By Staff Reporter |

The transgender mayoral candidate for Fountain Hills was accused of using the town’s logo in his campaign materials.

Last month, the town of Fountain Hills issued a cease-and-desist letter to town council member Brenda Kalivianakis for incorporating the town’s logo into his mayoral campaign logo. 

The Fountain Hills logo is based on the town’s famous 560-foot fountain, the tallest in the world when it was first built in 1970. 

The logo’s depiction of the fountain has a saucer-shaped base resting on three horizontal lines representing water, three slated prongs protruding upward on each side from the base, a nozzle in the center of the base out of which emerges a jet of water curving up to the left, and two lighter-colored curves bending downward. The town adopted the logo in 2023.

Kalivianakis’ logo has many of the same markers: the three water lines, the saucer-shaped base, the three prongs on either side of the center nozzle, the upward arc of water curving to the left, and the two lighter shades of curves bending downward from the water. 

The main difference between the town’s logo and Kalivianakis’ campaign logo is the latter has two additional lines coming off the upward arc of water to form the letter “K,” and the words “Brenda for Mayor” to the left of the fountain symbol. 

On Monday, Kalivianakis posted a press release from his campaign addressing the cease-and-desist letter. He argued his logo was “clearly distinguishable and creates no likelihood of confusion with the Town’s mark,” and claimed contentions had more to do with his speech than the logo. 

Per Kalivianakis, the town will hire a trademark attorney and potentially bill him for the costs. Kalivianakis called it a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“Using taxpayer resources to target a candidate’s campaign materials raises serious questions about selective enforcement and interference with protected speech,” stated Kalivianakis’ press release. 

Kalivianakis closed with a plea for donations to his campaign. 

Mayoral and council candidates all received a cease-and-desist letter from the town attorney, Jennifer Wright, last month. At that point, it wasn’t made clear who, specifically, was at fault for the trademark violation out of all the candidates.

However, Kalivianakis told the Fountain Hills Times that he believed the cease-and-desist was a politically motivated, targeted attack by Wright aimed at him.

“I’m disappointed that the highly partisan Town Attorney is attempting to manipulate a local election by threatening trademark litigation. My logo is not a recreation of the Town’s official logo,” said Kalivianakis. “It is a fair use depiction of our community’s most recognizable landmark, something that has long been a tradition in political campaigns.”

In 2023, Kalivianakis was cleared of an ethics complaint by an outside attorney. The complaint alleged Kalivianakis violated the town code by requesting a director investigate and remove a sign allegedly in violation of sign code rather than communicating that request through the town manager.

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