Bernie Sanders' campaign has come under fire for using American Legion’s emblem on fliers. | AP Photo Sanders camp lawyers acknowledge 'unintentional improper use' of logo

Bernie Sanders’ campaign has acknowledged the “unintentional improper use” of American Legion’s emblem on campaign materials and is working to halt such use, according to documents obtained by POLITICO on Monday.

The Sanders campaign has come under fire in recent weeks for using the veterans organization’s logo on fliers. “We sincerely appreciate the notification of the unintentional improper use by Sanders of the emblem of The American Legion and the helpful information pertaining to your concerns,” the Seattle-based firm Garvey Schubert Barer said in a statement representing the campaign. “Sanders takes intellectual property matters very seriously and does its best to respectfully and appropriately acknowledge and to not infringe the intellectual property rights of others.”


The firm added that it is working with the campaign to ensure use of the American Legion emblem has ceased and will “make every effort to prevent and prohibit all improper use of the emblem or name of The American Legion in its materials, fliers, or campaign.”

The acknowledgment of improper use of the logo comes after American Legion filed two cease-and-desist letters to Sanders’ campaign within the past three weeks.

“A flier urges people to support your candidacy and contains pictures of the emblem of The American Legion while referencing the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This is totally illegal and misleading,” the group said in a letter dated Jan. 22, noting that Sanders wasn’t granted authorization or permission.

American Legion followed up with an additional missive last week, writing in a Feb. 1 letter that it had learned of another instance in which the group’s emblem had been used in campaign materials without permission. “As noted in my earlier letter, this is totally illegal. It will not be tolerated,” American Legion wrote, warning that any additional communication would come through the group’s trademark attorney.