Change that O, University of Oregon tells anti-illegal-immigrant group

When does a simple O become The O? As in, the University of Oregon's trademarked O logo?

The UO contends the politically conservative group Oregonians for Immigration Reform has crossed the trademark infringement line by using a green O logo on its website.

The McMinnville-based nonprofit group is best known for its 2014 initiative campaign in which Oregon voters overturned a 2013 state law that let unauthorized immigrants get drivers cards from the state Department of Transportation. Now, the anti-illegal-immigrant group advocates scrapping the state's sanctuary law. That law prevents state and local law enforcement from actively participating with the federal government in the arrest and deportation of people whose only crime is breaking federal immigration law.

OFIR's O is not identical to the UO trademarked logo. The UO's O, a trademark registered with the federal government, is somewhat squat, with thick sides and thinner top and bottom, while the OFIR O is more oval, with more uniform sides, and a fir tree in the middle.

But OFIR's O too closely resembles the UO's distinctive icon, a lawyer representing the university said in a warning letter earlier this month.

The anti-illegal immigration group did not return a phone call and email from The Register-Guard.

The UO sent the letter five days after a student group, the University of Oregon Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or MEChA, which supports Oregon Chicanos in higher education, objected to OFIR's O. In a letter to the UO General Counsel's Office, MEChA said it opposes OFIR's activities and that OFIR's use of the O logo "appears to be intentionally designed to leverage the school's credibility, to normalize a message of hate." It asked the UO to take trademark protection action.

UO student Carina Garcia, a member MEChA, said her group noticed the OFIR logo a couple of months ago, when it was researching OFIR's drive to get rid of the state sanctuary law.

In the May 7 letter to OFIR, the UO's intellectual property law firm said the group's logo is a "misappropriation" of the UO image, and it should "change the stylization of its O so that OFIR's O does not look like Oregon's trademark."

"We hope that this matter does not require the University of Oregon to bring legal action to force you to stop using its mark, but if it must, the University of Oregon may be able to obtain an injunction against your use" and seek financial penalties, said the letter from Portland law firm Klarquist Sparkman.

The letter notes that the Southern Poverty Law Center has characterized OFIR as a "hate group."

"The University of Oregon neither supports your message, desires to be associated with your message, nor wishes to assist in your fundraising efforts," the letter said. OFIR's use of the O "confuses consumers as to OFIR's association with Oregon," the letter said.

UO spokesman Tobin Klinger said the university has "heard from OFIR that they are reviewing (the UO letter), but that’s the extent of the correspondence at this point."

It's not uncommon for the UO to send out such letters. The UO and its licensing partners have sent out about 20 such letters over the last three years regarding the O or other trademarked images, Klinger said.

Formed in 2000, OFIR advocates for deportation of illegal immigrants and enforcement of other federal anti-illegal-immigrant laws, plus wants restrictions on legal immigration into the United States.

On its website, OFIR says it works to stop illegal immigration as well as reduce legal immigration "to a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable level here in Oregon and across the United States. OFIR says it "concerned about the utter disregard for existing United States immigration laws, illegal trafficking of people and drugs across the U.S. border, and the environmental, economic, and societal consequences of mass immigration into the United States. A sovereign American nation has both the right and the responsibility to limit immigration and control its borders."