Thanks for post Ken.
I am at least initially falling on the side of "let's not cry before we're
hurt."
Seems to me that I, Sol Nte, and others on and off this list could just as
easily get "sued" by earlier/more original Fluxus folk for using the name
"Fluxus" on our various websites. That I would protest as being contrary
to my understanding of the spirit of Fluxus. So who am I to turn around
and tell someone else they can't use the word "Fluxus"...even if it's a
commercial ISP?
We could ignore it or take it as a challenge to find some fun/interesting
Fluxus-games to play (on them or around them) rather than view it/approach
it as a legal conflict.
Ken is also right that this is not a "copyright" issue, but a
trademark/registered-trademark issue. My own experience with claiming a
trademark is that you have to use that little superscript "TM" on every
major instance of the name you are claiming and after receiving official
permission, you must use the little circle-r superscript on every major
instance of the name and continue to do so OR you forfeit your claim to
it. Who among us wants to see our collective uses of "Fluxus" or "fluxus"
with that little TM or circle-r albatross around it's neck? Not a pretty
picture or feeling for me.
Two other wrinkles (this is not official legal advice or may not even be
totally accurate): If you are going to trademark/register a name or logo,
there is no easy way to do it on a global scale. Most companies pick their
main commercial markets and seek to trademark it in those countries. This
can get very expensive...and tedious (although I could see Christo
attempting to "cover" a symbol or word in every country in the world...as
one of his grand international socio/governmental projects). Also, at
least in US, trademarking a name/symbol must be done in specific
"commercial" areas or categories. This can allow different people/groups
in different areas of commerce to trademark and use the same
name/symbol...if it is judged that these uses are UNlikely to infringe on
each other. Our use of "Fluxus" and Fluxus.net's use of "Fluxus" may not
infringe on each other as these uses may be perceived to be in fairly
different domains of activity (art world vs. commercial ISP world).
If Fluxus.net were to try to limit our use of the word "Fluxus" than that
would be an entirely different matter. I would participate in efforts to
resist that.
Allen
