ACA Logo Usage Guidelines
The fellowship has voiced confusion about the appropriate use of the ACA logo (trademark). These guidelines will attempt to clarify the groups’ limited logo usage right.
As always, sensible precautions should be exercised when interpreting the logo guidelines since no guideline can cover every issue that may come up.
The ACA logo is owned by the ACA WSO, Inc. and registered in the US Copyright and Trademark Office. The WSO has the legal duty to protect the logo and communicate its appropriate uses to ACA groups.
These logo guidelines takes into account the WSO’s legal duty to protect the logo, each group’s autonomy, and each group's right to have limited usage of the logo.
ACA groups are permitted to use the ACA logo within certain limits. ACA groups can use the logo to identify themselves as an ACA group and for their ACA related outreach efforts, e.g., websites, signage, local flyer, etc..
The principles of the ACA Literature Policy can be adapted to provide a broad workable solution for logo usage.
ACA’s Literature policy, among other things, asks that group’s keep conference approved literature separate from non-conference approved literature.
Use of the ACA logo can follow this same approach. ACA groups may use the logo as long as the use of the logo does not confuse conference and non-conference approved literature.
For example, use of the ACA logo is clearly permitted on documents or web pages containing only conference approved literature or where an ACA group sponsored event is mentioned.
ACA groups are asked to not use the ACA logo on documents or web pages where literature that has not been approved by the conference appears or when mentioning an outside affiliation, events or enterprises.
If the ACA logo is used on a document or web page that contains both literature that has been conference approved and literature or events that has not been approved by the conference, then we ask that those items that have not been approved by the conference should have a disclaimer clearly identifying the non-conference approved literature/ event from the rest of the conference approved document/page.
Separate and Distinct
For documents containing the ACA logo that have both conference and non-conference approved content, the groups are asked to add, "This literature is not conference approved literature. It is solely the product of the ACA group that created it. The ACA WSO is not responsible for and has no opinion about the content of this document.”
Likewise, the ACA logo ought not be used on web pages containing any non-conference approved literature or references to outside events or entities
Sometimes the ACA logo appears on a header of the website and cannot be altered throughout the website. In this case, on a page having the ACA logo and that has both conference and non-conference approved literature, we ask that the non-conference approved portions state, "This content is not conference approved literature. It is solely the product of the ACA group that created it. The ACA WSO is not responsible for and has no opinion about this content.”
