Notice to Cease and Desist to Dutra
The Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee today issued a Cease and Desist Notice to County Supervisor candidate Jimmy Dutra for unauthorized use of registered trademarks of the Democratic National Committee to willfully misrepresent the Democratic Party’s position on his candidacy.
A mailer from the Dutra campaign uses DNC trademarked logos and identifiers to imply Democratic Party endorsement.
By an overwhelming vote, the Party endorsed Felipe Hernandez for 4th District Supervisor, not Dutra.
The Dutra mailer was virtually identical to a mailer from a San Jose City Council candidate misrepresenting his own failed endorsement that drew a similar response from the Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
The story was first reported by Grace Stetson at Lookout Santa Cruz this evening:
The San Jose candidate’s misrepresentation was reported by San Jose Spotlight last month:
The San Jose Spotlight and Lookout Santa Cruz stories contain images of the two candidates’ nearly identical trademark-infringement and misleading mailings.
Dutra, in a press release this afternoon, said, “I have a wide array of support from all groups in our community, including Democrats. I am proud of being the candidate of bringing all of our community members together.”
Which is similar to the response from the San Jose City Council candidate whose misleading mailer Dutra parroted: “I’m proud to be a Democrat, that’s proud to be endorsed by many Democrats in my district.”
The SCCDCC Cease and Desist Notice to Dutra is attached.
