A corporate media group has trade-marked the phrase "Radical Media" and is trying to ban Peace News, New Internationalist, Red Pepper and others from using it in the title of a conference...
Rebellious Media Conference, London, 8-9 October 2011
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org
Rebellious Media Conference, London, 8-9 October 2011
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org
Please come to a demonstration outside @Radical Media's London office, radical media projects must have the right to use the term "radical media" to describe what they do:
"WE make radical media, You make adverts"
Tuesday, 3rd May
5:00pm - 7:00pm (17:00-19:00)
1 Alfred Mews,
LONDON
W1T 7AA
by Heals, off Tottenham Court Road.
What is "radical media" and should there be restrictions on who is allowed to use that term? It seems fantastical that those actively involved in radical media, from UK indymedia to North African revolutionaries might be prevented from using an adjective to describe what they do, but this is exactly what a global media group is trying to do.
In September 2010 I was approached by the editors of Peace News with a proposal to mark the 75th anniversary of the newspaper with a conference. Anyone who works in print-media, no matter how main-stream the publication or how large its circulation, is exercised over what the future may hold. The rise of free, online news outlets challenges the public's willingness to pay for a newspaper and as ever more people get their news stories from blogs, and social networking sites, newspapers have been left behind the curve, struggling to devise ways to turn a profit, or even cover their costs in the online world. This new media landscape is a challenge for Peace News as it is for Australian media barons. The conference, which will take place in London on the weekend of 8-9th October 2011 will be a chance to address these challenges and bring together a fragmented radical media community to learn from one another. It seems common sense that any media which reports on radical politics - setting out to serve that constituency - might naturally be referred to as "radical media" so, back in the autumn a small band of volunteers began working to assemble "The Radical media Conference".
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org
It wasn't until six months in that the conference organising group received a threatening legal letter from the media corporation @Radical Media LLC, objecting to unlicensed use of the term "Radical Media".
Read the letter for yourself here:
http://radicalmediaconference.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/cease-desist-letter.jpg
Our collective jaws dropped, how could anyone own an adjective? Yet in the closed-source world where intellectual property is hard currency, it appears that virtually anything may be trade-marked. We didn't know whether to rant or cry. Our instincts told us that anyone with a radical bone in their body should fight this corporate usurpation of language, but the prospect of facing legal costs in line with house prices tempered this instinct. Even if we won such a battle we could only expect to recover 75 percent of these costs, leaving us tens of thousands of pounds down, money which - even if we had it - should be spent on more useful, more radical things than legal fees.
As a result, organisers of the newly renamed "rebellious media Conference" are calling for support to retain the URL www.radicalmediaconference.org and we would love to see anyone who supports our fight not only attend the conference, (buy tickets at http://tinyurl.com/pnwebshop) but also get involved in truly radical media by blogging, tweeting, forwarding and linking to this story.
- Please tweet the hashtag #radicalmediafail,
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23radicalmediafail
- Follow us on twitter,
http://twitter.com/RebelliousMC
- Join the Facebook group.
http://tinyurl.com/antiradicalmedia
We need to tell @Radical Media LLC that we are taking back "Radical Media" for free use by us all, why not email the CEO or corporate president?
gardner@radicalmedia.com
rubenstein@radicalmedia.com
Groups working in open-source, non-hierarchical and other genuinely radical media projects must have the right to use the term "radical media" to describe what they do. See @Radical Media's own website for more board members who you might like to get in touch with.
http://www.radicalmedia.com/Contact
Please come to a demonstration outside @Radical Media's London office, to make sure our voices are heard:
"WE make radical media, You make adverts"
Tuesday, 3rd May
5:00pm - 7:00pm (17:00-19:00)
1 Alfred Mews,
LONDON
W1T 7AA
by Heals, off Tottenham Court Road.
More info' from the Rebellious Media Conference website:
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org
Conference Partners:
Peace News: http://www.peacenews.info
Ceasefire: http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk
New Internationalist: http://www.newint.org
Red Pepper: http://www.redpepper.org.uk
Undercurrents: www.undercurrents.org
visionOntv: http://visionon.tv
"WE make radical media, You make adverts"
Tuesday, 3rd May
5:00pm - 7:00pm (17:00-19:00)
1 Alfred Mews,
LONDON
W1T 7AA
by Heals, off Tottenham Court Road.
What is "radical media" and should there be restrictions on who is allowed to use that term? It seems fantastical that those actively involved in radical media, from UK indymedia to North African revolutionaries might be prevented from using an adjective to describe what they do, but this is exactly what a global media group is trying to do.
In September 2010 I was approached by the editors of Peace News with a proposal to mark the 75th anniversary of the newspaper with a conference. Anyone who works in print-media, no matter how main-stream the publication or how large its circulation, is exercised over what the future may hold. The rise of free, online news outlets challenges the public's willingness to pay for a newspaper and as ever more people get their news stories from blogs, and social networking sites, newspapers have been left behind the curve, struggling to devise ways to turn a profit, or even cover their costs in the online world. This new media landscape is a challenge for Peace News as it is for Australian media barons. The conference, which will take place in London on the weekend of 8-9th October 2011 will be a chance to address these challenges and bring together a fragmented radical media community to learn from one another. It seems common sense that any media which reports on radical politics - setting out to serve that constituency - might naturally be referred to as "radical media" so, back in the autumn a small band of volunteers began working to assemble "The Radical media Conference".
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org It wasn't until six months in that the conference organising group received a threatening legal letter from the media corporation @Radical Media LLC, objecting to unlicensed use of the term "Radical Media".
Read the letter for yourself here:
http://radicalmediaconference.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/cease-desist-letter.jpg Our collective jaws dropped, how could anyone own an adjective? Yet in the closed-source world where intellectual property is hard currency, it appears that virtually anything may be trade-marked. We didn't know whether to rant or cry. Our instincts told us that anyone with a radical bone in their body should fight this corporate usurpation of language, but the prospect of facing legal costs in line with house prices tempered this instinct. Even if we won such a battle we could only expect to recover 75 percent of these costs, leaving us tens of thousands of pounds down, money which - even if we had it - should be spent on more useful, more radical things than legal fees.
As a result, organisers of the newly renamed "rebellious media Conference" are calling for support to retain the URL www.radicalmediaconference.org and we would love to see anyone who supports our fight not only attend the conference, (buy tickets at
http://tinyurl.com/pnwebshop) but also get involved in truly radical media by blogging, tweeting, forwarding and linking to this story. - Please tweet the hashtag #radicalmediafail,
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23radicalmediafail - Follow us on twitter,
http://twitter.com/RebelliousMC - Join the Facebook group.
http://tinyurl.com/antiradicalmedia We need to tell @Radical Media LLC that we are taking back "Radical Media" for free use by us all, why not email the CEO or corporate president?
gardner@radicalmedia.com rubenstein@radicalmedia.com Groups working in open-source, non-hierarchical and other genuinely radical media projects must have the right to use the term "radical media" to describe what they do. See @Radical Media's own website for more board members who you might like to get in touch with.
http://www.radicalmedia.com/Contact Please come to a demonstration outside @Radical Media's London office, to make sure our voices are heard:
"WE make radical media, You make adverts"
Tuesday, 3rd May
5:00pm - 7:00pm (17:00-19:00)
1 Alfred Mews,
LONDON
W1T 7AA
by Heals, off Tottenham Court Road.
More info' from the Rebellious Media Conference website:
http://www.radicalmediaconference.org Conference Partners:
Peace News:
http://www.peacenews.info Ceasefire:
http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk New Internationalist:
http://www.newint.org Red Pepper:
http://www.redpepper.org.uk Undercurrents: www.undercurrents.org
visionOntv:
http://visionon.tv 
Homepage:
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
f***book event
27.04.2011 12:01
advertsarereallyradical
Homepage:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206130916084114
Like to know more, maybe help
30.04.2011 08:42
It'd be great if the organisers could get in touch with us about this, we're very concerned about issues like this and may be able to help. I'll certainly be asking our supporters what they think about it. But basically, we'd like to know more!
Thank you,
Jim
Jim Killock
e-mail:
jim@killock.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.openrightsgroup.org
Oh look!
02.05.2011 23:42
AlisonB
e-mail:
alisonbancroft@hotmail.co.uk
@radical.media LLC is bluffing
15.05.2011 19:32
–A trademark identifies a specific product within a specific context. In the U.S., for example we have ”Dove” ice cream bars and “Dove” soap bars — different trademarks from different companies — and we are not constrained from calling a conference of doves.
–Moreover, one can’t trademark a generic descriptive term. I can’t trademark “ice cream bar” or “soap bar” for example. To the extent that “radical” describes the type of media that @radical.media produces, they shouldn’t be allowed to trademark it.
Thus at the most @radical.media LLC maybe could prevent another ad agency or public relations firm from using that name but can’t prevent its use in other contexts. (And, of course, they certainly cannot prevent the use of the word “radical media” as descriptive words.)
I encourage the conference organizers to persist in using the name "Radical Media Conference." If the firm makes the mistake of taking legal action, they will certainly lose and might very well find they will have to abandon their corporate name! :)
John R. Hicks
e-mail:
indymediauk@frappyjohn.com