I found this on another board - it's interesting - the copyright has implications for the US as well:
"Recently a Canadian corporation has claimed that they "own all instances of SHAOLIN WUSHU" and intend to register it as a trademark in Canada. If you represent a Chinese cultural association or a Chinese martial arts organization in Canada or the USA, we urge to consider filling in the following petition. We take the principled position that "SHAOLIN WUSHU" is a commonly held part of Chinese culture and that it should not be permitted for a single corporate entity to misappropriate these descriptive words for themselves.
(See petition below)
http://www.diverscity.net/shaolin
"