Dervaes Trademark

[Gardenermadi]

Have any of you heard of the dervaes? Well, they trademarked the word "Urban homesteading" and is sending out Ciese and desist letters to small business's and now it has gotten into Legal matters, What are you opinions on that?

[cynthia_h]

I don't know anything about it. Can you give a citation, an article (preferably with information from multiple sources) where we can learn more about it?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Susan W]

Urban Homesteading a trademark? That is far fetched, IMO. That is a term many urban areas use. In this, a way people could buy vacant abandoned houses for something, and a commitment to fix up to code, and preferably live there for x amount of time.
It is win-win. It gets property back on tax rolls. Fixes house and boosts neighborhood with real people.

[tedln]

I don't see how it can be trademarked. "To homestead or homesteading" implies an action like a verb. You can't trademark an action. "Urban" is only used to define an approximate location as opposed to "Non Urban". I suppose if the combination of Urban and Homesteading is used as a noun or descriptive title, it could be trade marked for that purpose only. I believe you would still be able to use the phrase as a description of an action without infringing on a trademark.

Ted