Wilfried wrote to me with some more information.
Hi Doc,
I want to tell you the next episode of the "trademark story" going on here in Germany. But first let me apologize for answering that late. Although I'm in a fight here, I have to spend some time working on my job as a business consultant. To learn more, just have a look at my site www.wilfriedscholz.de, where you'll find some pages in english, too.
My opponents have changed their tactics and handed over the "shaolin"
trademark, which was by fault registered by a spanish EU staff member, to Shi Yong Xin and the Songshan Temple. Still they are fighting me, but now in the name of Songshan Shaolin, which causes me some emotional problems. I don't want to fight against the friends in China, but I have to be aware of who is the driving power in the dark - some really suspicious German business men. So I'll go on defending me and my url www.shaolin-tempel.de (and I will add some english pages soon!!).
The story can now be told in short: At the beginning of the year 2000 I asked the German patent's office, wether shaolin can become a trademark in Germany. I received an official document that it could not, as it is undiscriminous. This is what all of us say and so I was content, saw no problems to name my website and started. In November 2000 the named German business men registered "Shaolin" in Alicante, Spain, where the patent's office for the European Union is located and - what a miracle - they did.
This decision would criminalize thousands of schools all 'round Europe that wear Shaolin (Shaolim, Shorinji...) in their name. So what I will have to prove in the judical hearing is, that my homepage url had spreaded and was acknowledged in the martial arts world from March 2000 until November 2000.
If I can show evidence for this, my url is a trademark itself and I can go to Alicante and eliminate the Shaolin trademark - it would then violate my rights; so following this way, the trademark Shaolin (Shaolim, Shorinji....and related) could become free again in Europe.
I now want to ask you (and I hope Uwe Schwenk from Chicago will support my
wish) to let the big Amercian Shaolin community know, that I need some support in my struggle. I have set up a form both in German and English (see attachment)in a ms-word format and ask the friends, that have known and visited my homepage between March and November 2000 to sign it and send it by mail or better via fax until august, 24th to me to help me and the European schools to win the fight. I already have lots of confirmations from German schools and some coming from France, England, Poland, Hungary and some more European Countries. But I'm quite sure that I had advertised my url on russbo.com in some way in that time and hope that my Amercian friends want to stand by my side.
O.K., maybe this wasn't that short. But I hope, things have become more clearly now. I was a little bit anxious to take the hand you had reached me when my first law suit agains Rainer Deyhle began in February; this one ended with a court decision I had won, but now I see no other chance than to go public and I really would appreciate your support.
Thank you,
Wilfried
Hi Doc,
I want to tell you the next episode of the "trademark story" going on here in Germany. But first let me apologize for answering that late. Although I'm in a fight here, I have to spend some time working on my job as a business consultant. To learn more, just have a look at my site www.wilfriedscholz.de, where you'll find some pages in english, too.
My opponents have changed their tactics and handed over the "shaolin"
trademark, which was by fault registered by a spanish EU staff member, to Shi Yong Xin and the Songshan Temple. Still they are fighting me, but now in the name of Songshan Shaolin, which causes me some emotional problems. I don't want to fight against the friends in China, but I have to be aware of who is the driving power in the dark - some really suspicious German business men. So I'll go on defending me and my url www.shaolin-tempel.de (and I will add some english pages soon!!).
The story can now be told in short: At the beginning of the year 2000 I asked the German patent's office, wether shaolin can become a trademark in Germany. I received an official document that it could not, as it is undiscriminous. This is what all of us say and so I was content, saw no problems to name my website and started. In November 2000 the named German business men registered "Shaolin" in Alicante, Spain, where the patent's office for the European Union is located and - what a miracle - they did.
This decision would criminalize thousands of schools all 'round Europe that wear Shaolin (Shaolim, Shorinji...) in their name. So what I will have to prove in the judical hearing is, that my homepage url had spreaded and was acknowledged in the martial arts world from March 2000 until November 2000.
If I can show evidence for this, my url is a trademark itself and I can go to Alicante and eliminate the Shaolin trademark - it would then violate my rights; so following this way, the trademark Shaolin (Shaolim, Shorinji....and related) could become free again in Europe.
I now want to ask you (and I hope Uwe Schwenk from Chicago will support my
wish) to let the big Amercian Shaolin community know, that I need some support in my struggle. I have set up a form both in German and English (see attachment)in a ms-word format and ask the friends, that have known and visited my homepage between March and November 2000 to sign it and send it by mail or better via fax until august, 24th to me to help me and the European schools to win the fight. I already have lots of confirmations from German schools and some coming from France, England, Poland, Hungary and some more European Countries. But I'm quite sure that I had advertised my url on russbo.com in some way in that time and hope that my Amercian friends want to stand by my side.
O.K., maybe this wasn't that short. But I hope, things have become more clearly now. I was a little bit anxious to take the hand you had reached me when my first law suit agains Rainer Deyhle began in February; this one ended with a court decision I had won, but now I see no other chance than to go public and I really would appreciate your support.
Thank you,
Wilfried
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