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  • From: Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: permaculture trademark alert
  • Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 13:03:15 -0600


At 11:36 AM 7/10/01 -0700, you wrote:
on 7/10/01 8:24 AM, permed@nor.com.au at permed@nor.com.au wrote:

>Bill mollison & Lisa Mollison
> lodged applications to trade mark [the words "permaculture design"]

On the one hand, it's not at all unusual for those who name a new process to
trademark the name; many forms of therapy and coursework are trademarked.
But what disturbs me, as it does Robyn, is that this goes counter to the
many recorded statements Bill has made to "give permaculture away" (friends
have a tape of him saying this at the Bioneers conference), and the long
precedent, established and encouraged by Bill, of having teachers spawn new
teachers, who teach new teachers, and so on, to spread permaculture. Also,
due to the seemingly capricious nature of the Mollisons' recent choices as
to who receives their approval, and their misguided attempts, due to
ignorance of copyright law, to block others from writing about permaculture,
this seems a very bad development. It should be blocked until those who have
worked so hard in Pc for many years are assured that there will be an
objective, impersonal set of criteria for certifying users of the trademark.

I recently discovered that the word Permaculture wasn't trademarked in the U.S., though the trademark had been given to someone in Baltimore in 1983 but had lapsed due to no registered use with the US Dept. of Commerce. I applied for the trademark to protect my and other graduates of the PC design course exclusive use of the word, as tirelessly stated by Bill Mollison. The attorney at the patent and trademark office turned down my application because the word is now in the dictionary as "A system of perennial agriculture emphasizing the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems." American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, 1992.
I have until this August to appeal the decision. I'm a bit lost as to what I should do and for who and why?

In the meantime Bill and Lisa have been in contact with me through their lawyer threatening to sue me unless I turn the application over to them. My feeling is that I have trusted that Bill had protected all graduates, as he has stated over and over in courses and interviews, with his copyright. It turned out my trust was misplaced and no one is or has been protected for the past 28 years, the use of the word permaculture is available to anyone who chooses to use it. The problem I have had is how do you turn over an application for trademark, nothing else exists, it hasn't been granted so I can't assign the trademark to Bill and Lisa. I applied in the name of the Permaculture Institute and have agreed to give the trademark to the Permaculture Institute in Australia once it is granted. Now I am told to withdraw my application which cost close to $800. to file. Any one out there with any bright ideas, I am not a patent/trademark attorney nor do I have the resources to hire one, which seems to be necessary if I want to appeal the decision of the reviewer at the Patent and Trademark Office.

That shouldn't be hard. PDCs have been around for 20 years without
trademark, which may have already established them as public domain (I'm not
a lawyer, but this is my understanding of how it works), and Bill is on
record in his books, tapes, and public statements as saying, for example
(Design Manual, page x) "graduates of a Permaculture Institute can teach
permaculture" if they adhere to the curriculum. That's anyone with a
legitimate certificate.

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.


Toby

Thanks for speaking up Toby, and Francis
Scott

_____________________________________________
For a look at my new book on ecological gardening,
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, visit
http://www.chelseagreen.com/Garden/GaiasGarden.htm



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