campaign confirmed it wants Wikipedia to comply with the notice and not publish its logos.
Further ReadingPresidential candidate’s lawyer schooled over spurious IP claim
“We also contacted the attorneys representing the Bernie Sanders campaign to discuss the issue, and they asked that WMF carry out a takedown in compliance with the DMCA rather than work with the community to update the licensing information or allow the images,” wrote Wikimedia community manager James Alexander on a discussion page about the Sanders DMCA notices.
Update 5:45pm: Alexander now says on the Wikimedia discussion page that the campaign has withdrawn the DMCA notice, but there’s still no official word on the matter from either the campaign or the Wikimedia Foundation.
More: Bernie Sanders lawyers to Wikipedia: Take down our logo, you’re violating DMCA [Updated]