disinformation | corporate dummies: sean healy and octapod v idg books

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corporate dummies: sean healy and octapod v idg books
by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - December 20, 2000

To what extent do you think common phrases within the public domain should be 'owned'? Can you spot any other possible infringements within our heading, and if so, can you spot any satire within this heading? Do you think there is a place for satire online?
~ ~ Sean Healy.

"Since there are now patents on genes aplenty, are patents on memes next? Or should that be (c)meme(r)?"
~ ~ Chris Cowan (National Values Center).

"Imagine what the next generation of media pranksters is going to be like! It'll be really out of control in 3 years!"
~ ~ Richard Metzger, interview, 1999.

For one of Australia's leading culture-jammers, it must have been a moment of sheer irony. In October 1999, Sean Healy received a 'cease & desist' letter from IDG Books trademark coordinator Isabelle Drewelow. The global publishing conglomerate was concerned that its corporate identity and trademarks would be diluted by a screenprinting Web page that Healy had written for the members of Octapod, a small, non-profit youth organization.

Healy had been in the firing line before. As an organizer of the acclaimed Electrofringe Festival (over 200 hours of new media forums and workshops), he handled massive logistics with only a miniscule budget.

Healy soon discovered that IDG Books had a history of aggressive trademark dilution protection tactics. Whilst trademark dilution protection is a necessary aspect of the contemporary business environment, IDG Books also censored non-profit and parody Web sites. They extended their scope to even included books which used the phrase 'for dummies' in their title published before IDG Books registered their trademark. What next? Will they copyright the phrase "for dummies" in the Webster and Oxford dictionaries?

It's more hip in MBA circles to read Michael Porter, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Adrian Slywotzky (competition modellers) than study Culture Jammers such as Sean Healy, RTMark, or Adbusters. But as Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America by Kelle Lasn (Eagle Brook, 1999) and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (Picador USA, 2000) powerfully show, this new breed of youthful social activists (with relativistic thinking styles) is a necessary corrective to the unchecked excesses of brutal market economics. Attempts by Microsoft to censor the popular Slashdot.org discussion forum in May, 2000, regarding code that probably came from the Open Source code community in the first place, is a paralllel case-study.

Whether IDG Books intended to sabotage the trend which signified their very impact on the cultural meme-pool or not, the inevitable result of such bullying tactics is the copyright of memes that reflect creative thought processes. The arms-race to colonize your mind with brand-names has just intensified.

Slashdot: More Fun With Dummies
A discussion thread from 'Slashdot.org' about IDG Books, trademarks, and censorship.

IDGB Are Dummies
Feltby's Web site highlights ongoing legal harassment (sorry, 'trademark protection'!) by IDG Books against non-profit sites and books published prior to IDG's 'For Dummies' series.

HTML For Morons
This page was since many years been called HTML for dummies. But on October 28th 1999 I received a letter from Isabelle Drewelow at IDG Books Worldwide, Inc requiring me to remove the trademarked material from your web site on or November 11th, 1999. Since I so thoroughly and wholeheartedly enjoy these restrictions of free speech, I am happy to announce that I have now dedicated this page to IDG Books. Especially the title.

What Lawyers Do For Fun: IDG Nonsense
De Clarke cites the 1995 Trademark Dilution Act to no avail in defending his non-profit 'CVS For Dummies' page. More revealing documentation.

Search & Destroy: Shredder
'Shredder' is a 'search & destroy' page perfect for detourning IDG Books' online presence, or for general culture-jamming mayhem!

Search & Destroy: Landfill
'Landfill' is a 'search & destroy' page perfect for detourning IDG Books' online presence, or for general culture-jamming mayhem!

Disinformation Dossier On Electrofringe Festival 1999
Check out the Disinformation dossier on Electrofringe Festival 1999.

Disinformation Dossier On Corporate Religions
Check out the Disinformation dossier on Corporate Religions.

Octapod
The Octapod is a youth, arts, environment, media organisation (yeah we know it's a mouthful) based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It provides a public resource centre that is maintained by a volunteer group of artists, writers, activists, the unemployed and the just plain bored. Highly recommended!

Corporate Standover Tactics For Dummies
Apparently IDG Books is the largest publisher of reference books in the world and they are rather worried that a small group of students and unemployed may pose a risk to thier corporate identity. View the damning documentation that reveals IDG's attempts to copyright language!

HyperKnowledge
In the 1960s, the 'How-Why?' methodology became prominent in value engineering and other decision systems which structure knowledge. Now the firm 'HyperKnowledge' is claiming international patents on the process. Memeticist Chris Cowan notes: "it could be the tip of a litigation iceberg with the potential of sinking many worthwhile ventures in a sea of legal bills or excessive caution."

A Few Articles
Sean Healy's articles collection covers a diverse range of topics, including Buddhism, Australian Net Censorship, composting, and ethical shopping. The interview with our Creative Director is a bona fide classic!

Adbusters Culture Jammers Headquarters
One of the best 'culture-jamming' Web sites ever, loaded with resources and ideas to prevent publishing conglomerate excesses!

IDG Books Online
Details of their defence against trademark dilution, and their history of enforcing global Web site modifications, is strangely missing from the massive 'IDG Books' site.

RTMark
(r)TMark is a brokerage that benefits from limited liability" just like any other corporation. Using this principle, (r)TMark supports the sabotage of corporate products, with no risk to the public investor." Could detourning 'IDG Books' be their next project?

Brands 'R' Us?
This 'Nation' review (June 12th, 2000) by Jane Slaughter of Naomi Klein's excellent book 'No Logo: Taking Aim At The Brand Bullies' (Picador, 2000) explains why anticorporatism and 'culture jamming' have become two leading contemporary activist movements.

Registering "Unusable" Words etc.