(Ed. note: The following excerpts are taken verbatim from the Wisconsin Bar Association website. https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/Pages/General-Article.aspx?ArticleID=26432 ) “The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled (4-3) that the City of Madison’s construction of a pedestrian bridge over a major highway, blocking visibility of an existing billboard, was not a taking of property requiring just compensation.” “Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited […]
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Advice on Reed v. Gilbert Included in AACSRE Interdisciplinary Journal
An article in the 2017 Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, which is published biannually by the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education (AACSRE), offers advice for communities with regard to their sign codes in the aftermath of the SCOTUS Reed v. Gilbert 2015 decision. Written by Alan Weinstein, who is the director/professor […]
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USSCF Provides Studies at American Planning Association Annual Convention
The United States Sign Council Foundation (USSCF) attended the APA convention in New Orleans in April. It emphasized its Model Code, Guideline Sign Standards, and Guideline Sign Lighting Standards. Twenty USSCF sign-research projects have been completed since 1998, and all were made available to planners, either in printed form, on CD, or from the new […]
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Legal Considerations in Sign-Code Development
Alan Weinstein serves on the Board of Directors of both the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education (AACSRE) and the Foundation for the Advancement of the Sign Industry (FASI), and he was a three-time presenter at the American Planning Association’s 2017 National Planning Conference. A professor at Cleveland State University’s Marshall College of […]
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Signs and Business Development
The following article originally appeared on the Small Business Administration website in February 2001, but it was subsequently removed. The vast majority of the following information comes from what was formerly posted on the Small Business Administration website, beginning in 2000 in the “Starting Your Own Business” section. You can read how it occurred at http://signreference.org/2000/09/15/isa-signage-foundation-signs-web-agreement-with-sba/Unfortunately, […]
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How do the First and Fourteenth Amendments affect regulation of my business sign?
The following article originally appeared on the Small Business Administration website in February 2001, but it was subsequently removed. First Amendment protections guarantee some of our most basic freedoms, including freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of religious expression. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the […]
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How will my business sign be regulated?
The following article originally appeared on the Small Business Administration website in February 2001, but it was subsequently removed. Signage is regulated through the following two categories: Building and electrical codes The construction, installation, and operation of any permanent business sign will need to conform to all applicable building and electrical codes. Because compliance with […]
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Time, Manner, Place Regulations / Exercise of “Police Powers” as part of Zoning or Land Use Codes
The following article originally appeared on the Small Business Administration website in February 2001, but it was subsequently removed. In the United States, “police power” is the power inherent at every level of government, from the U.S. federal government to the states and jurisdictions within the states, to enact laws within constitutional limits to promote […]
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Trademarks and Logos – Federal Preemption (Lanham Trademark Act)
The following article originally appeared on the Small Business Administration website in February 2001, but it was subsequently removed. The Lanham Trademark Act, at 15 U.S.C. 1121, prohibits states, and their political subdivisions, from requiring alteration of federally registered names, marks and colors where included within the registration. The decisions in two recent federal cases […]
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Fourteenth Amendment Application to Sign Control
Fourteenth Amendment Application to Sign Control Under the Fourteenth Amendment, applicable to the states and their subdivisions, a state or local-government regulation may not deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deprive a person of equal protection of the laws. Due process. A fundamental requirement of due process […]
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