BREAKING: CoA Threatens Save Austin Now Over for Audit Campaign Parody Logo, Save Austin Now Sues City in Response // 14 Locations Where You Can Sign the Audit Petition // Request a Petition by Mail
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The article describes a petition campaign to place a charter amendment on the ballot. Understanding the history and mechanics of citizen-initiated ballot measures provides valuable democratic context.
Good Monday afternoon --
The end of last week was pretty unusual.
We have three updates for you:
CITY OF AUSTIN ISSUES WEAK LAWSUIT THREAT
For some reason, an expensive outside lawyer representing the City of Austin send a demand letter to Save Austin Now demanding we stop the use of our audit logo, claiming it is a copyright infringement against the City of Austin.
No, it isn’t.
The city never voted to approve the logo
Parody is an exception to copyright
Our logo and that logo are not confusing
So rather than sit back and wait to see if the City of Austin would sue us, we pre-emptively sued them in state court.
From the Austin American-Statesman story on Friday:
Exclusive: Save Austin Now sues city manager over parody logo dispute tied to Prop Q fallout
The lawsuit follows a letter from the city to the PAC alleging that Save Austin Now’s website used a parody of the Austin logo showing the stylized “A” with the word “audit” underneath.
by Chaya Tong
Friday, Dec. 5, 2025
Austin American-Statesman
Save Austin Now, the PAC that led the charge against Prop Q, and its treasurer, Leland Bickers, filed a lawsuit Friday against City Manager T.C. Broadnax over the parody usage of the city’s new logo.
The group is asking 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 alleges that the new logo is not legal because the City Council did not adopt it.
The lawsuit comes after the city, through attorney Dwayne Goetzel with the intellectual property law firm KHMR&G, sent a letter to Save Austin Now alleging unauthorized use of the city logo on the PAC’s website. The image of the city logo was a parody of the Austin logo with a picture of the stylized “A” and the word “audit” underneath.
“This is an example of the abuse of power by the city administration. It is an outrageous threat,” said Bill Aleshire, the attorney filing the lawsuit against the city.
The city has come under fire in recent months for the $1.1 million rebranding effort, including the new logo, which
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