County seal is officially trademarked

BONNERS FERRY — The Boundary County seal was approved for trademark by the Idaho Secretary of State late last month. The trademark was granted on April 24.

In part to celebrate Idaho’s Centennial, then-Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus encouraged counties to adopt seals. Boundary County ran a design contest with Larry Clark’s design being the winner. The county seal was first adopted in 1989 and used in commerce on May 2, 1989, but the county seal, like many others across the state, was never trademarked.

Tevis Hull, the county’s chief deputy prosecutor, said the county moved to trademark the seal due to another entity’s “improper” use of the seal.

On Sept. 13, 2022, the Boundary County Watchman, a local blog, used the county seal as its YouTube channel image. The group’s YouTube channel was initially called “Boundary County;” the video has since been removed from the channel and the channel renamed to Boundary County Watchman.

In September, Boundary County public information officer Andrew O’Neel was contacted by the Herald to confirm if the YouTube channel was affiliated with Boundary County.

“I do not believe so. I know nothing about one, but I will check to make sure. Odd that the county seal is being used,” O’Neel wrote via email.

On Dec. 16, Hull told the Herald that his office was notified regarding the social media sites and was researching the issue. “We will take appropriate action based upon the research,” he said.

BCW received a cease and desist letter from Hull in January regarding the use of the county seal. BCW continued to use the county seal until early April 2023, after receiving “a custom logo,” Adrienne Norris with BCW announced on social media.

BCW’s new image is in cartoon style depicting a figure handing a staff standing on a wall.

Norris wrote on social media that she is excited to have a logo that represents “the cause,” and that she prefers having her “own logo.”

Norris and BCW continue their stance that the county can’t prevent anyone from using the county seal while “expressing their grievance to their government.”

Hull said that in his 10 years as legal representation to boundary county he’d never had to issue a cease and desist regarding the county seal. Hull said that he reached out to Canyon County on seal trademarking and was informed when they run into a similar situation of improper or unauthorized use of the county seal, they send out a cease and desist letter and the issue ends there.

Prior to an image being trademarked in Idaho, it must first be used in commerce before registering it with the Secretary of State’s Trademark section. The county met this requirement due to the county seal having been used on documents and to represent the county since 1989.

The county then filed a completed application for trademark or service mark registration. A specimen of the county seal was provided and a filing fee of $30.