Following a recent Diary item in the Guardian, indymedia is today reporting on the story that a corporate media group has forced us to change the name of our conference. Readers are invited to attend a demonstration outside @Radical Media’s London office, Tuesday, 3rd May 2011, 5pm, London W1T 7AA.
“We make radical media, You make adverts”
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”.
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”.
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 but also get involved in truly radical media by blogging, tweeting, forwarding and linking to this story. Please tweet the hashtag #radicalmediafail, follow us on twitter and Join the Facebook group. 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? Groups working in free software, 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.
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.
[...] the organisers were shocked and surprised. This is what they write in a blog post: Our collective jaws dropped, how could anyone own an adjective? Yet in the closed-source world [...]
[...] the organisers were shocked and surprised. This is what they write in a blog post: Our collective jaws dropped, how could anyone own an adjective? Yet in the closed-source world [...]
Hi there,
It may be these folks have got the law wrong. I think you should find out. But personally, I agree, it is an abuse of IP laws to try to claim a trade mark over a term in common currency, across all possible circumstances. And in their case, incredibly insensitive, as they have arguable wished to gain from referencing the ethos and creativity of direct action in their brand’s image. Please get in touch, so we can see if we can help.
[...] We Make Radical Media You Make Adverts | Rebellious Media: Media, Activism and Social Change. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "fff"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "777"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "1c1c1c"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "004276"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "technology"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "curios"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "rants"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "techne"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_below_post"); [...]
[...] told by ad agency @radicalmedia that they cannot organise a ‘radical media’ conference. The agency claims trademark infringement. As the activists say, ‘We Make Radical Media, You Make [...]
Just another group of scum-sucking corporate weasels trying to claim ownership of the English language. The lamers at “@Radical Media” will find out the hard way that the words “radical” and “media” don’t belong to them, just like those dipsticks at urbanhomestead.org found out that they couldn’t claim ownership of the words “urban” and “homestead”.
To recap, the world is filled with greedy dicks, of which there appears to be an unending supply.
You should sue them back, as there is nothing radical about advertising and marketing. They should be renamed “Reactionary Media.”
[...] “Radical Media” and has issued a cease and desist letter to activists using it in the title of their conference, which takes place in London later this [...]
[...] Unsurprisingly, the organisers were shocked and surprised. This is what they write in a blog post: [...]
The appearance of the term “open source” in this article is ironic.
In 1983 I founded the Free Software Movement (free as in freedom), a
movement of software users to regain control of our computing. (If
you use Microsoft, Apple, or Adobe software, your computing is
controlled by Microsoft, Apple, or Adobe.) “Open source” was coined
in 1998 as a replacement term by people who didn’t want to advocate
our ideals of freedom. (Perhaps they perceived these ideals as
radical?) Their term served to co-opt our work and bury our ideals.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html.
Neither free software nor open source software is directly relevant to
the topic of this article. But if you’re going to mention one of the
terms, couldn’t you help us by using our term, instead of theirs?
[...] than fight this, the creators of the conference have unfortunately caved in and renamed their event “Rebellious Media.” They claim they wanted to fight it, but the [...]
Wethinks you caved too easily …
I agree with CounterCorp: You caved too easily!
I speak only from my experience with U.S. law but we do have a lot in “common.”
–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.)
[...] corporate media group has apparently genuinely trade-marked the phrase “radical media”. The oh-so-radical media group has forced Peace news, New Internationalist, Red Pepper and others [...]
[...] We Make Radical Media You Make Adverts [...]
Thank you…
I appreciate the info shared here. Please keep up the good work. Best wishes to you…..
[...] Protestors staged a demonstration outside the Radical Media London office after receiving a ‘cease and desist’. Radical Media – a PR agency – claim that the Radical Media Conference infringes its trademark. Read more [...]
[...] just in from our friends at the Radical Rebellious Media [...]
[...] A corporate media group has trade-marked the phrase “Radical Media” and is trying to ban Peace news, Red Pepper and others from using it in the title of a conference… In May 2011, a “We make radical media, You make adverts” demonstration was held in central London. Read the full story… [...]
[...] 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. [...]