Re: permaculture trademark alert

[Loren Davidson <loren@farwalker.com>]

At 01:03 PM 7/11/01 -0600, Scott Pittman wrote:

>>It would be wise for our friends in Oz (and I assume Bill and Lisa will
>>follow suit in the US and UK) to gather any evidence of these precedents,
>>submit it to a lawyer, and lodge an objection. Maybe each country's Pc
>>people can take up a collection to pay the legal expenses.
>
>I think it may take a building full of lawyers to wrestle with this one.

Unfortunately, it sounds to me like they are the only ones who can "win" an 
argument of this type...and I have no idea how such a "victory", or any of 
this, follows the Pc principle of "care of the Earth".

At least, from the sound of it, a relatively cost-free "defense" may be 
that the word "permaculture" appears to have become public domain in the US 
(according to what Scott wrote), and therefore can't be trademarked by Bill 
or anyone else.  It's the "Kleenex" defense.  Hopefully it is stronger than 
its namesake. :)

It saddens me that energy that could be used to build something or heal 
something is now likely to be wasted in this ill-advised legal squabble.

Sigh,

Loren


Loren Davidson        Permaculturist, philosopher, writer
loren@farwalker.com   http://www.earthspring.org/loren/
AIM: loren334     ICQ: 65291610
"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is 
shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." - A. Einstein