Leggo my logo: State fights for control of image

August 24, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Who owns Alaska Grown?

The question is at the heart of a lawsuit between the Alaska Department of Agriculture and the Mat-Su Chapter of the Alaska Farm Bureau. In a court decision handed down Monday, a judge found the state would suffer irreparable harm if the Mat-Su chapter proceeded with its attempt to get a federal trademark on the Alaska Grown logo.

The lawsuit began in February 2006 and this week's injuction came just days before the Alaska State Fair, where the Mat-Su Chapter of the Alaska Farm Bureau has a booth selling items emblazoned with the Alaska Grown logo.

The Alaska Grown program was started in 1986, according to the Alaska Grown Web site. Its logo was a creation of the Alaska Division of Agriculture and the Alaska Farmers and Stockgrowers Association. The Stockgrowers Association became the Alaska Farm Bureau. The logo is both a marketing tool and a certification mark that indicates food bearing the logo is produced by farmers who are a part of the program. Sweatshirts and stickers with the logo are marketing tools and so are not required to be produced in Alaska.

The farm marketing industry in Alaska is a $52 million business and Assistant Attorney General Steven Ross said that historically the state has allowed nonprofit farm organizations to use the logo for promotional purposes. The logo is used primarily on clothing the organizations sell and use for fundraising.

The state's position is that the state owns the Alaska Grown logo, Ross said. That means the Mat-Su Farm Bureau chapter cannot trademark what the state owns.

&#8220It is a symbol of the Alaska Grown Program,” Ross said, adding the Alaska Grown system was in place for nearly 20 years without problem.

Ross said the issue began in 2005 when the Mat-Su chapter tried to register the logo with the federal patent office.

The state asked representatives of the Mat-Su chapter to withdraw the federal trademark attempt and the Mat-Su Chapter refused, Ross said. The logo is registered with the state, but not at the federal level. If the Mat-Su federally trademarked the logo the state could loose control of how the logo is used.

&#8220The state has rights in that logo and it has to protect the other people involved in the Alaska Grown program,” Ross said.

The state has terminated the right for the Mat-Su Chapter to use the Alaska Grown logo and Monday's court finding grants a motion for injunctive relief, which is what the state requested, Ross said.

&#8220It is not an insignificant decision,” Ross said. The finding indicates that the court believes the state has a good chance of winning the lawsuit. &#8220I think it is a very favorable decision on the state's side.”

Mat-Su's trademark attempt is on hold pending the outcome.

Mike Presley is vice president of the Mat-Su Chapter of the Alaska Farm Bureau said his group is trying to protect the logo by going through the federal trademark process. The state has not trademarked the logo federally, leaving it open to misuse, Presley said.

&#8220We are only trying to protect [the logo] after years of trying to get the state to protect the Alaska Grown trademark,” Presley said, adding the Mat-Su chapter has the history and clout to pursue the federal trademark.

&#8220We had 20 years history on the use of this on apparel,” he said. &#8220We felt we had legal standing and we felt we had the duty to trademark this logo on apparel so it doesn't get ripped off.”

The recent court finding will not affect the chapter's ability to sell Alaska Grown apparel, Presley said, including operating its booth at the Alaska State Fair, which opened yesterday.

According to this injunction, the Mat-Su chapter will sell merchandise for the state and will have to put the proceeds in an account approved by the state. Those monies will remain there until the suit is finalized, Presley said. The local Farm Bureau chapter will also have to deposit all gross revenues from merchandising using the Alaska Grown logo retroactively from Nov. 18, 2005.

&#8220All that money has been spent already, on inventory and salary and such,” Presley said.

The loss of the apparel income will be a severe hit to the Mat-Su Chapter, Presley said. Its executive director, Karen Olson, will not be able to draw a salary. Presley said the money made selling Alaska Grown apparel also goes back into the community as scholarships and funding for local organizations.

Presley said the Mat-Su chapter's business insurance company sees the lawsuit as an attempt to put the chapter out of business. &#8220They are paying the legal costs of the lawsuit.”

Presley would like to see an independent, private industry marketing group take over the marketing of the Alaska Grown logo.

Mark Rempel has been a farmer in the Mat-Su Valley for 28 years. He said better communication would help solve the dispute over the Alaska Grown logo.

&#8220There is tremendous misunderstanding on this Alaska Grown nonsense,” Rempel said.

Rempel said he would also like a private, nonprofit entity set up to market Alaska Grown merchandise and maintain the standards of product set by the Mat-Su Chapter of the Alaska Farm Bureau.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com.