Andreas Broeckmann on Thu, 6 Sep 2001 22:27:27 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Leonardo - what's in a name - (Malina LEA editorial) |
>Leonardo Electronic Almanac VOLUME 9, NO. 8 > August, 2001 >http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/ >===================================================================== > _______________ > | | > | EDITORIAL | > |_______________| > >===================================================================== > >< What's in a Word: Leonardo/ISAST Obtains U.S. Trademark on the Word >"Leonardo" > >by Roger Malina > > >On 5 June, 2001, Leonardo/ISAST was registered as the U.S. Trademark >holder for use of the word "Leonardo" in the following areas of >commerce (classes 9, 16 and 42): > >1) For electronic publications, including CD-ROMS, Internet- >downloadable files and CDs of musical works. The registration cites >our first use as 1991. > >2) For printed materials, including books and journals. The >registration cites our first use as 1968. > >3) For websites featuring information on the arts, sciences and >technology. The registration cites our first web site as being >available in 1994. > >Our success in obtaining the Leonardo trademark, covering our areas >of activity, follows on the heels of our success in defending the >lawsuit brought against us by Transasia and Leonardo Finance. > >Again, we thank the community for their sustained support, which has >allowed the Leonardo network to defend itself. We have now confirmed >our use of the word Leonardo in connection with our activities. > >This is ironic, since we never intended to seek universal control of >the word Leonardo, which, it seems to us, is a word that is part of >the common heritage of mankind. It was Joseph Needham, famed >microbiologist and historian of Chinese science and technology, who - >in 1966 - suggested the name Leonardo as the name of a new journal of >the arts, sciences and technology, founded by Frank Malina. The name >was chosen in reference, of course, to Leonardo da Vinci, who is >viewed as a prototypical creator who navigated during his career >between the arts, sciences and technology as his fields of endeavor. >Much of the myth of the Renaissance has been re-written by new >historians, but the myth is perhaps in this case more important than >the reality. > >When Leonardo/OLATS was sued in court by a venture capital company >for our use of the word Leonardo it was, as pointed out by Pierre >Levy, a semantic battlefield with far more than symbolic content. >Words are the icebergs of ideological and commercial struggles whose >outcome is unknown. Science and technology are not ethically or >ideologically neutral, but rather unfold within the context of >societal dreams and our access to resources. > >We suspect that the Internet will have even broader societal >ramifications than the invention of printing , the cinema and other >communication technologies. The dot.com hysteria has seen all the >symptoms of a new culture unfolding. We are pleased to say that the >Leonardo network of artists, scientists and engineers has been able >to survive this temporarily chaotic situation. > >Now that we are the proud owners of the use of the word Leonardo in >U.S. Trademark Classes 9, 16 and 42, we will be putting the letter >"R" in a circle after our use of the word Leonardo in our projects >including the Leonardo journal, the Leonardo Music Journal, the >Leonardo Book Series, the Leonardo Compact Disc Series, the Leonardo >Electronic Almanac, Leonardo On Line, the Observatoire Leonardo des >Arts et Technosciences, the Leonardo Space Arts Working Group, the >Leonardo Virtual Africa Project and our other projects. As all proud >trademark owners, we will defend our trademark against all those who >would infringe it. > >We do find this situation somewhat absurd since, as we stated above, >our use of the word Leonardo was intended as a cultural meme and was >used by a group of people asserting new ideas and artforms >appropriate to our age. The idea was to spread that meme as widely as >possible and indeed, the explosion of new art-making and institution- >building in this field testifies to the success and currency of this >cultural meme. The last thing we want to do is impede the spread of >the ideas expressed by those in the Leonardo network. To be honest, >we hope to expand our activities beyond the ones that are covered by >our trademark. There are dozens of U.S. Trademark holders of the >word Leonardo in the U.S. (including world-famous Leonardo macaroni); >no, we do not plan to produce macaroni nor to infringe any of the >other trademark holders' rights. > >Our new schizophrenia requires us to defend our trademark and, if >necessary, sue the infringers, yet at the same time disseminate as >widely as possible the word Leonardo and the ideas behind it. Perhaps >there is a way to open source, or "copyleft," the word Leonardo as >part of the common heritage of mankind while allowing us to protect >our new trademark so that no new "Leonardo Inc." can sue us in the >future. Our lawyers are skeptical; we are open to your suggestions. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net