Yes folks, you read that correctly. The forum Bushcraft USA has actually trademarked the word bushcraft. Again, I’ll repeat, they have not just trademarked the forum name Bushcraft USA but rather the word bushcraft itself.
Here is a screen capture of the trademark search from The United Stated Patent and Trademark Office:
Here is a close up of the relevant portion. Note the registered owner of the word bushcraft.
It looks like the registration went through in November of last year. I’m not sure when it was actually published. How did I find out about it? Well apparently their lawyer has been sending cease and desist letters to other forums that use the term, or so I was told. (update: since the post went up, Guy Wood, owner of Bushcraft USA LLC has stated that it wasn’t a legal letter, but that he contacted another forum owner to discuss his use of the word bushcraft.) I know a few forum owners that are now scrambling to change names in order to avoid litigation. Since the name of my blog does not include the word, it has not been a worry for me from that stand point.
I must admit that my mind was blown when I heard about this, and especially when I did the search myself and the above page came up at the trademark office. The arrogance required to trademark the word bushcraft is just beyond imagination. Look, financial motivations have always been a strong driving force for people, but this goes beyond anything I can imagine.
How can this happen, you ask? Well, the trademark office are not exactly known for doing much due diligence. Since they weren’t familiar with the term, they just let it through. Any amount of research would have indicated that the word has been in use in the US for decades prior to the creation of Bushcraft USA LLC. There are certainly pre-existing commercial uses of the term prior to the creation of Buschraft USA LLC in the US, and certainly internationally. Bushcraft UK was in existence well before Bushcraft USA. After all, that is where Buscraft USA got the name for the forum. Horace Kephart used the term, and so did Richard Graves just to name a few.
Of course, just because a term is registered with the trademark office does not make the trademark enforceable in any way. I would love to see the lawyer that would manage to win this case in court.
That being said, the threat of litigation will have a serious chilling effect on many in our community. The people most directly effected will be private forum owners, blog writers, and small makers of bushcraft gear who utilize electronic means to market and sell their products Those people simply do not have the financial means to fight a lawsuit and will most likely fold under the threat. I think there is little question right now that Bushcraft USA, or should I say Bushcraft USA Limited Liability Company of Missouri, is a business enterprise, with financial gain as the driving mechanism behind the organization. We have Big Oil, I suppose now we have Big Bushcraft as well.
It is no secret that in recent decades our country has become obsessed with financial gain, and litigation has come to be one of the most common forms of human interaction, with everyone suing everyone else for everything. However, even I must admit that I could not have imagined this. I keep thinking, apparently falsely, that at least in our community, which is in theory focused on getting back to nature, back to simplicity, and to the skills of our ancestors such things would not occur. I’ve been proven wrong over and over as threats of litigation have become an essential part of getting back to nature. Apparently for some when we speak of learning the traditional skills of our ancestors, what comes to mind is not Daniel Boone and Horace Kephart but rather men like J.D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan.
Update: July 24, 2014
Now, for those of you not familiar with the trademark process and trademark law, here are a few points which will help you detect the b.s. that I am sure will be unleashed soon. If you are really concerned about any action that may be taken against you, please contact an attorney in your jurisdiction. You should not take what I say here as legal advice in any way.
The word was trademarked in order to protect it for the community
The trademark process does not work based on who registers a mark first. It is not a race to the trademark office. What creates rights to a trademark is the actual commercial use of the mark within a jurisdiction; in this case the jurisdiction being the United States. If you are the first to use a mark in commerce, then no matter if someone registers the mark later, you still remain the one with the rights to the mark. Not only is the trademark not enforceable against you, but if you want it removed, you can file a cancelation request to the US Patent and Trademark Office, tell them that you were using the mark or word before the person who registered it, and the trademark will likely be removed. So, any statements to the extent of how Bushcraft USA LLC trademarked the word bushcraft to protect it from being trademarked by other random people is simply nonsensical. It is not how the trademark process works. Trademark registration is simply a tool for litigation.
Furthermore, commonly used words or marks can not be trademarked. You can not trademark the word survival, the word backpacking, or the word axe. First, second, or last at the trademark office, those are commonly used terms and can not be trademarked. Same goes for the word bushcraft. It is a commonly used term and as such can not be trademarked. That is why Bushcraft USA LLC’s current trademark is likely not enforceable. That is what makes the act of actually registering it so atrocious and unbelievable. It wouldn’t even cross the normal person’s mind to try to trademark such a word. What’s next? Backpacking Light trying to trademark the word backpacking? Or Council Tool Co trying to trademark the word tool?! The notion is as ridiculous from a legal standpoint as it is from a common sense one.
It’s not a trademark, it is just a service mark
A service mark is a type of trademark. It’s like saying “it’s not a car, it’s a sedan”. For those who don’t deal with this often, a service mark is simply a trademark on a word or mark related to the providing of services rather than goods. This is directly form the US Patent and Trademark Office: “A service mark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods. The term “trademark” is often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.” Again, whether it be service mark or trademark, they are both referred to as trademark and are equally despicable in this context.
Bro, it happened like two years ago
As far as the “Bro, this happened like two years ago” defense, the trademark, according to my research was not published until August 27, 2013 and wasn’t registered until November 13, 2013. I’m not sure how the filing of an application in early 2012 makes this any better, or how people would have known about it. I don’t believe there was any notification posted on the Bushcraft USA forum. The reality is that they snuck it in. That hardly makes the action any less despicable.
Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, when you file an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office you have to swear that you do not know of any prior commercial use of the word or mark, and that the word or mark is not in common use. Whoever filed the application likely lied on the papers. There is no question that the word bushcraft was in commercial use, even electronic commercial use prior to the creation of Bushcraft USA LLC, and there is no question that it is a commonly used term.
Don’t take my word on any of this. Do your own search. The link to the US Patent and Trademark office is at the top of this post. Trademark filings are public record.
Update: July 25, 2014
Just a few notes on last night’s developments. It appears that after Guy Wood got tired of threatening me, he and the rest of the Bushcraft USA LLC team took the time to write a statement explaining what is going on. After going through the same type of weak excuses we discussed yesterday, there were a few new excuses I wanted to touch on:
Mosrs Kochanski has trademarked the word bushcraft, so why can’t Bushcraft USA LLC do it
Well, Mors Kochanski has not in fact trademarked the word bushcraft anywhere. For starters, if he had trademarked it in the US, Bushcraft USA LLC would not have been able to get their own trademark. After all, Mors was using the word long before they were. Additionally, a search of the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office reveal no trademarks on the word bushcraft by Mors or anyone else. The only trademark on the word is that owned by Bushcraft USA LLC.
Someone was trying to trademark the word back in 2012, so Bushcraft USA had to do it first to protect their interests
That of course can not be true. If there was a competing party applying for the trademark, it would have become clear that this was a commonly used word, and the trademark would not have been granted at all. Besides, if Bushcraft USA LLC was worried about this other person or corporation trademarking the word, all they had to do was file an objection and stop it. They did not need to go through a two year process to get the trademark themselves, and do it all in secrecy. If this was a public service to the community, why was no announcement made when the process started? Why was the thread about this issue, which was posted on Bushcraft USA a day before I did my post taken down immediately and the people responsible for it banned? Why was I threatened with litigation when I exposed this “noble community service”. This reminds me of some words by one of my favorite bands: “Ooooh that smell; Can't you smell that smell”.
Someone tired to trademark the word recently and got upset when they couldn’t to do it
Well, that person certainly wasn’t me, yet here I am all upset about it. If there was in fact such a despicable person, then they lack integrity just like the people who did this two years ago. Being the first one to do a reprehensible thing just makes you faster, not less of a bad person.
We are the top ranked bushcraft forum of Google and someone was trying to take us down, so we had to register the word to protect ourselves
That doesn’t even begin to make any sense. How was someone trying to take down Buschraft USA back in 2012? Does that mean there was simply a competing bushcraft forum that had a chance of becoming higher ranked? If so, trademarking the word just so you can undercut them is a despicable move. It is clear how that helps Bushcraft USA, but not at all clear on how it helps the community or furthers education. Besides, how exactly is trademarking the term bushcraft going to prevent this other mysterious entity of taking them down? The only practical way that I can see is to threaten to sue them and hope they close down. If anyone can come up with another scenario here, please let me know.
The trademark symbol (TM) has appeared on BuschraftUSA banners and gear for years, so people should have known the word bushcraft was trademarked
Well, that is a more sophisticated way of saying “Bro, that was like years ago!” The fact that no one discovered it earlier doesn’t make it less reprehensible as an act. Furthermore, the (TM) on Bushcraft USA banners and products is for “Bushcraft USA”. The TM is not displayed for the word “bushcraft” but rather BushcraftUSA(TM). To claim that their use of the allegedly trademarked term BushcraftUSA should have put people on notice that they also got a trademark for the word bushcraft is a disingenuous argument.
Bushcraft USA LLC only has a service mark with respect to forums, nothing else
This does not conform with the documents provided by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The trademark registration actually includes a limitation clause. You know it is a limitation clause because it says “Limitations Statement”. The one of this trademark filing reads, and I quote: “Limitation Statement: As to “Bushcraft”” That’s it. All the other language about providing electronic service on top of the page is just a description of what the trademark holder actually does. However, assuming the trademark is only applicable to electronic services that would mean that their trademark applies to any forum, blog, YouTube channel, Facebook page, Google + page, and company that markets or distributes goods and services through electronic means. So, using this trademark, Bushcraft USA LLC would be able to shut down Blades and Bushcraft (forum), Rocky Mountain Bushcraft (blog), Northwest Bushcraft (YouTube channel), and Foster Knives (seller) who offer a Bushcraft knife in their inventory. I’ve just picked an example from each category. I’m sure you can add hundreds more especially if we look at Facebook ad Google+ pages. If to you that is nothing, then you have nothing to worry about.
Oh, and lastly, a US trademark can actually apply to foreign entities is they transact business within the jurisdiction of the United States.
Bushcraft USA has never used and has no plans for using the trademark against anyone
Why thank you benevolent dictator. Everyone knows that a corporation’s word it its bond. To make things unbelievably worse, I am told there was some discussion in last night’s thread, regarding how other forums and blogs can still use the word bushcraft in their name, but they have to ask Bushcraft USA LLC for permission and possibly pay a fee. I wish I was there to take some screen captures of it. Understandably, things blew up. As a result, people were banned, the thread was taken down (all 23 pages of it), and the Bushraft USA Facebook page was scrubbed clean and all comments removed.
Furthermore, it appears from communications I have received from other people (I was not there personally) that at a Georgia meet last year, Guy Wood made it clear that he was the owner of the word bushcraft, and that he was going to use the trademark of the word to shut down a specific competing forum as well as anyone who used the word buschraft on the internet. Seems like that attempt was made against at least one forum I know, which Guy Wood specifically named as a target at the meet last year, and now that forum is in the process of changing their name. I have been contacted by Chuck Winchester, among others, who I understand was the organizer of the Georgia meet last year, and he has confirmed the above statement.
In addition to the above we all remember the threats of litigation Guy Wood made against me yesterday. I took down the email screenshots because the post was getting to long, but suffice it to say, using threats of litigation to silence those who point out you are doing a bad thing is in poor taste, and a very serious threat.
It would appear, shockingly, that yet another corporation has acted in its own self interest and for financial gain at the expense of the regular guy. Bushcraft USA LLC has stolen one of the most used words in our community and used it to further their own self interest. If Bushcraft USA wants to keep the word integrity in their forum caption, they need to surrender this trademark right now, and apologize to the community for what they have done. There is no such thing as a benevolent dictator; there are just dictators.
Update July 25, 2014
There has been a lot said about this issue in the last two days. A lot of it has been a smoke and mirrors routine worthy of Johnie Cochran. I can sit here and make legal arguments all day long, and point to you why all of the "defenses" being presented do not hold any weight. I can explain to you why I don't believe Bushcraft USA has a valid trademark. I can tell you how to file a cancellation of trademark request. However, I will not, nor should anyone take what I say as legal advise on the issue.
Instead, I will ask everyone who is currently going through fine print and Google inspired legal maneuvering, the following:
Is this the type of America you want to live in? Is this the type of America you want your children to live in? An America where it is considered a good thing that you were first to commit a horrible act. An America where words like "bushcraft", "woodsmanship", "knife", etc can be owned by corporations. An America where it is considered just good business to then try to shut down small forums, blogs, and independent producers who are struggling to make ends meet by selling their products online. An America where all of the above is considered to constitute integrity.
I ask you this not from a legal stand point, but from a moral and from a common sense perspective.
I have no delusions of Bushcraft USA LLC going away. They are a large corporation, and if history has thought us anything it's that large corporations don't go away. That doesn't mean we have to pretend that what has been done is not atrocious. At the end of the day, after all of the dust settles, the beginning, middle, and end of the story is that a corporate entity now owns the trademark to the word bushcraft. The WORD bushcraft! We can spin it however we like, but those facts will not change.
