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<div class="node-header"> <span class="submitted">[Preview of
forthcoming attractions at the ICANN IPR desk? Methinks that
unless thought is applied to this matter carefully ICANN will
simply remake the mess that is cybersquating dispute resolution
(which has come a long ways though) ....]<br>
<br>
Published on Thursday, May 9, 2013 by <a
href="http://www.commondreams.org">Common Dreams</a> </span>
<div class="node-title">
<h2 class="title">Corporate Fail: Disney's Attempt to Trademark
Cultural Holiday</h2>
</div>
<h3 class="subtitle">Disney drops efforts to trademark 'Día de los
Muertos' following online outrage</h3>
<div class="author"> - Andrea Germanos, staff writer </div>
</div>
<div class="node-content clear-block prose">
<div id="node-body">
<p>Disney has dropped its effort to trademark 'Día de los
Muertos,' a holiday celebrated in Mexico and around the world,
following widespread outrage.</p>
<p><span class="image-right" style="width: 275px;"> <img
src="cid:part2.00080900.02020305@gmail.com" alt=""
title="" class="imagecache imagecache-headline_image
imagecache-default imagecache-headline_image_default"
width="275" height="500"> <span class="caption"> Cartoon
by Lalo Alcaraz/Pocho.com </span></span><a
href="http://www.fronterasdesk.org/news/2013/may/07/disney-wants-trademark-dia-de-los-muertos/"><em>Fronteras
Desk</em></a> reported that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Disney filed 10 requests in the U.S. Trademark and Patent
Office this month to coin the phrase. Disney's filings are
mainly for merchandise, presumably connected to an upcoming
film.</p>
<p>The areas they are hoping to secure include “education and
entertainment services,” “fruit preserves; fruit-based snack
foods,” “toys, games and playthings,” “clothing,”
“footwear,” “backpacks,” “clocks and jewelry” and more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Online outraged followed the news that the corporation would
appropriate and profit from a cultural tradition.</p>
<p>A Change.org <a
href="http://www.change.org/petitions/walt-disney-company-stop-trademark-of-dia-de-los-muertos?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true">petition</a>
launched following the announcement states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dia de los Muertos is a religious observance during which
Mexican people, and particularly native peoples, in Mexico,
the United States, and abroad, honor ancestors and loved
ones who have died. This important religious, spiritual, and
cultural observance pre-dates the invasion of Mexico by the
Spanish. We celebrate these sacred days and honor our
deceased loved ones by making altars and placing offerings
of food such as pan de muertos baked in shapes of skulls and
figures, candles, incense, yellow marigolds known as
cempaxochitl, and offering prayers and the smoke of copal.
Disney's proposed trademarks would negatively affect the
livelihood of bakers, the work of artists and craftspeople,
and of writers and educators.</p>
<p>Our spiritual traditions are for everyone, not for
companies like Walt Disney to trademark and exploit. I am
deeply offended and dismayed that a family-oriented company
like Walt Disney would seek own the rights to something that
is the rightful heritage of the people of Mexico.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>More reactions from Twitter:</p>
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padding: 0px; border-radius: 5px 5px 5px 5px; margin: 10px
0px; box-shadow: 0px 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);"
allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet
twitter-tweet-rendered" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no"
width="500" frameborder="0" height="211"></iframe>
<iframe title="Embedded Tweet" style="display: block;
border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(238,
238, 238) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(187, 187, 187);
-moz-border-top-colors: none; -moz-border-right-colors: none;
-moz-border-bottom-colors: none; -moz-border-left-colors:
none; border-image: none; max-width: 99%; min-width: 220px;
padding: 0px; border-radius: 5px 5px 5px 5px; margin: 10px
0px; box-shadow: 0px 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15);"
allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet
twitter-tweet-rendered" id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no"
width="500" frameborder="0" height="211"></iframe>
<p>But just a week after submitting its trademark requests,
Disney <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/disney-drops-bid-to-trademark-name-of-traditional-mexican-dia-de-los-muertos-holiday/2013/05/08/c31b4b68-b7e0-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_story.html">said</a>
it was dropping those efforts, stating:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Disney's trademark filing was intended to protect any
potential title for our film and related activities. It has
since been determined that the title of the film will
change, and therefore we are withdrawing our trademark
filing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As On the Commons, a movement working for a commons-based
society has <a
href="http://onthecommons.org/magazine/how-disney-raids-public-domain">documented</a>,
Disney has been 'raiding the commons' for decades, taking from
the public domain but offering nothing back in return.</p>
<p align="center">___________________________________</p>
<div class="copyright-info">This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License</div>
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