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ASU asks Virginia high school to change logo


ASU officials were blue in the face after seeing the logo of a Virginia high school's logo online last week.

A University official discovered Culpeper County High School, home of the Blue Devils, has been using a logo nearly identical to ASU's trademarked Sun Devil.

ASU is working with the high school to try to correct the situation, said Fernando Morales, the trademark licensing manager of ASU.

"We will approach this very diplomatically," he said. "It's flattering in a lot of ways. We might say something like, 'When it's convenient for you, would you please drop the use of the logo.'"

Although ASU is not pursuing legal action at the moment, it is not out of the question, Morales said.

But he added that he does not anticipate that happening.

Morales said he discovered the Blue Devil logo last week after scouring the Internet for trademark violations — a practice he routinely undertakes.

Marla McKenna, a spokeswoman for Culpeper County School District, said she thought the high school had obtained written permission to use the logo, which is virtually the same as the Sun Devil except for the blue color, years ago. But when officials were unable to locate documentation, they pulled the logo from their Web site Monday and replaced it with a clip-art devil.

Culpeper officials said they first became aware of the issue on Saturday, when a local newspaper reported that the school was under investigation by ASU, McKenna said.

She said the high school is happy to work with ASU but hopes the University will allow them to continue using the devil logo, which they began using more than a decade ago.

"If they say 'no,' we'll get rid of it," she said. "But we'd like to ask for permission to use it or a grace period."

The high school has been using the image on the athletic department's Web site as well as on staff shirts and identification badges, she said.

While it may seem as though the Web site of a high school located on the other side of the country is unworthy of ASU's watchdog efforts, Morales said it's important to curtail trademark infringements on all levels.

ASU's goal is not to hurt high schools that copy ASU's image, Morales said, but to educate them and eventually find a way to phase out use of the logo.

He added that Culpeper County's mascot image is only one of many trademark violations the University routinely discovers.

ASU officials typically find approximately 50 infringements each year and sometimes run across as many as 200, Morales said.

The University's primary concern, he said, is guarding against inferior products. The school does not want their name attached to merchandise that has not passed their inspection guidelines.

In the case of high schools or other individuals and institutions who are not using the logo as a marketing tool, Morales said the University is much more lenient.

"While it may mean nothing to them," he said, "it could mean a lot to us. But we're thinking, 'What's the nicest way we can do it? We'll give them time to look at stuff.'"

Reach the reporter at: sarah.g.owen@asu.edu.


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