Rule: Something is no longer cutting edge if people are filing lawsuits over it

[n2doc]

First Youtube, now this:

Burning Man dispute heats up with suit
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, January 25, 2007


Burning Man tickets went on sale this month -- just in time for a lawsuit over who owns the name and logo associated with the annual end-of-summer gathering of 40,000 fire-loving artists in the Nevada desert.

Neon artist John Law, one of the event's three creators, who in 1990 helped relocate Burning Man from a San Francisco beach to a dry Nevada lakebed, is suing his two partners over the rights to the Burning Man name and logo.

Law's federal suit says he was defrauded of his one-third share of the Burning Man trademark's value over the years since 1996, when he left the organization. His two business partners, Larry Harvey and Michael Mikel, have recently tried to claim sole ownership over the Burning Man trademarks, violating an agreement between the three, Law alleged.

Now 48, the former Cacophony Society leader who used to host dance parties in Laundromats, scale the Golden Gate Bridge at night and crash the Chronicle holiday party with a posse of 100 Santas now wants the name Burning Man and its logo released to the public so anybody can use it.

If that's not possible, Law wants to collect on the creative capital he put into Burning Man -- whatever a judge determines it's worth.

"If Burning Man is really a movement, the name should belong to everyone, not three guys who don't get along anymore," Law said.

The controversy has inflamed the Burning Man blogosphere, where burners are debating on www.tribe.net and www.laughingsquid.com whether Burning Man should belong to the people, and whether public ownership means ushering in a world of Burning Man coffee mugs, T-shirts and "Burning Man Girls Gone Wild" videos. Some fear public ownership could spell a corporate death for Burning Man, killing its identity as an anti-consumer art community that has defined itself by sharing and outlawing sales of anything but ice and espresso at the event.

more

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/25/BAG9QNOQMB1.DTL