Eco-labs.org raises money to fight

ORG supporters and BoingBoing readers have raised the £800 needed in legal fees for eco-labs.org to defend their use of the domain from trademark trolls.

ORG is very encouraged that EcoLabs will now be able to get the advice they need, and defend themselves. The rights of small groups depend on their ability to fight, which requires both money and knowledge. Most importantly, other groups need to see these claims contested so they understand that they too can stand up to spurious claims

These claims are likely to become more common. The shared English language means that many more claims from US corporations are likely. And US companies are generally more litigious, and may feel they have a need to defend their trademarks from “dilution”.

We cannot ignore the negative impact of trademarks, when claims are placed on commonly used terms, such as “ecolabs” or “radical media”. Nor can we ignore the significant burden placed on small groups defending their use of such terms, to whom legal fees may represent a large part of their budget.

So for now, we’d like to congratulate you and Ecolabs for raising the money they need. Thank you for standing up and helping them to assert their digital rights.