Results tagged “trademark” from Uncivil Society

Michael Jackson's Heal the World Foundation did a considerable amount of good in its heyday in the mid-1990s, but it suspended operations in 2002 after failing to file several years worth of required annual reports with the state of California. The charity's New York offshoot, Heal the Kids, also faced a similar crisis in 2003, after which time it seems to have disappeared.

Last year brought news that that Jackson had not really stopped supporting his charity. Instead, the Heal the World Foundation had been reorganized. According to HTWF's website,

People are now remembering his music legacy, but behind the scenes, unknown to all but a small handful of people, during these last 7 years he authorized that tens of thousands be spent on preserving his charity organization Heal the World Foundation (HTWF).

Jackson started HTWF in 1992 and was designed to leverage his name, adding to the many millions Michael Jackson had personally given to charity. With Michael Jackson not happy at turning 50 years old, he stepped up his efforts for a multifaceted comeback.

Following these final performances, it was believed that Mr. Jackson would live a long and full life, devoted to HTWF and serving his God and his fellow man, with his fans leading the way.

Instead, the Heal the World Foundation announced that it would host a memorial benefit at a property bordering Jackson's Neverland Ranch--an event that ended up being canceled when local authorities objected that the event lacked the requisite permits.

I don't want to get in the way of a good thing, and I certainly wish the organizers well with whatever good deeds they have planned for the future. However, the more I go over my files on this Foundation, the more I've begun to wonder whether the relaunched charity was connected to Jackson in any way besides the name.

That the memorial PR came from an event management company with no evident coordination with the Jackson estate raised a red flag for me, but that's not the only odd thing. There's also the array of Michael Jackson domain names associated with the Foundation's president, Melissa Johnson, and the charity itself. For example, while Michael has been known to inspire quasi-religious devotion among his fans, would he have authorized the use of the domain name prophetmichael.com?

Somewhat more troubling, the Foundation is named in the WHOIS listing for http://mjplay.com, but the link itself takes you to Johnson's personal home health care service. Even more curiously, the home health service lists HTWF as a partner in providing elder care assistance--with no mention of Jackson. I was willing to view the Jackson-related domain names as a bit of strategic cybersquatting, but commingling charitable enterprise with a manager's own commercial private business is not something a charity should do.

Then there's this intriguing Craiglist post from mid-June:

The nature of the problem isn't at all clear--another charity named "Heal the World" filed a "Heal the World" trademark application for charitable fundraising, so perhaps HtWF is looking for help to deal with that. Or could there be another problem here--namely, a challenge to the Foundation's repeated mention of Michael Jackson in connection with its site & fundraising activity? Either way, if Michael Jackson were really funding this charity, wouldn't he be connecting it to his legal team as well?

Which leads me to the next and last curious piece of evidence. Johnson claims in a recent interview that "it is NOT true, that HTWF stopped functioning as a charity at any point since its inception in 1992." But if that's the case, why do both the California Attorney General and the IRS treat Jackson's HTWF and Johnson's HTWF as two legally distinct organizations?

California AG:

IRS:

Putting together the above facts with various statements made by Foundation President Johnson, one reasonably wonders whether the Heal the World Foundation's supposed support from Jackson actually existed. Instead, the Foundation would appear to be an independent effort by fans who have scooped up the Foundation's dead trademarks and around (reportedly) 2,000 Jackson-themed domain names.

On its website, the Foundation continues to promote its "behind the scenes" connections to Jackson & indicates that after his scheduled "final performances" Jackson would have been "devoted to HTWF." Judging from the Foundation's discussion board, such statements have created the impression that Jackson really did support this charity. If the Foundation cannot provide documented proof of an actual connection to Jackson, donors--and regulators--have good reason to question whether this charity is really an improvement on its failed predecessor.

I regularly advise students and social entrepreneurs to think about trademark in relation to their ventures, and here's a good example why: Microsoft has just announced the formation of the Social Enterprise Alliance.

No, not that Social Enterprise Alliance, the organization that brings together social entrepreneurs. Microsoft's new Social Enterprise Alliance is a social networking "partnership centered on the customization and integration of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007."

A search of the U.S. trademark database indicates that "social enterprise alliance" isn't registered yet to anyone, though SEA could try to assert common law trademark rights if it wanted to try to get Microsoft not to use the name.

Of course, SEA may be OK with another SEA roaming around, but if Microsoft successfully registers the mark things could eventually interesting. My personal favorite example in this regard is the original Burger King, which got a state trademark for its restaurant but failed to consider federal trademark until after the national Burger King chain had registered it. A judge carved out a 20-mile bubble for the original to operate free from competition from the federally trademarked Burger King, but the original cannot go to scale under its own name.

Microsoft's social enterprise announcements got me thinking about social enterprise & trademark more generally, and a federal trademark search reveals another interesting development: Live Elements, a Virginia technology firm, has recently filed to register "social enterprise" as a proprietary mark for its own online networking platform.

An ad school project presents itself as a History Channel ad. This, kids, is why companies aggressively police their trademarks.

The real reason the U.S. did not torture during World War II--the Red Cross would have smacked us upside the face!

Check out the adventures of Golden Age superhero The Red Cross, Master of Modern Medical Arts at David Z's blog, here and here. As Journalista notes, chances are the use of mark probably wasn't approved by the rights holder!

Kenketsu-chan--"blood donation girl"--is the Japan's blood donation mascot, one of a stable of public mascots throughout the country. Pink Tentacle (via Animal) has more, including a link to the official Kenketsu-chan site:

From the site, we know that Kenketsu-chan’s ears shrink when she runs low on blood, but return to their original size when people donate. We also know that she comes from Tasuke Island (Help Island), which features a heart-shaped spring at its center. The spring shoots forth rainbows that carry Kenketsu-chan to wherever people need blood.

Below: "Cross Kid," a local Red Cross superhero.

Interesting: the Hanger Network distributes ad-infested cardboard eco-hangers to dry cleaners for free. Cultural critics would say that this is yet another example of how corporate social responsibility is merely a mask for corrosive commodification. My dry cleaner hangers are covered in paper with the company's logo so I don't think there's much of a difference, but I can say I'd be less likely to keep hangers with ads from other companies in my closet.

Unless they were ads for Doctor Who or something comics-related, in which case, they'd be collectibles!

Today's a class prep day for me, and the topic: charity & intellectual property. It's an important topic, particularly because charities tend to assume that because they're charities others' IP is fair game to take. I have an overview post on this topic over at Blog@ today, and don't be surprised if I return to the issue both here and there.

The image above, by the way, is from a charitable initiative that is at least trying not to use other companies' characters without a license: Web874 Graphics' Become a Superhero campaign, which collects and distributes holiday gifts for needy kids. The pic is from the new BAS comic book.

In related comics and culture news, the NY Times has a great feature on how "a comic-book figure, the hero of the manga series “The Drops of the Gods,” has quickly become the most influential voice in Asia’s wine markets."

No doubt unauthorized by DC Comics . . .

A Polish charity uses the phrase "Give children' wings" as a fundraising hook; Red Bull sues. Der Spiegel has der scoop.

By Emil Kozak.

I really needed a break today, so for the subway ride home I picked up the copies of the Licensable Bear comics that I was delighted to find colonizing my postal lifeworld (thanks Nat!).

Brilliant! Piracy. Free culture. Anime. Social enterprise. And that's just the first issue--everything is fair game for this commercial satire. There's a lot here for folks in the charity biz, such as the library pitch above and the Licensable Bear PSAs. A collected edition is reportedly on the way; for now, be sure to check out all the fun--and licensable!--stuff on the LB site.

As the comics community commemorates Jack Kirby's birthday, here's the cover of what might very well be my favorite Kirby story of all time.

The premise is deceptively simple: in the future after the Great Disaster, Kamandi encounters a tribe of gorillas that worship The Mighty One. Legend tells them that The Mighty One disappeared when bearing the weight of a new continent he created to fill the void created by a destructive quake. The tribe awaits his return, with the stronger gorillas undertaking mighty feats so they can wear the only thing of Superman that remains: his super-suit.

For our purposes, let's set aside the obvious joke that perhaps the reason Superman hadn't returned was his embarrassment over flying around naked. Sure, that's funny, but there's something else going on here.

Think of this tale as a metaphor for the direction of comics--and fictional narrative--itself. Superman starts as a story, bears the weight of our ideals and becomes a symbol--or, in more commercial terms, a legend or mark that anyone can wear so as to associate themselves with what the brand represents. It's one reason you see the occasional superhero tattoo or clothing on this site--the hero has evolved from a narrative subject to a transformative sign. It's a cultural transition that we academics yack about with convoluted verbiage, but Kirby had it all right here in 22 pages 30+ years ago.

These commercials for the arts may seem fun, but are they effective and ethical? Framing art as "good for you" only reinforces the image of broccoli for the brain. The ads also invoke questionable scientific claims--Classical music raises test scores? Staring at a Van Gogh is more educational than playing video games, which teach asset management, strategic thinking, graphic design and enhanced attention?

Beyond that, there's the matter of trademark appropriation in the name of doing good, a topic that all too many nonprofits simply ignore. There's also a disturbing race and class issue implicit in the ad below--are African American families truly harming their children if their kids lack a daily diet of 19th century German piano music?

Whatever. I grew up on comics, Devo, Dr. Who and Star Wars, so I'm guess that makes me ignorant.

As Em & Lo note, the GI Jonny website is chock full of PSAs and play aimed at safe sex education fun.

But it's also filled with unabashed appropriation of the GI Joe trademark.

For social enterprises age 18-above; try at your own risk.

For those of you who are into intellectual prpoerty, this is a fun case. In 1965, Robert Morris College broke off from a school that a few years ago decided to rename itself Robert Morris University. Then the Robert Morris College board of directors decided to rename it as a university. Robert Morris is seeking a judicial declaration that changing its name won't infringe on the RMU trademark.

So work commitments have you stuck at home while every one else who reads comics--and given the size of today's comics buying market, I mean that literally--is out gallivanting at the San Diego Comic Con. What's there to do except wallow in self-pity and stay late filing TPS reports?

I'll tell ya what, grasshopper. Y'see, thanks to good folks in the Siegel case, you now have a chance to spend this weekend living out the Con's charitable purpose by getting a comics education right here at your computer screen.

The latest briefs from both sides are available, with the Siegels and DC taking their best shot at legal questions arising from the Siegels' copyright interest in the Superman material in Action Comics 1. If the briefs were just dueling legal analysis, I might have just posted the links with a just a promise to write more about it later once my own deadlines are met, but there's more.

A lot more.

• Historic documents from 1938 and 1939 pertaining to the sale of the rights to Superman.

• The findings in the creators' 1947 case.

• Selections from Jerry Siegel's unpublished biography.

• Lengthy expert testimony, including a statement by DC Comics President & Publisher Paul Levitz.

• Web pages that sell Superman stuff (OK, not so exciting there, but look what's next . . . )

• Free comics entered as exhibits by DC to illustrate its legal points.

There are also complete copies of Superman movies, but alas, these have been sealed so as not to be made available for free online as government exhibits.

OK, so it's not quite the Con, but if you & your SO read this stuff while dressed up as Wolverine & Slave Girl Leia it can be a reasonable substitute.

A Lutheran pastor in Wisconsin built a church out of 12000 Lego bricks. Inside he placed its parishioners: toy SpongeBob and Batman, whose Batmobile waited outside.

The pastor said the project helped him reduce the stress from working so closely with his congregation.

“It can be stressful dealing with the realities of people’s lives,” he said. “It brought me peace and it brings others joy.”

Regardless, the Lego church seems to be no longer on display, so a C&D would seem to be superfluous!

Via Core 77, a report re the boom in sales of branded products made by compulsory labor in prisons:

With orders flooding in on the association's Internet shopping site, all items are currently sold out. The popularity has been so great it is planning to register the logo — designed by a prison official — with the patent office, Nakajima said.

“We thought the character for 'jail' would turn people off, but that turned out to be the big appeal," Nakajima said. "Especially, young people seem to like it.”

Under Japan's criminal law, the production is part of corrections and vocational training, not for profit, Nakajima said. The Hakodate inmates don't get any bonus from the booming sales of the jail brand and any profit will be used to fund the labor program, he added.

McLuhan, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, originally uploaded by TV Disko.

Draft article submitted, with a McLuhan finish. Hooray!

Cartoon & comics trademark watchers may recall the Mighty Mouse vs. My-T-Mouse dust-up a decade ago. Now the tables have turned, as a computer mouse-maker is suing CBS & Apple over rights to the Mighty Mouse brand. Here's the complaint: