permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

My thanks to Russ and Robyn for their excellent summaries of this
copyright/logo thread and for their suggestions. I may be repeating some of
what they've said, but I'd like to propose:

--That we urge that a license to use the "egg logo" be granted to graduates
of Permaculture Design Courses (or alternatively, graduates of an advanced
course or teacher training, or 2-year diplomates). As noted, a logo is a
powerful tool for promoting a movement or idea. We could use one. To receive
the license, a nominal fee, say $10 per year, could be paid to a national or
international body. This would serve a second purpose as well: to create a
registered association of permaculture practitioners who could agree on
standards and practices. Those graduates who chose not to be licensed could
still use the word "permaculture" in their work, but not the logo. If this
can't be done, we could create a new logo, trademark it, and license it.

--That we pursue the possibility of trademarking the word "permaculture."
This would ensure a set of standards for practitioners and users of the
word, preventing the degeneration of permaculture or its coopting by
unscrupulous commercial interests, as is happening to organic foods. Since
Mollison has asserted (DM p. x) that anyone can use the word, this may have
eliminated the option of a trademark, but we should find out. Perhaps
licensing fees from the logo could hire a lawyer.

Perhaps after discussing this we could send it to Mollison and the various
Pc institutes. It seems counterproductive that the use of the egg logo, an
internationally recognized symbol of permaculture, remains restricted to one
person and his heirs. Instead of lying dormant, as unused and unshared
surplus, the energy invested in the logo could be promoting permaculture.

Toby