Phrase "Urban Homestead" is trademarked?

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Followed a link to a link to a link and found this: http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2011/02/16/fyi-urban-homestead-trademark-matter/

Basically, it says that the Dervaes Institute (that Jules Dervaes family in California that raises a lot of produce on 1/10th an acre) have trademarked certain terms, like "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading". Huh?

Somebody tell me that I mis-read this link ... are they really truly saying that no one can refer to their home as an "urban homestead" or call what they do as "urban homesteading"? Please please tell me that the govmnt did NOT allow trademarking of those terms. That's like ... now I'm gonna trademark "LIVING" as what my family does ...and nobody else can use it!

If this is indeed true, then I will no longer link to their site, or refer to them at all. I have notations all over my blogs about how they have done stuff, but honestly? It sounds like (if this is true) then they are (allegedly) out for the almighty buck. If they were truly making enough money off of their 1/10th an acre, then why are they going commercial?

I'm not usually dumb, and it could be the lack of sleep (6-7 years since a good night of restful sleep) but seriously ... am I mis-reading that?

 

[DuckLady]

It is all over facebook and the news.

That family bears looking into, that's for sure.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Gee whiz ... how did I miss it? I hope people more in the know will keep me updated! Even tho I live out in the country, we're in a subdivision on only 2 acres so I call(ed) it an "urban homestead".

Sure don't want to get sued!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Only in America...

 

[GarlicEater]

There was a heads-up about this on Ran Prieur's site.

They're a bunch of jerks and deserve absolutely zero support.

I doubt any of their "trademarks" would stand up in court.

 

[herfrds]

Sounds like a pile of manure to me.
Had a similar incident a few years ago with a designer trying to trademark the name Montana. It got thrown out.

Found this site,
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

Not listed on there.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Donald Trump trademarked "your fired"

Its a well known an used statement so being able to get the trademark an actually stopping people from using it is not the same thing.

 

[Randy]

Someone did the same thing with Shabby Chic. I remember ebay killing everyone's auctions that had "shabby chic" in the title because it had become trademarked.

 

[CrazyChickieMama]

If you go to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Take-Back-Urban-Home-steadings/167527713295518

They have all the information about the trademarks and everything there. Several people and businesses were sent what were essentially cease and desist letter from the family. The Dervaes contacted Facebook and had several pages devoted to urban homesteading(Not putting the TM here) taken down. One was in Denver for a farmer's market. Ridiculous. I've been following this closely.

The author of the book "Urban Homesteading: Skills for Sustainable Living" has acquired a lawyer from EFF to represent them and their publishing company. They sent a letter to the Dervaes' through the lawyer with EFF, informing them they had no right to remove their Facebook page and to stop the harassment with no response. But then the publisher got a letter from the Dervaes' telling them they were not allowed to publish the book. Craziness. This might go to court.

The other day, the Dervaes' posted on their page an article about plagiarism, plagiarized from another website. Now an author of a blog has discovered that several of their info pages were stolen word for word from his blog. He is gathering evidence and might sue should they not take those down.

It's going to be a bad year for them if they don't quit digging that hole deeper.

ETA: tried making 2nd paragraph clearer

 

[Mattemma]

I used to link to this family to inspire others with small yards. What a shame that they have taken this path.Certainly not the *path to freedom* I would have though they would chose.

I guess I will link to other sites now and delete theirs. If they do have a legal right to the words via trademark then I hope others can just tweak their titles to city homestead or something...until those get trademarked,lol.