Freecycling

For the sleep disorder, see Circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

Freecycling, or free recycling, is the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills.[1][2][3] This term is most often associated with online groups who run mailing lists which offer items to members at no cost.

For a period The Freecycle Network claimed they held a trademark on the word "Freecycle" and claimed the term freecycling to be a violation of their trademark rights. However they lost this claim – and rights to the "Freecycle" trademark – in United States federal court in November 2010.[4] In her ruling Judge Callahan stated unequivocally that "Beal did not coin the word “freecycle” and TFN is not the first organization to promote freecycling" and that "even ... viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to TFN ... [they] engaged in naked licensing and consequently abandoned the trademarks."[4][5]

In the meantime, The Freecycle Network has new registered mark in the United States as of 9/25/2012.[6] Further, The Freecycle Network has registered trademarks on the terms Freecycle or Freecycle.org in 32 countries in total including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The United States, and all European Union countries. For more trademark info please click here (https://wiki.freecycle.org/Trademark). It is our role to educate the public that using the term "freecycling" as a verb and/or to denote other competing entities is a term confusingly similar to mark and represents a misuse and causes confusion as to the origin of the service noted.

The use of our marks denotes a sharing service which is officially approved by the nonprofit organization "The Freecycle Network," and one that the public can expect to adhere to certain standards. The Freecycle Network must approve any email list or web site that uses our registered mark(s) in its name and provides any sort of exchange service.

These registered trademarks may be found here:

Australian Word Mark: http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/atmoss/Falcon_Details.Print_TM_Details?p_tm_number=1222655&p_ExtDisp=D&p_Detail=DETAILED&p_Search_No=2&p_Lastrecord=FALSE&p_Is_Internal=F

New Zealand Word Mark: http://www.iponz.govt.nz/app/Extra/IP/Mutual/Browse.aspx?sid=635944101442508296

European Community Word Mark: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/005722723

Unites States Collective Membership Mark: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:niyjxl.2.1 United States Word Mark: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:niyjxl.2.2

Canadian Registered Mark (Freecycle & Design): http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/vwTrdmrk.do?lang=eng&status=OK&fileNumber=1246124&extension=0&startingDocumentIndexOnPage=1

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Freecycle Network. Retrieved April 2009.
  2. ↑ Freecycle.net. Retrieved April 2009.
  3. ↑ Michael Norton (2007). 365 Ways To Change the World: How to Make a Difference-- One Day at a Time. Simon & Schuster. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-1-4165-4832-4.
  4. 1 2 Freecyclesunnyvale v. The Freecycle Network - CourtListener.com
  5. ↑ Robert Arp (2013). 1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think. Simon & Schuster. pp. 932–. ISBN 978-1-4767-0572-9.
  6. ↑ "United States Patent & Trademark Office". US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved 2016-03-23.

External links

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