Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Proverbial Compost is About to Hit the Fan

After weeks of declarations of innocence from the Dervaes clan the evidence is finally presenting itself, or as some would say, the compost is hitting the fan.  Rebecca Kaplan, one of the authors of Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills For Sustainable Living, had just announced that the book was being released to the public when Jules Dervaes' lawyer fired off a threatening letter to the publishers.  Here is an excerpt from the letter:  

"Although my client has attempted in good faith to resolve this matter amicably and without litigation, because you have indicated that [publishing company] is unwilling to comply with our requests, Dervaes has no choice but seek protection of its rights in court.  Unless we receive written confirmation by the close of business on April 1, 2011 that [publishing company] will comply immediately with each of the demands detailed in my letter of 2/16/11, (and a subsequent more formal agreement detailing those terms,) Dervaes intends to seek an injunction, along with any damages and attorneys fees, against [publishing company]."

The demands detailed in the 2/16 letter were basically that Kaplan and Blume were not allowed to use the words "urban homestead" or "urban homesteading."  They were graciously "allowed" to use the terms homestead and homesteading however.  

For weeks the Dervaes have claimed up and down that they were not suing anyone, which for the time being was true, but it was obvious by their actions that they were headed down law suit lane.  They denied sending out cease and desist letters, accused bloggers of spreading "misinformation", and have continued with the same party line for weeks now.  I never bought it, never for a minute.  It was obvious by their tone and actions that they would take whatever actions necessary to own the words that define a movement.  I have seen a serious lack of integrity on the part of the Dervaes in the past few months. 

I started the Take Back Urban Home-steading(s) facebook page as a protest to the Dervaes trademarking the terms 'urban homestead" and "urban homesteading."  I have been amazed at the incredible support and community which has formed in such a short amount of time through this page.  We have banned together to support one another, and with true grit and determination I believe we will get back the words that define who we are.  I believe that we have waged this battle so far with integrity and purpose, while the other party has not.  Here is a little summary of some of the things we have been up against:

The Dervaes' accusations that the blogging community has put out "misinformation."  From the Dervaes Blog: "These last few weeks, the blogosphere and certain media outlets have been full of unfounded and false reports that have led to a smear campaign against members of our family."   This is absolutely not true.  Any of the urban homesteading blogs or media I have seen are representing the facts correctly, and have gleaned their facts directly from the Dervaes' websites, blogs, etc.  Not long after this declaration came from their website "media outlets" such as Boing Boing, Blog Her, and the SF Chronicle, and Grist reported much of the same information, interesting isn't it though?   
 
We didn't send out cease and desist letters.  When you send out letters to 16 organizations, libraries, publishers, etc. that tell publishers, authors, and web pages not to use certain generic terms in print, that is a legal cease and desist letter, so yeah, you did send out cease and desist letters. 

Go ahead and use the terms in your blog.  Sometime after the initial cease and desist letters, and the hundreds of blogs posted in the blogosphere about the issue, the Dervaes suddenly said it was ok to use the trademarked terms in blogs!  They had already told Rebecca Kaplan who has a blog associated with her book Urban Homesteading, not to use the words anywhere in print.  So what are we supposed to believe?  This kind of inconsistent speech is not helpful, or honest in my opinion.  

Plagiarism. The Dervaes put out a post about plagiarism, then it was discovered that they themselves had plagiarized information for Freedom Gardens.org from Michael Nolan's blog "My Earth Garden", as well as the fact that the information on the plagiarism blog had not been cited correctly for the internet.  They did admit they had not cited the information from the Freedom Gardens site, and apologized, but the fact remains that they were accusing others of something that they themselves were guilty of doing.  They only corrected the error when they were caught red handed.

Steaming Pile of Compost.  "We will not  [nor it is our intention to] squelch the use of Urban Homestead or Urban Homesteading nor will we go about hindering this movement by those who are living the lifestyle.  We are Urban Homesteaders and appreciate those who are lending their actions and words of support. We are extremely grateful and we encourage others to spread this lifestyle with pride."  Really, you don't want to squelch the use of urban homestead or urban homesteading?  I don't think I need to say much more...this one is a no brainer. 

Friending people from the Take Back Urban Home-steading(s) Page.  The Dervaes decided it would be smart to come over to our page and friend up with people.  For all of their declarations of innocence this was the last straw.  It was a desperate move on their part to try to win back favor from a group that they have alienated.
 
So what can you do to help fight against this injustice?  Go buy the Urban Homesteading book, join the Take Back Urban Home-steading(s) page, and spread the word about our cause! 
There are other publishers being represented by the EFF now, and we raised funds for the Denver Urban Homesteading to petition to have the trademark removed from "urban homesteading."  We also have helped get over 2000 signatures for an on line petition to the Dervaes to remove the TMs.  Not that it will change their minds, but it is good proof that the urban homesteading community is not in support of what they have done. 

21 comments:

  1. I'm still trying to figure out a way that it could all just be a big mistake on their part. Like maybe the just have a really sucky lawyer? I dunno. Such a shame.

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  2. The fact that they are now suing is no surprise and, I believe, it was their intent all along. The only reason to trademark something in the manner they have is for financial gain. They know very well they did not coin, start, solely develop or singularly promulgate 'urban homesteading' etc. This is a money grab and as we are all well aware in America, litigation = $$. I'm sure they were just waiting for, and counting on, someone to oppose them and their ridiculous trademark so they could litigate and make a chunk of money on a settlement; in or out of court. It is unfortunate because they have/had a lot of good knowledge to give to a growing community. Now they are alienating themselves for greed. They might as well be mono-croppers in my book.

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  3. Suing people is NOT done by mistake.

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  4. Jessica -- really, it's not a mistake. When they first learned about the urban homesteading book I was working on I received an email from Anais Dervaes that said, essentially, "you'll be hearing from our lawyer." A week later, I did. This is not a case of the lawyer steering the ship. The Dervaes family knows what they want, and they're using an attorney to try and get it. My father used to be a lawyer, and he said that in his experience shady lawyers and shady clients are attracted to each other.

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  5. Great post. I have always thought there was something a bit off with the D's. Grown women still living at home...to each their own.. but I still wonder if the lawyer is leading them down the wrong path. Keep up the great work April!

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  6. Not a sucky lawyer... a sucky patriarch.

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  7. @Cindy and Matt - I completely agree with you. I think they planned this all along and were just waiting for a publisher to sue. I predict they will go after every publisher.

    Sundari - Aren't you the writer for "Urban Homesteading for Dummies?" What is your publisher's plan, (if you can share.)

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  8. These are FACTS and I think that the fact the Ds are trying to act like victims makes them even more despicable.

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  9. Don't forget to go "like" the author's page too! And invite friends to also do the same. This is a time that should be happy and exciting for them, and hopefully the more people that like them and buy them book will help alleviate the stress these wonderful people are going through.

    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/HeirloomSkills4SustainableLiving

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  10. @April -- LOL... Actually, it's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban Homesteading" (coming out in June). Last I spoke to my publisher about it, they were taking the same position as EFF and the publisher of Rachel's book -- the Dervaes' "service mark" (or whatever) is absolutely unenforceable, and would not stand up in court. I'm lucky because my book is being put out by Alpha Books, which is a division of Penguin Publishing. Those guys don't mess around.

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  11. Oh, this is beyond irritating. Every time I read about it it just boils me.

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  12. "They might as well be mono-croppers in my book." - them's fightin' words. LMAO. Love it.

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  13. @Catoco - I know, that is part of the reason I wrote this post in fact. All of their claims of being the victims to the mean nasty blogging community - who according to them aren't "real reporters" and who spew inaccuracies around the internet boil my blood to no end. I guess they're going to have to go after each and every one of us...as well as major news agencies/blogs for defamation of character. Good luck with that one!

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  14. April, I'm a little confused. You say they plagiarized from Freedom Gardens.org...but they own the site Freedom Gardens.org. Did they plagiarize another site, perhaps? Or did they take a comment someone else had written there and transfer it to their other pages? I just am trying to figure out how they could plagiarize from themselves. (Trying to keep the facts straight! *heh*)

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  15. @ Lisa - Thanks for the correction, sorry about that. I think I meant to say "for the Freedom Gardens.org." The info was actually from Michael Nolan's "My Earth Garden" blog, and I now have it linked so you can see his post on what they did.

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  16. It's just so sad. Greed is killing this country, but I never thought the Dervaes, of all people, would fall victim to it. They were like icons to me! I knew they weren't the first, but they were the first who shared it with the world. The best thing that came out of this whole thing was my meeting all the wonderful urban homesteaders through FB and becoming part of the community. It's brought a lot of people together that would never have met otherwise, and I hope that even when this is over (and they have LOST), we will still be together. I'm glad the Homesteading group was started on FB, because one day, the TBUH group won't be necessary anymore, and we will all have someplace to still be together.

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  17. @Fae - So much good really has come out of this community that formed because of the bad actions of the Dervaes. I'm looking forward to the day when we won't have to fight against their greed, and we can just talk about our gardens and homesteads in peace...until then we'll continue to do all we can to retain that freedom. Thanks for the comment!

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  18. What I think bothers me the most about them, is how they were acting as a victim and yet at the same time continuing to threaten people with trademark infringement. I have been trying to take their blog off of my reading list on blogger but have been unable to, does anyone know how to do this. I don't want to support them at all.

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  19. "What do I need? I need only land and water--so I can live. Why do other people Want more, and why do other people want me to have more. I want less and less."- Jules Deveraes from his 1973 biography

    What a hypocrite - The Dervaes shameless greed has made them the Pariahs of urban gardeners everywhere.

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  20. I am at a loss to understand where they are coming from. The whole back to the land movement that I have been a part of since the early 70's, has always been about sharing. Sharing information has been a huge part of it. I have gone over their site extensively looking for information. It isn't there. They share little tidbits that are really not that useful. The pictures are all covered with their copyright info. If they put as much effort into sharing and teaching as they do "protecting their copyrights, trademarks and their photos, the whole movement could benefit from their knowledge. Their litigious behavior and general attitude is appalling and very ANTI urban homesteading.

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  21. Freedom Gardens, my rear...they've made a choice to become the Monsanto of the homesteading. They couldn't have hurt the movement more if they tried harder. Is greed, pure & simple -- in reality, they want more & more...

    Erin is absolutely right, their attitudes & behavior are appalling. EXTREMELY anti-urban homesteading, as well as a disgrace & embarassment to the very movement they claim to promote.

    *I suggest we urban homesteaders begin our own movement: Find & gather all materials distributed from the Dervaes organization we can lay our hands on & mail them en mass back to them!

    BTW: The Dervaes Institute is registered as a tax exempt 508(c)(1)(a) organization,[7] a status which is limited to "churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches"[8]

    Apparently the Dervaes family is a non-profit, church-based organization that has no problem fighting for those profits...as well as making them from their homestead -- tax free. How convenient.

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