It's been more than three weeks since Peter Berg, creator of the "Friday Night Lights" TV show and movie, wrote a frank letter to Mitt Romney's campaign asking the candidate to stop using the phrase "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose."
Yet as Election Day draws near, Romney and his campaign have not only continued to use the phrase in stump speeches and campaign materials, it's starting to profit from the slogan its creator Berg calls "plagiarized."
HuffPost Chicago noted the Chicago Young Republicans group is following suit, using the phrase on their Facebook page and in email blasts to supporters.
The campaign has added in an extra "America," but Berg has not backed off after telling Romney to "come up with your own campaign slogan."
Forbes notes that while Romney’s initial use of the phrase could be constituted as “fair use” protected by the First Amendment, selling wristbands for $10 a pop opens Romney's campaign up to potential action for trademark infringement.
Last week, "Friday Night Lights" star Connie Britton echoed Berg's statement, adding that Barack Obama's values aligned more closely with the people in the show's fictionalized town of Dillon, Tex. than Mitt Romney's.
Though he didn't coin the "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts" slogan, Buzz Bissinger, who wrote the non-fiction book that inspired the TV show and movie for "Friday Night Lights," endorsed Romney.
