The SGA Elections Committee decided that now-former SGA presidential candidate Anthony Furbush and his running mate Sean Whitaker did not violate any election statute or the Golden Rule, Wednesday.
They were brought before the elections commission to face charges that their campaign plagiarized a logo for use in their campaign material.
An anonymous UCF alumnus discovered the similarities between the logo used by the Furbush/Whitaker ticket and the Lockheed Martin Corp. logo and reported it to the SGA Chief Elections Commissioner, Krystal Serino, on Feb. 13.
Originally brought before the commission for trademark infringement, Furbush explained during the hearing that he unwittingly violated the law and did not plagiarize in any way.
"Plagiarism is academic dishonesty. In no way can being SGA candidate result in academic dishonesty," Furbush said. The commission agreed with Furbush's argument.
Complying with Lockheed Martin's Intellectual Property Council Member Timothy Stanley's request, the Furbush ticket stopped using the logo in promotional handouts and on their official Web site.
"We screwed up. They screwed up. There have been things taken care of to resolve the issue," said a commissioner.
"It was a mistake. We did not intentionally go out and copy the logo," Furbush said.
The aforementioned commissioner said during the hearing, "Whoever made [the logo] knew what he was doing. This was not a coincidence."
Whether or not the designer of the Furbush/Whitaker campaign intentionally copied the Lockheed Martin symbol is not being pursued. The main agenda for Lockheed Martin representatives was to have the logo removed from all campaign materials after SGA was notified.
The election statutes do not currently contain any law regarding trademark or copyright infringement, therefore, Furbush and Whitaker could not be held accountable to SGA for that violation.
Lockheed Martin representatives said they do not wish to take the matter further legally because Furbush and Whitaker stopped use of the logo.
"The logo is part of the brand, part of the identity of the company," said Tom Greer, Lockheed Martin corporate media relations consultant. "We do reserve the right to reach out and have it corrected if it is in violation of the law. However, this is a fairly common, and in most cases, unintentional copy."
That the Furbush campaign team was taking all corrective measures possible and doing everything Lockheed Martin asked were key points in Furbush's argument to the council.
Although statute 605.1 C says "No candidate/ticket or individual may misrepresent any campaign material as being the material of any candidate/ticket other than themselves," it does not make any explicit statements regarding copyright or trademark infringement.
The commission was advised by SGA Attorney General Natalia Rosochowicz to "include forbidding the use of other companies' or organizations' logos in any way, shape or form" in the SGA election's statutes.
Title 605.2 A of the SGA statutes states that "All campaign materials, including candidate Web sites, must be registered with the Election Commission." However, Rosochowicz did not find that the Elections Commission violated any SGA, state or federal statutes in approving the material.
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