The City of Abbotsford is being publicly shamed for trying to flush away a four-year-old parody logo – which was altered to include a picture of feces – from the annals of the Internet.
The Abbotsford News first reported about the city's failed request to pull the poop logo image from a website, which is detailed on WordPress's Hall of Shame. The blog promotes transparency across its publishing platform and highlights copyright and trademark holders who "abuse their rights by issuing improper takedown notices."
"For our latest Hall of Shame entry, we turn our gaze towards the City of Abbotsford in Canada," starts the post, which was originally posted May 2 by WordPress staffer Stephen McLeod Blythe.
"To demonstrate just how… dirty a move the blogger thought this was, he illustrated his post with a doctored image of the city's logo, which had been modified to include a large … well, see for yourself."
The logo was inspired by a 2013 incident in which Abbotsford city staff spread chicken manure on a homeless camp in what's believed to be an attempt to get the homeless individuals to move. The city and the mayor later apologized but not before controversy erupted.
The Hall of Shame post goes on to share the text of the takedown notice, which was filed January 12 by marketing firm October 17 Media on behalf of the City of Abbotsford. The notice alleges the parody logo infringed on Abbotsford's original logo and cited copyright law.
Blythe goes on to wonder why the city would take four years to file the request, when the graphic was first posted back in 2013.
"What is clear, however, is that this stinks. Pardon the pun," he wrote. "It was glaringly obvious that the addition of the hilariously large feces was for the purposes of parody, and tied directly to the criticisms laid out in the post."
Blythe notes that it seems pretty obvious the logo falls under fair use considerations, and said the request was rejected.
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Abbotsford shamed by WordPress for trying to remove parody city logo
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