Trademarking of Chinese culture

[rik]

Here is an update on the attempt to trademark
"shaolin wushu"

http://www.shaolinwushu.com/articles

r.

[Shaolinlueb]

wtf, anything for money these days :rolleyes:

[Chinwoo-er]

(1) Why not just trademark "Martial Arts". By doing so, they can basically own every single combative art in the whole country. Putting shaolin into it just makes it limiting.

(2) If it was the chinese communist party doing the say thing, I would say the UN would be having a field day destroying them
Honestly, I think it is this kind of thing that makes capitialism look really undesirable.

[NorthernShaolin]

r.

At this point there is no need for discussion. I'm going to print out the petition and mail it to Mr. Danny Ng, ASAP.

Thanks for giving me a chance through the petition to voice my opinion.

[rik]

We encourage comments and opinions by the international Chinese martial arts community concerning this matter.
Please state your name and/or organization and email your comments to:

Ken Leong:

KenSLeong@telusplanet.net

These comments will be read at the Dec. 14th meeting.

r.

[Kristoffer]

This is rediculous

[Shaolin-Drunk]

Canadian Wushu??

[herb ox]

I try to avoid jumping on any "bandwagons" (other than the bands I've played a part in), but after reading the link that rik posted, I feel this is an incredibly important opportunity to strike a blow to those who would seek to exploit 1500 years of roots and culture for personal gain to the exclusion of all others.

If I am reading the article "CHINESE CULTURE IS TO BE SHARED, SHAOLIN IS NOT TO BE MONOPOLIZED" (http://www.shaolinwushu.com/articles/article.html) appearing in the Calgary News, and posted on the ShaolinWushu.com site (not affiliated with the company in question), my own Sigung Chiu Wei attended the conference speaking against the monopilization of Shaolin Wushu.

I encourage all who read this not just to glance at the article but to really read it and to sign the petition and mail it to the address listed on the site.

max respect
herb ox

[herb ox]

I hope you don't mind, but I posted a link to this thread in the main Kung Fu Forum - I felt it deserves the attention.

peace
herb ox

[rik]

herb ox wrote:
I hope you don't mind, but I posted a link to this thread in the main Kung Fu Forum - I felt it deserves the attention.
................................


Not at all.
It will be a sad day indeed if we let what our ancesters handed to us in trust, slip through our collective fingers because of ignorance of the issue and what is at stake.


r.

[GeneChing]

Ironically, the previous company I worked for looked into the possibility of trademarking "shaolin" here in America. That was when we were first trying to decide on a name, and this is what little I remember from looking into it then. Now, I don't know how it is in Canada (after all, you all call Canadian bacon, 'back' bacon, whassup wid dat?) but in America, it's not really possible to trademark 'Shaolin' alone. If a term like 'Shaolin' can establish that it has entered into the common vernacular for 20 years, it's public domain. Since in the USA, Shaolin is used on TV shows, in video games, etc. it's pretty established and it would be a hard case to make that it wasn't public. Now, you can trademark a specific usage, like say "shaolin stuff" akin to being able to trademark "athlete's foot" but not "athlete". You can also trademark a specific spelling, assuming it's uncommon, like GM Leung Ting did with Wing Tsun (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=292). Perhaps this is what's happening with Xiaolin Showdown (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=26674). Of course, as we've discussed, Shaolin Temple is trying to trademark it's name in China (see my latest interview with Abbot Yongxin (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=398)) which will prove really interesting given China's stance on trademarks and copyrights.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in Canada. Please keep us updated.

[rik]

Gene wrote:
It'll be interesting to see what happens in Canada. Please keep us updated.
.................................................. ...

Will do.
It should be an interesting meeting. Apparently a representative from the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China office will be in attendance. I believe a statement from Taiwan's Trade Office will be read as well. Should be interesting.

r.

(1) Why not just trademark "Martial Arts". By doing so, they can basically own every single combative art in the whole country. Putting shaolin into it just makes it limiting.
..........................
I forgot mention this :-))))) :-)))))
but that was a great comment :-)))))

later,
r.

[rik]

Pics up from Dec. 14th conference.

Text to follow.
http://www.shaolinwushu.com/articles

r.