[Update 10/1/14]: please help with the modest amount they are raising to mount a defense.
Napalm Dragon, who is being sued by BMOrg who never registered their trademark in Canada, has asked for help on Ello. It seems threats of leaking emails have not dissuaded Goliath from trying to demonize David’s dissent. Is there a lawyer in the house?
Written by Napalm Dragon:
I am one artist defending my right to practice my art and culture that is being converted into a global brand exclusively owned by an American Corporation.
In 1995 I developed a form of art, in relation to a culture here in British Columbia Canada. Much of our inspiration was in relation to a free and open culture that was not owned or controlled in any way by Corporations. This happened because we were not a commodity, and because we’d never really allowed ourselves to be named for fear of being turned into a commodity. It was the cultural engine that fuelled the free parties in England that the Spiral Tribe were involved with, it was the culture that produced the expressions of art and fire that have become synonymous with the Burning Man Culture.
I have documented evidence that shows me and my peers here in British Columbia developed a style of fire and in relation to a free and open culture that the Decommodification LLC is now claiming was invented in the Nevada Desert.
The reason this is important is that even if I decide I no longer want any association with the American Corporation claiming my culture as something they created, I risk litigation for practising my art and culture, because my Art and Culture were absorbed under that generic term of “Burning Man”.
People have said to me “Just don’t use the name, do something else”. But I’m not a party head that just dropped in on an event in Nevada that my culture descended on in the mid-90’s. I’m not just a person who got my ideas from going to that event, created by my culture, who gathered in the Black Rock City and called the culture by the same name as the event they created around the burning of a man sculpture.
It’s a different issue for me. I created my own culture and art in BC in 1995-1997. I never knew about the desert. My art reflected my culture, and our attitude of generosity, collaboration, self-reliance, inclusion, and mutual respect, completely independently of any guidance or control from corporate interests.
While I have no issue with Corporations and their need to do business as the economic engine of Capitalism, what I did in relation to the people I associated was outside the domain of corporations, and religions. It was all our own. A free and open culture. When that culture descended on the desert in the mid-90’s and shaped what we came to know until 2003 as the Burning Man Culture, we did so for each other. We spent our own money and time doing this for ourselves.
When we heard that people like us had set up a kind of Temporary Autonomous Zone in the desert, we went to meet our peers at a gathering point for our culture. When we heard that a city had been set up as a home for our culture, we went to that city to express our culture unfettered by pressures imposed on festivals that receive Corporate Sponsorship, and Sell Everything.
This pace was not a festival. It was a city, and the event was the burning of the sculpture at the gathering of our tribes.
Immediatism, a core element of our culture as described by Hakim Bey existed in a space somewhere on this planet, on a grand scale. The city did not interfere with our culture as it went to the desert and associated with cultural peers who lit the fire, and sounded the all clear through the explorations of the Suicide Club, the Cacophony Society, and Zone Trip #4.
We helped them run the city, we struck a deal. You do what you need to make the city happen, and we’ll pay a tax for using this city. Just be honourable, and use any money left over for the benefit of the city and the communities who self-identify with our culture and bring it to the city. This reflected the attitudes of our culture. That anyone who makes money on our culture aren’t just using our culture as a cheap promotion gimmick like what rave promoters had done with our culture.
I DID NOT get my ideas to Burn from the Desert. I DID NOT contribute to my culture before it became known as the Burning Man Culture to build a global brand owned and controlled by a corporation.
I had learned to breathe fire through a hard-core heavy metal underground musician who had a band called BLAMO. He used was pure fun and pure renegade. He blew up toilets with home-made pyro, for fun. He taught me much of his renegade art, because he liked my renegade attitude. When he connected me with a circus group called Zero Gravity, I met a woman named Jill who’d already been practising her art and culture in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She had also been involved with a local underground arts scene that burned a wicker Bunny on the local beaches, because it was Easter and they’d just watched the old wicker man movie.
The Fire Style started at a show put on by Zero Gravity and was the first time traditional fire associated with tribal cultures in New Zealand and Hawaii had appeared in North America. What we did with it over the next few years travelled down the West Coast and was brought to Burning Man (from Vancouver) for the Pepe Ozan Operas at the Nevada Burning Man event around 1998 or so.
We had fun for the next few years, fully immersed in the culture that was well developed here. We did it for fun, we had no grand design, we just knew it was an amazing experience, and visited many events for little or no cash to explore the full scope of this underground experience and just enjoy it.
Somewhere along the way we started Burning Sculptures as an expression of our free and open culture. Inspired by underground groups in Europe, and as a natural extension of all the fire we’d been playing with. Fire wasn’t a thing at the time, we literally made all our own torches. We just made it up as a creative self-exploration, and shared it openly with mutually respectful peers.
Then at one event, we decided to dispose of some 15 foot tall giant puppets by breathing fire onto them and diving through the flames as a performance. The following year I built something with the expressed intent of burning. I called it a Baboon Robot, because it just happened to look like a Baboon Robot.
We performed “The Burning of the Baboon Robot”
My art involved fire and burning sculptures, and it was an expression of my culture which would later that year start heading to the desert and adopt the Burning Man name.
By 2001 our culture adopted the Burning Man name. We were the Burning Man Culture, and we called ourselves Burners (people who self-identify as the Burning Man Culture). It was a widely used term.
Now an American Corporation is coming to Canada and claiming exclusive rights to the very same culture we developed here, took to the desert, shared with our peers who were doing the same, and called themselves Burners (people who self-identify as the Burning Man Culture), and claiming exclusive rights to the culture we developed.
The American corporation Decommodification LLC knows they did not create the culture in the desert. They know it came from somewhere else, and now they are claiming that the form of fire that emulated from what was developed here in BC, was invented by them in the desert.
This is incredibly disrespectful to the amazing and talented people around the world who fostered, embraced and celebrated this culture, before and after it adopted the Burning Man name.
Now it’s a problem for me as an artist expressing my culture.
Even if I have no desire to be associated in any way with the Nevada people, I can’t change that my culture was absorbed by the Nevada event my culture created and adopted the Burning Man name as the Burning Man Culture.
This corporation is now trying to convert our independent communities and culture into a global brand that they have exclusive rights to decide who can and cannot express it. They are laying claim to not only inventing my culture, but even the very style of fire dancing we created here in Vancouver and brought to the desert around 1997-1998. They are claiming every expression of our culture as a proprietary Global Brand and Communities they own and control exclusively. Communities that developed independently to foster local Burning Man Culture.
You might say “So what call what you do something else?”
But, I’m not a party head. I did not get my idea to participate in my culture or express an art form now synonymous with this culture from the Desert. I created it COMPLETELY independently. Because my culture adopted that name in association with all the expressions of that free and open culture, I can’t practice the independent art that I developed in relationship to my independent culture without fear of litigation.
I DID NOT get the idea to Burn from Larry Harvey’s hat, or Marian Goodell’s corporation. My organisation, Burn BC applied for a mark that is in the public domain to protect my right to have free and open access to the culture that this new American Brand is based on. Burn BC did so, to give it to the Canadian Burning Man Communities so that no one can stop us from being who we are.
This was wrong, NO ONE should have exclusive rights to what has become a generic term to describe the people, art, and culture that created the Burning Man Culture in Canada, and shared it with our peers in Nevada.
Burn BC has already dropped the name, and they can drop the case. But they’re using the case to frighten me and my organisation into complete silence and isolation.
They know they DO NOT own anything in Canada. They know Canada has a right to express its culture. It is not my fault our culture adopted that name and spent countless hours and resources making our culture notorious. It’s not my fault that the notoriety of our culture and the event that has capitalised on our culture genericised the name to describe a type of art and culture. It’s not my fault that in 2004, they chose to create a new brand based on our open and collaborative culture of self-identifying Burners.
It’s not my fault that they (and their subordinates) are now turning around and telling those of us who do not identify with this new brand, that we are not really “Burning Man” or not really “Burners” or “Not part of the Community”, and insisting that we must adhere to this new brand or essentially abandon our culture.
A culture that existed as a free and open culture, before it went to the desert, and before it created the most notorious event our culture has ever produced.
I don’t want to be associated with this new brand developed in 2004.
I want my art and culture that I already knew and loved, before it ever went to the desert, and I want to be free to express it under any name regardless of what it chooses to call itself in the
future. I want to do this free from the fear of litigation, and I want the same for anyone else who hosts Burning Man Events that celebrate the culture that adopted the Burning Man name…and I want to retain the truth of my life and its relationship to my art and culture. Both if which WERE NOT inspired by the event my culture gathered at and created in the Black Rock City.
I’m begging for help, I’m just one guy refusing to sign away my rights to my arts and culture.
Because whether or not I want to use that name to describe my culture, the media, and people in general now refer to my art and culture as “Burning Man” whether or not I like that. And now, to say “no it’s not Burning Man” is a lie. It’s a lie because the Corporation is claiming my culture as a proprietary thing invented in the desert. That they, and their ceremony on Baker Beach is entirely responsible for evangelising something they created.
I’m at the point where I cannot practice my independently developed PUBLIC DOMAIN art or culture without fear of litigation.
PLEASE HELP ME GET THE MEDIA ATTENTION ON THIS SO I CAN FIND A LAWYER TO HELP ME.
Napalm Dragon
…Burning Man is a Culture:If you want to understand the issue with this, consider the first line of this article.The vibrant and expressive culture of immense generosity and collaboration didn’t originate in the desert. The Black Rock City was just the place that the culture descended on, as it adopted the name of the event that happened in the desert. That event was the burning of a sculpture at the end of the gathering of that culture. The Burning of the Man. The Burning Man.As the culture adopted the Burning Man name as Burners (People who self identify with the Burning Man Culture), a funny thing happened. All the art, style, and format that this already existing culture expressed at the desert event became synonymous with the Burning Man Culture.So you might say “Hey artists don’t have to use the name”. But this is the problem, Artists live in the domain of culture. If they are little more than the “Cultural Engine for a Global Brand”, that’s usually something they get paid for by corporations, and the style and format of their art will reflect this. Many Artists will not sell certain types of work to the corporate brand. That’s why it’s art and not just design.But when a corporation creates an exclusive brand with the same name as a culture, they run into problems, even when artists are not trying in any way to be associated with that corporation, or their brand name. Because, culture is the driving force of art.Here is one of my favourite art projects to emerge in the last 5 years. A fantastic piece of creativity that is in no way related to a brand. Yet, because a culture emerged that adopted the Burning Man name, a culture that had been emerging and re-emerging for decades, no matter how hard an artist chooses to express their culture separate from the brand based on their culture; the culture is used as a comparison.It’s not a bad thing. The Culture, and the people who have offered an immense level of generosity to each other as cultural peers is to be respected.But when these comparisons are made under the looming threat of litigation from a corporation and brand control; the artists are stuck. They can’t express their culture without fear of litigation under any choice to use or not use the reference to a culture that is being converted into an exclusive global brand.Inevitably, like the first line in this news story, the comparison is made, not because the Artist is copying the brand, but because the brand is an emulation of the culture that goes by the same name.
http://www.visualnews.com/2013/07/24/water-gypsies-take-new-york-and-venice
Now back to Burners.Me:
The case is being tried now. We’ll find out soon what the Judge thinks. BMOrg have presented a 1076-page complaint, which seems like an attempt to out-lawyer the other, much smaller, charity. The Burning Man Project’s stated mission is to spread Burner culture around the world, but clearly they need to be more specific. What they really mean is all Burner culture in the world is “theirs”. If you want to help spread it you need to get a license from Decommodification LLC and obey their rules – one of which is “do not criticize BMOrg publicly”.
Those familiar with BMOrg’s views on Intellectual Property and crowd-sourcing might be interested in this week’s brand new South Park episode, “Go Fund Yourself”, which is about cultural appropriation by corporations who do nothing and make all the money from culture that is sacred to others:
The boys from South Park decide to create a start-up company funded through Kickstarter so that they never have to work again. In the process of deciding on a name, they realize that the Washington Redskins football team have lost their trademark to the name due to it being considered by some as offensive to Native Americans, so they decide to use that name for their company. The new company receives enough money that the boys running it can live luxuriously without doing any work until the football team destroys Kickstarter during a raid.
The episode is about the absurdity of corporations trying to own culture through trademark law. Check out the “Goodell-bot” and the bug-eye guy. The South Park creators are Burners, we hope they’re Burners.Me readers too.
http://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s18e01-go-fund-yourself
Although Larry Harvey has claimed he wasn’t influenced by the movie The Wicker Man, he hasn’t said anything about The Legend of Billy Jean, which came out the year before he and “Air Force brat” Jerry James took their effigy to the Presidio’s nudist beach for a pagan ceremony.
They have been burning a Man called “Old Man Gloom” at Zozobra in Santa Fe, New Mexico, since 1924.
Fans of Pink Floyd will no doubt be familiar with Storm Thorgerson‘s image “Burning Man”, which appeared as the cover of the Wish You Were Here album in 1975.
“Burning Man”, by Storm Thorgerson
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Hello folks.
After watching the South Park episode, I’ve decided to ask for a little help through a “Go Fund Me” http://www.gofundme.com/f8bo7g
It’s a long shot, but this would help dull the sting of riding this out.
I think the write-up on the Go Fund Me is pretty clear about what’s happening.
Thanks.
Napalm Dragon
It’s taken me a while to sift through all the clues and evidence. I think it’s why so much of what I was saying before was more a dense rambling of what I know, then what it means.
With Decommodification LLC refusing to drop it, I’ve been forced to declare it frankly.
It’s no longer hypothetical rambling.
I’ve posted a clear, focused explanation on Go Fund Me.
Please spread it around.
“Canada is the last public domain of the original Burning Man culture.”
I think I laid it out pretty well here.
gofundme.com/f8bo7g
Pingback: Back In The Day | Burners.Me: Me, Burners and The Man
I am still not 100% sure I know what this lawsuit is about? A man in Canada tried to file a trademark for “Burning Man” in his country and was shut down by the Burning Man Corp. and was then sued as a punitive measure? Is there a copy of this 1076 page complaint online? This guy is such a poor communicator and I really want to understand what is going on.
http://burners.me/2014/05/22/canada-draws-battle-lines-for-burner-culture/
OK.
Someone suggested I change the name of the campaign to:
“Burning Man is Public Domain”
If you really want to understand the succinct explanation of what Decommodification LLC is hiding. Read the Go Fund Me. I think I’m finally in the right position with the right information to reveal the simple explanation for the relevance of the “Childish Prank” I pulled in Canada.
Special thanks to those of you who have been able to dull the sting of dealing with this.
Cheers.
http://www.gofundme.com/f8bo7g
So this is great and all but if you are going to fight them you need lawyers and legal action this costs money (pro-bono can volunteer their time but there are tons of other expenses…) so how do you help?
Also I want to echo what others have said. Stick to the law and the facts if they are threatening legal action it is because they don’t expect you to fight back. Nothing quite like knowing they (BMORG) will face discovery and depositions to get them to think twice…..
The Law in Canada is that “Burning Man” is a genericised term in the public domain. The Zone Trips changed their name after people started calling themselves the Burning Man Tribe. The Cultural Name came before the event renamed itself AFTER that culture.
If you would like to provide me with a lawyer or funding for a lawyer, that would be nice.
It was called a Zone Trip in 1990. After that, it quickly became known as Burning Man, or The Burning Man. I’ve seen a bunch of flyers from those years with “Burning Man” used as the event name. Here’s one:
https://www.facebook.com/likegoagil/photos/pb.176548592403914.-2207520000.1409127473./302215799837192/?type=1
“1990 – Official video documentary is produced and edited by Larry Harvey, filmed by Judith Iam.” …does anyone have a copy or link for this? Are they talking about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allN_4ZYuFk
Zone Trip #4
http://laughingsquid.com/bad-day-at-black-rock-cacophony-society-zone-trip-4/
Wish I had that kind of money but more than happy to kick in what I can! Is there a way to do this?
I realise I’ve never really mentioned something I just take for granted.
I’ve rewritten my ELLO post to explain it.
It might be “new” information for many people.
https://ello.co/napalm_dragon/post/xZwl-HNUa7BOIQVNgbQrfg
The Burning Man Culture was NOT invented in the Desert. It ALREADY existed as an emerging global cultural phenomenon. The Nevada event was named AFTER the culture was naming itself. The Original event was NOT called Burning Man.
Saying that “Burning Man” is a location specific thing is like saying Elvis invented Rock & Roll and then trademarked it; then saying that any reference to Rock & Roll means his palace in Graceland. It’s like saying that if you are hosting a Rock & Roll event, it’s trademarked and subject to litigation.
The NAME and ICON were copied from the Culture. The NAME and ICON were not the original name or logo of the Nevada Burn.
The event in Nevada was originally called a Zone Trip (Zone Trip #4), In the first few years people started calling themselves Burners (people who self identify with the Burning Man Culture).
The Nevada event renamed itself after the Culture.
You want to do your art using the Burning Man name. I don’t know, it’s pretty well known that the “Burning Man” name is copyrighted. I don’t think anyone is trying to prevent you from practicing your art. Let’s say I was a homebrewer and decided that I wanted to call my beer Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I’d probably get sued, not because I was brewing beer at home, something that has been around for centuries, well before the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was around, but because I’d be using their copyrighted name. It seems a provocation on your part to use the Burning Man name in reference to your art. And I’m all for provocations, but this one dips into the legal arena, where such provocations tend to be losing battles.
How would you feel if you were a black man who played “Rock & Roll” music, then Elvis Presley trademarks it and renames Graceland “Rock & Roll” and says “Sorry buddy, I invented Rock & Roll, if you want to play Rock & Roll, or host a Rock & Roll event, pay up or shut up”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/northern-soul-fans-win-right-to-protect-clenched-fist-logo-from-trademark-9755953.html
But that never happened, and I don’t think it’s analogous to your situation.
I’m not familiar with the story you linked, but after reading it, it seems like the clenched fist logo was around in its specific form for decades, then a business tried to copyright it. In your case, you were practicing your art, went to Burning Man and found kindred souls (welcome to the club), then decided to start using “Burning Man” in association with your art, AFTER the name had already been copyrighted. And, the event has been referred to as “Burning Man” since about ’91, albeit not copyrighted until ’96. Hence, the BMORG could legitimately claim prior use.
So I don’t know, man. In a perfect world, I’d prefer not to have the name copyrighted, a la John Law. But, in reality, I’m glad Larry & Co. did what they did to protect the culture from the rampant and unchecked appropriation of the name and brand that would have resulted had they not copyrighted it. Your case is a bit of collateral damage, I guess. It sucks, but there it is.
OK class, Napalm’s argument regarding Rock and Roll music and Burning Man is an example of which type of argument:
a) Straw Man
b) Appeal to Hypocrisy
c) Appeal to the Bandwagon
d) Circular Reasoning
Whatever you are claiming should be fairly straightforward to prove or not. So I will wait till someone who has access to all information and views, the court, makes a determination on the case.
What’s not clear in any of this smoke cloud is… what *exactly* is it that you are doing that they want you to change, and/or what are they asking you to do differently… like as in what are the options?
If anyone wanted to promote an event and call it “Burning Man”, that would make it kind of meaningless as to what it is clear to mean now. There are a million cola’s out there, but only one Coca Cola, one Pepsi. It seems its a clarity thing. There are a lots of burning events in the world through the ages… can our words/names not be used to differentiate them?
I hear that you want to be recognized for your contributions to this culture and find their complaint to stymie your freedom, but I really don’t believe that is their intention.
What’s the truth here? Do you want to use the name for its notoriety to boost your ticket sales? If you can do that, then wouldn’t other producers of events like to be able to do that too?
From what’s been presented here, it seems that you would like anyone to be able to call their event “Burning Man”, is that correct? Is that not what donating money to your gofundme campaign is in de facto supporting?
Fuck your burn? No. It is time to Fuck the BMOrg. Fuck the DPW. Fuck the Gate. It is time to turn the tables on these self proclaimed assholes who are happy to be called Assholes. Since reading all of these and especially the pukes from DPW on here spouting their self serving, self backing BS it is time to fuck them good. There will be some fun activism art on the playa next year. The DPW assholes love to spout off about how much they hate the people who come to the BM? Fine, fuck them. The BMOrg thinks they are above everyone? LOL, fine, fuck them too, it is time to have some fun with them. First camp will feel the wrath and so will anyone on the DPW. All in good fun, all fun, but lessons will be taught.
I’m glad at least some Burners are getting the message that protest should be directed against the people who make the rules, not fellow Burners who obey them and probably don’t even realize they’re doing it wrong.
PLEASE DO NOT HATE THE DPW. These are extremely loving and dedicated members of our community who spend countless hours in the service of our community for the love of our culture. They are beautiful and loving members of the culture. Before he blew his brains out, Caleb Shraber (AKA Shooter) became a freind who opened the one door that revealed this deception to me.
PLEASE do not direct any anger at the community and culture.
The only issue is that Marian Goodells corporation is claiming exclusive control of something they don’t really have rights to.
>They are beautiful and loving members of the culture.
No. DPW are a bunch of gutter rat scum. Some of them are cool. You were lucky to meet Shooter – the exceptions prove the rule. DPW ilk are assholes and deserve to be treated like assholes.
Hello folks.
I’ve cooled my emotional jets a bit.
In Canada we’re in a really unique situation in that we are the last public domain of the Original Burning Man culture that pre-dates the 2004 American Brand.
The long and short of it, is you can’t trademark a culture.
But when a name and icon gain meaning from the culture it’s a bit like this situation in the UK.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/northern-soul-fans-win-right-to-protect-clenched-fist-logo-from-trademark-9755953.html
If they allowed the icon and name of this UK thing to be trademarked, the owner is free to reassign that to anything they want regardless of it’s relationship to the culture.
But it doesn’t change that Decommodifiction LLC wants me to sign a settlement that says I have to check in with them any-time I want to register a trademark. I’m an Artist sometimes I come up with original ideas. I can’t do that.
In Canada, no one owns anything here.
Many Canadian Burners don’t want it trademarked here.
They want it to be owned by no one.
The straw man argument about the trademark protecting the community has become a farce. Anyone who’s been paying attention has seen all the videos of the desert event floating around, we’ve all seen the etsy clothing and trinkets, we’ve hear the rumours about licensing agreements with Vogue Magazine.
Canada being in the public domain would have no bearing on the Nevada Burn enforcing their rules in of association with the their desert event.
They want me to agree to a list of things that essentially completely silence me and bar me from associating with Burners, or talking to anyone associated with the Regional Network in anyway.
I have repeatedly asked them for a list of terms they own so maybe we can avoid any confusion in the future, and they refuse to produce one.
As for the name.
It’s not my fault that in 2004 they choose to trademark a name that had been genericised by a culture to identify itself. A term that had fallen into the public domain. Or that now they are attempting to the same thing in Canada.
Sure I get the idea that the Nevada Burning Man thing is theirs. But the culture is ours, and unfortunately it’s called the Burning Man Culture. In Canada, we have a version of the Original Burning Man Culture that does not identify with the TEN PEE, and as the last public domain of the original Burning Man Culture, we can still self define and evolve. It is not constrained by the auspices of the all knowing Stetson Hat.
They could have saved themselves the headaches by trademarking something like “Black Rock City” (Home of the Burning Man Culture), and continue receiving the benefits of association with the culture that adopted that name.
A culture that already existed before it went to the desert.
That new kind of fire spinning thing that became synonymous with Burning Man started in Vancouver, BC when a friend of mine brought that culture back from New Zealand. She was a bit of a renegade punk chick.
We love that it spread and never cared too much about credit.
Now the folks at Demmodification LLC have suddenly decided to declare it was invented at the second year in the desert.
I happen to know people who were taken to the desert to do the Vancouver fire style in the desert around 1998. They were also there in 1997 and said “there was almost no fire there at the time. There were a few people playing with fire, but it was mostly circus side show types.”
This is the kind of revisionist thing that trying to claim exclusive control of a culture does.
The Fire Spinning and the tribal cultural that descended on the desert and transformed it from just an event into the the city that hosted a culture happened around the same time. That culture adopted the Burning Man name pushing it into the public domain as a genericised self identifying culture by 2001.
In Canada, Burners were anyone who self identified with the Burning Man Culture. It was not specific to the Nevada event or the Nevada version of the Burning Man culture, That original culture was self defined, mutually respectful, inclusive, shit disturbing, renegade, and outside the domain of corporation or religions dogma.
I know this is hard for people to understand it all you’ve ever known of Burning Man is the new brand developed in the United States.
But there was a culture here in Canada that was not created or inspired by the desert. It was that same culture that went to the desert throughout the 90’s and added to the foundations of the Suicide Club and the Cacophony Society and shaped what became known as the Burning Man Culture.
The culture was not just magically created in the Desert by Larry Harvey’s hat, or Marian Goodells corporation.
It was your community and your culture that gathered there.
It already existed before it adopted that name to describe itself.
Sounds like he can continue to practice his art and culture but just needs a different name? What am I missing?
Has the term ‘Burners’ been copyrighted? Is there a necessity to do so before BM Corp unleashes their hounds?
Kudos on a very fine blog. I’m glad somebody is holding these assholes feet to the fire.
There’s something about Burners that causes them to wax lyrical. Not the best thing for Mr. Dragon to do in this case. The Borg is a machine brain and soulless, that’s how you must meet them in battle. Their game is brinksmanship and they usually have the resources to win. But they’re always gambling with their reputation, the reputation that enables them to attract legions of volunteers. That’s their Achilles heel, and it’s the only place anyone (with fewer resources) can hit them.
Mr. Dragon, take SecretGiver’s offer. You may lose this battle with the Borg due to being out-lawyered, but the war is still winnable. Don’t threaten them. Go anonymous. Leak all the bullshit we know is out there. It will go viral.
If he believed in his own words, he would never have tried to copyright anything in the first place
Hi! Burner here. This is absurd!!! The entire point of burning man is to come as you are, be who you want to be, and give back to the community. For BMOrg to say only people at Burning Man can do this is ridiculous. PEOPLE need freedom. They deserve freedom of expression. Regardless of where they are! Please do not think the burnerror community supports this. However, like actual government, the people have no control over the higher ups and what they wish to do. Sorry days are ahead for Burning Man as they continue to conform to those that are rich, as they sell out more and more each year. A true burner says sharing is caring. Whoever is suing you, is about the money not the love, and it’s a damn disgrace.
I love how burners so easily turn on those who dare to question the BOrg. I love how people blindly protect the almight BOrg.
But hinestly I do love that more brave people are starting to come forward, like Secretgiver and Mark and others who see the rot at the core of the Org and are willing to stand up and tell their stories. This is really imprtant now, especially with this huge media blitz on how BMan is the leader and incubator of the new world order. While Larry and Marion and Michael all declare before the hungry masses how they are the new saviors who will lead the workd into a new ethos. All the while money gurbbing and drinking their own koolaid. It’s getting worse and worse. Excuse me while I go barf.
If this person wants to win this battle he needs to cool down, stop using the language of the persecuted and simply state the facts.
He may have a case he can win but with that tone, people will glaze over (especially lawyers and judges) and he will alienate the people who could be his base of support.
I say this with all the love and support I can muster, get a lawyer and STFU
as sympathetic as i am to the whole john law/trademark burning man thing…… this guys rant is really pretty lame.
before i read this.. i was pretty sympathetic to the cause…
now.. less so.
instead of personalizing it and making me care more……. i simply care about as much as i did before the whole canadian thing came about…. i.e. about as much as i have since john law started fighting to stop the trademark shit.
lame.
I know secrets that the Borg would love to burry. Federal criminal records, drug addictions, and financial fraud. I have proof. Documents, pictures, audio recordings. I would be happy to share them with you if it helps win your case. The makers of BM are the biggest hypocrites of our time, and personally, I’d love to see them burn for it.
The vibrant and expressive culture of immense generosity and collaboration not only didn’t originate in the desert….but also are the antithesis of the BMORg’s actions. Here’s hoping for a juicy burnileaks- maybe it will help break the spell the BORg’s Kool Aid seems to have caste on far too many.
i had a similar experience when i was running a small festival to support our schools in humboldt called burning bush[a biblical term].burning man shut it down.then i tried doing the humboldt fire arts festival[a charity event].the crucible shut it down.you cannot use fire art festival in your name.finaly i trademarked “sea of flames fire for the arts”.we still use it [for charity].i trade marked it with the intention of having a name that artists could use for festivals /charity events,with the hope that it wouldn’t be shut out again.stay strong,come up with something cool and trademark it.fire arts should not be owned by a few.look at wicker man.it has been around for a very very long time.that event in the desert is not the first to burn an effigy of a man.
Thanks for sharing Mark. Sounds eerily similar to the South Park episode!
There are numerous festivals based around the ritual burning of effigies and other sculptures around the world, ex. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles