When Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was targeted with a complaint of misusing the official state seal two years ago in a local political campaign, he quickly acknowledged his mistake and promised to be more careful in the future.

But the state's top law enforcement isn't a bit apologetic for his latest controversy involving the seal -- this time in an apparent product endorsement.

DigitalBridge, a company based in Orem, posted on its Web site Shurtleff's letter praising its "groundbreaking" technology. The piece of correspondence is on official Attorney General's letterhead incorporating the state seal.

"It's not an endorsement , not an advertisement. It's far from that," Shurtleff said Thursday. "So it does not violate the code."

"When a company comes up with technology that will save lives or help solve an identity theft problem, I let my fellow attorney generals know about it," said Shurtleff.

The letter to attorneys general around the country was dated Sept. 29, within days of his receipt of a $10,000 campaign contribution from the company. Shurtleff and DigitalBridge say the timing was a simple coincidence and that the attorney general had offered to write the letter nearly a year ago.

The Lieutenant Governor's Office is looking into the matter, but for now the company is leaving the letter on it's Web site.

"I would default to the AG on the use of the seal ," said DigitalBridge spokeswoman Melanie Dougherty. "We're very proud that he wrote a letter of support to inform his colleagues and unless ordered to take it off, I don't see any reason to remove it."

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, designated in statute as the official watchdog of the seal, takes that responsibility quite seriously, said spokesman Joe Demma .

Elected state officers can use the sanctioned letterhead as they see fit -- within certain parameters, Demma said.

"If you're engaging the letterhead for purposes other than official state business, that's where we take a closer look," he said.

Demma said his office is looking at the Shurtleff case to determine whether this use of the seal violates rules against incorporating it in product endorsements or advertising. If it does, "what we'll probably do is notify the company that the state seal is involved and it's an improper use."

The office's experience has been that people or organizations notified of a problem promptly resolve it by removing the seal. "We're not running around with handcuffs," Demma said.

But if DigitalBridge resisted a request to remove the seal, "in such a case we would, ironically enough, forward it to the Attorney General's Office."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com