California family leaves unwanted 'mark' on urban agriculture
Do you grow veggies on your apartment rooftop? Well, be mindful of how you refer to it. The terms 'urban homesteading' and 'urban homestead' are now trademarked by a California family.
Image: David Owen/Flickr This notice is to inform you of important matters regarding the published works and/or brand names of Jules Dervaes and Dervaes Institute. We are extremely supportive of members of our online communities; fans of our websites, writings and photographs; and others who help to spread information regarding sustainable living. However, we must also guard against the unauthorized use or exploitation of our intellectual property for commercial gain. From the beginning, our work published online and in other media has been copyrighted and trademarked. We have now secured registered trademarks for certain unique names and images. By protecting our intellectual property we are better able to ensure that our work is presented accurately and contributes to our sustainable living projects and educational initiatives.As you may know, the Dervaes family has been practicing sustainable living in Pasadena, Calif., since 1985. Our work has been documented and shared online at www.urbanhomestead.org and other websites since 2001, receiving national and international media attention. Additionally, we produced an award-winning short documentary film about our project, called Homegrown Revolution, which has been featured at film festivals around the world and on Oprah’s 2009 Earth Day television special. Over the last 25 years, our family has created a wealth of intellectual property in the field of sustainable living. Through the Dervaes Institute, we have been committed to freely educating others about the practices and benefits of self-sufficiency.We realize that your use of Dervaes published words and/or trademarks may have been inadvertent. We are generally able to resolve any such uses without involving our legal counsel. This would require that you update your websites and articles to properly cite our works. For example, the writings of Jules Dervaes about sustainable living are original protected works in which Dervaes owns exclusive rights. Content from the Dervaes websites, including text and photographs, are also protected works.
They've [The Dervaes family] gone as far as to sanctimoniously lecture the world on their website (you'll have to look it up, because no way in hell I'm linking to them) since the controversy broke about the intricacies of trademark law to, as they put it, "cut through the mob of misinformation ... of course, urban homesteading is 'old' but we used it in a new and unique way and that is what is registered."Actually, no. The Dervaes aren't just going after people who have ripped off their writings (a perfectly legitimate legal move, mind you) but ANYONE using the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading."
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Gardens in urban yards are once again becoming popular. These city gardens are often touted as a way to conserve money. Some enterprising farmers, however, are trying to turn backyard gardens into full-fledged, profitable farms. Here is the proof: Doing the math on urban farming
Surely people can't do this, Not really understanding American law (being English)
I don't understand how people can get away with this nonsense. Hopefully the impact it's had on the livelihood of the people affected will be short term and this will just be another stupid publicity stunt gone bad.
Their a quite a few books at my local library called "Urban Homesteading" or have that in the title, all written before this trademark took effect. There is even one by James W. Hughes that is copyright 1975, (they've only been doing this since 1985.) Do I need to put a TM sign after it, (even though that is not the name of the book,) and or a foot note that that is a trademark of the Dervaes family? If I do, then why can't I trademark "Bible" and "The Bible"? (Assuming someone hasn't.... More
Dervaes has many trademarks when his production is almost nothing. He used donations to pay legal fees to register those trademarks. People who wanted to support urban homesteading movement and giving donations to Dervaes actually supported him to obtain a trademark that is used now to control our urban homesteading movement.
No - not when your supporters are questioning, non-linear thinking, responsible people. What is this business model inspired by? Disney?
How can an earth template (oops someone may copyright that one!) philosphy turn into a trademark bully?
really interesting situation here... they seem to be playing with a technology they dont quite understand. it seems pretty clear that the internet is in the process of eroding the barriers that now exist in human societies. copyright might be the opposite of sharing. at its best, the UH movement is a kind of archaic revival in which earlier knowledge & techniques are put to good use. nobody 'pioneered' this movement: its a story we are all part of.
What a shame to hear about this. We thought they were better than that, but perhaps we misjudged them. At a time when little guys need to believe something else isn't being taken from them, this error in judgement de-inspires others to grow their own food.
What were they thinking.
Tons of farms come up with that suffix. I know of a dozen that use the term. So, will the Dervae family sue them all? I think not. I know personally, I would use the term if I wanted to. Just like I use the words "That's Hot". This family has just wasted their time and money, but more importantly, their reputation. Not all publicity is good. This is one such case.
"Intellectual property" is unsustainable because it attempts to control life by applying unnatural limits.
The Dervaes do themselves an enormous disservice by trying to "protect" the phrases "urban homestead," etc. via trademark. As historian Sam Bass Warner put it in his book (by the same title,) "to dwell is to garden." Every garden has it's own gardener, and every urban home can have its own homesteader. We should all look for ways to encourage (rather than control) the work, the same way.... More
The Dervaes do not claim that they invented the term (or that they own the concept of urban homesteading), but that they can own the term because it has become associated with them. I would be willing to bet that an independent survey asking average people what they associate with the term "urban homesteading" would elicit few, if any, references to the Dervaes. I believe they're doing this for the publicity.
It will be easy to proof that Dervaes claims to own commonly used phrases by itself is unlawful. He knows that his claims for urban homesteading even weaker, because it is registered in Supplemental Register and this registration can be cancel any time if somebody will file a Petition to Cancel (Dervaes, be sure we are going to do it). Dervaes request to use the above trademarked phases ONLY in connection to him and his activity is very beneficial for him. If we follow his order and urban.... More
The Dervaes shameless greed has forever disgraced them in the Urban Homesteading movement. Now they face the howls of outrage by gardeners who once admired them by shutting off comments on their pages and with the quote by Jordane; "Go placidly among the noise...". I predict there are two places the Dervaes will be going. 1) to court, and 2) into obscurity. And I wish them God speed to both.
As a longtime fan of the Dervaes family's website, particularly their helpful blog which gives out lots of great advice and inspiration, I'm really sort of befuddled by this trademark mess they've started. I read in the press release they put out to 'clarify' their intentions that they believe they 'defined' the modern usage of the term 'urban homesteading', a term which they have been using publicly since they started their website a few years back but which has been in popular usage for.... More
See Above, a resource based economy is the only way to go this sort of unethical behavior is to be expected in a system that values scarcity and poverty as motivators for the prostitution of people in modern "Jobs".
You cannot I repeat cannot have ethical behavior or peace in a system that uses money.
The hearts of people are what make them ethical and peaceful not the presence or absence of money. Now, go get a job.
This is not the appropriate use of copyright law. Embarrassing.
Is Jules Dervaes delusional or merely greedy? He can't truly believe he invented this movement that's been around since the 70s, can he? He claims to be protecting "his" intellectual property from corporations, but in the cease-and-desist letter to Google he identifies his family as a corporation: ("Full legal name of the copyright holder: Dervaes Institute A Corporation Sole"). He claims to be living off the land but he has built up a wide-ranging financial empire involving, merchandise,.... More
James, I feel for your plight. My best advice to you is to combine forces with other affected parties and fight back legally. I have gone from being a fan of the Dervaes to someone who would not mind seeing their business ruined, as they seem to be trying to do to others.
It seems the fame has gone to their heads and their marketing acumen seems to have failed them... and how the hell can a produce business be classified as a church??
This is my 2 cents.
Urban Homesteading is a right of ALL families!!!
http://urban-farming-fl.blogspot.com/2011/02/urban-homesteading-right-of...
This link appears to be broken - I tried to take a look and it popped up as blocked. Could you check it and post it again?
You can't trademark amking your world a better place, or feeding your family-- intellectual property my fat A$$. These methods have been passed down from generation to generation evolving along the way... arrogant! And his "ideas" and what not, aren't new. Find an old Victory garden book from the 30's-40's and you find the basic tools needed to feed your family, in an urban,semi-urban rural area. I am offended. that he trademarked "Freedom Garden" it is an insult to my Father's generation.... More
We are a farmers' market with the name Denver Urban Homesteading, in Denver, Colorado, the first and only indoor farmers' market in Denver serving the community with local and organic foods from small area farmers. Neither our farmers or our market gets any support from the government of any kind as does the Dervaes Institute by being a church and paying no income taxes or property taxes.
Our Facebook page was disabled on orders from the Dervaes Institute with no prior notice or.... More
