A lawsuit accusing City Manager T.C. Broadnax of trying to silence criticism of the city’s new logo is headed back to state court after city attorneys unsuccessfully sought to move the case to federal court.
In a recommendation issued Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell said the case should be remanded to state court, where it was originally filed in December.
The suit, filed by the conservative political action committee Save Austin Now, came after the city – through the outside intellectual property law firm KHMR&G – sent a cease-and-desist style letter to the group demanding that it stop circulating a parody image of the controversial logo the city unveiled last year as part of a $1.1 million rebranding campaign.
The joke logo consists of the same stylized “A” but includes the word “audit” — a jab at the city’s spending decisions, including the rebranding, during a budget crunch that doubles as a rallying cry. The group, which waged a successful campaign against a city property tax hike last year, is pushing to amend the city charter to require a regular external budget audit. Just this week, it filed a petition with the city to place the measure on the November ballot.
In its December lawsuit, Save Austin Now asked a Travis County district judge to issue a permanent injunction against Broadnax to prevent him from “interfering in Plaintiffs’ exercise of their rights, including their right to criticize the Broadnax Logo and use it as parody free speech” and to declare that the logo cannot be trademarked. The lawsuit also alleged that the new logo is not legal because the City Council did not adopt it.
The city responded by asking to move the lawsuit to federal court on the grounds that it involved a federal trademark issue. But Howell rejected those arguments.
While Plaintiffs attempt to avoid federal jurisdiction by pleading claims purportedly under state law, the requested declaratory judgments and injunctions require resolution of federal trademark issues and invoke federal jurisdiction
“After reviewing these filings and the relevant law, the undersigned will recommend that the District Judge grant the motion to remand and deny the motion to strike as moot,” Howell wrote.
Dwayne Goetzel, the KHMR&G attorney representing the city, did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the ruling.
Save Austin Now celebrated the decision.
“I look forward to heading back to State court where we filed the lawsuit against City Manager Broadnax for his wasteful spending and abuse of power in threatening anyone who makes fun of his new logo,” Bill Aleshire, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said.