<nettime> Leonardo - what's in a name - (Malina LEA editorial)

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@transmediale.de>]

>Leonardo Electronic Almanac                 VOLUME 9, NO. 8
>                                             August, 2001
>http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/
>=====================================================================
>                            _______________
>                           |               |
>                           |   EDITORIAL   |
>                           |_______________|
>
>=====================================================================
>
>< What's in a Word: Leonardo/ISAST Obtains U.S. Trademark on the Word
>"Leonardo" >
>by Roger Malina
>
>
>On 5 June, 2001, Leonardo/ISAST was registered as the U.S. Trademark
>holder for use of the word "Leonardo" in the following areas of
>commerce (classes 9, 16 and 42):
>
>1) For electronic publications, including CD-ROMS, Internet-
>downloadable files and CDs of musical works. The registration cites
>our first use as 1991.
>
>2) For printed materials, including books and journals. The
>registration cites our first use as 1968.
>
>3) For websites featuring information on the arts, sciences and
>technology. The registration cites our first web site as being
>available in 1994.
>
>Our success in obtaining the Leonardo trademark, covering our areas
>of activity, follows on the heels of our success in defending the
>lawsuit brought against us by Transasia and Leonardo Finance.
>
>Again, we thank the community for their sustained support, which has
>allowed the Leonardo network to defend itself. We have now confirmed
>our use of the word Leonardo in connection with our activities.
>
>This is ironic, since we never intended to seek universal control of
>the word Leonardo, which, it seems to us, is a word that is part of
>the common heritage of mankind. It was Joseph Needham, famed
>microbiologist and historian of Chinese science and technology, who -
>in 1966 - suggested the name Leonardo as the name of a new journal of
>the arts, sciences and technology, founded by Frank Malina. The name
>was chosen in reference, of course, to Leonardo da Vinci, who is
>viewed as a prototypical creator who navigated during his career
>between the arts, sciences and technology as his fields of endeavor.
>Much of the myth of the Renaissance has been re-written by new
>historians, but the myth is perhaps in this case more important than
>the reality.
>
>When Leonardo/OLATS was sued in court by a venture capital company
>for our use of the word Leonardo it was, as pointed out by Pierre
>Levy, a semantic battlefield with far more than symbolic content.
>Words are the icebergs of ideological and commercial struggles whose
>outcome is unknown. Science and technology are not ethically or
>ideologically neutral, but rather unfold within the context of
>societal dreams and our access to resources.
>
>We suspect that the Internet will have even broader societal
>ramifications than the invention of printing , the cinema and other
>communication technologies. The dot.com hysteria has seen all the
>symptoms of a new culture unfolding. We are pleased to say that the
>Leonardo network of artists, scientists and engineers has been able
>to survive this temporarily chaotic situation.
>
>Now that we are the proud owners of the use of the word Leonardo in
>U.S. Trademark Classes 9, 16 and 42, we will be putting the letter
>"R" in a circle after our use of the word Leonardo in our projects
>including the Leonardo journal, the Leonardo Music Journal, the
>Leonardo Book Series, the Leonardo Compact Disc Series, the Leonardo
>Electronic Almanac, Leonardo On Line, the Observatoire Leonardo des
>Arts et Technosciences, the Leonardo Space Arts Working Group, the
>Leonardo Virtual Africa Project and our other projects. As all proud
>trademark owners, we will defend our trademark against all those who
>would infringe it.
>
>We do find this situation somewhat absurd since, as we stated above,
>our use of the word Leonardo was intended as a cultural meme and was
>used by a group of people asserting new ideas and artforms
>appropriate to our age. The idea was to spread that meme as widely as
>possible and indeed, the explosion of new art-making and institution-
>building in this field testifies to the success and currency of this
>cultural meme. The last thing we want to do is impede the spread of
>the ideas expressed by those in the Leonardo network. To be honest,
>we hope to expand our activities beyond the ones that are covered by
>our trademark. There are  dozens of U.S. Trademark holders of the
>word Leonardo in the U.S. (including world-famous Leonardo macaroni);
>no, we do not plan to produce macaroni  nor to infringe any of the
>other trademark holders' rights.
>
>Our new schizophrenia requires us to defend our trademark and, if
>necessary, sue the infringers, yet at the same time disseminate as
>widely as possible the word Leonardo and the ideas behind it. Perhaps
>there is a way to open source, or "copyleft," the word Leonardo as
>part of the common heritage of mankind while allowing us to protect
>our new trademark so that no new "Leonardo Inc." can sue us in the
>future. Our lawyers are skeptical; we are open to your suggestions.

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