ann wigmore suing problems

[Guest guest]

Helping, Healing and Greed

By Dr. James E. Carey, Ph.D.

former Director of Creative Health Institute

former Executive Trustee, Creative Health Institute Trust, chiDiet Home Study Program

 

Those of you who have been rs for a while know that this newsletter

supports all raw

fooders, living fooders and raw food organizations. Last week we had an essay by

Brenda

Cobb (chidiet.com/news/LivingFoodsNews20060415.htm#brenda) about how the Ann

Wigmore Foundation in New Mexico (http://www.wigmore.org/) is suing her for

using the terms

" Living Food " and " Living Foods Lifestyle " in her 2002 book, The Living Foods

Lifestyle.

 

We've had SO many emails and calls on the subject that we'd like to share some

of the

background on the subject, since so many different rumors are flying around.

 

Susan Lavender is the Director of the Ann Wigmore Foundation. According to

Donald Haughey,

cofounder of Hippocrates Institute of the Midwest, later renamed Creative Health

Institute,

Susan came to Creative Health in '99 as a garden worker. After a few months Don

agreed that it

would be better for everyone if Susan were to take a position at another Wigmore

center, and

he arranged for Susan to transfer to the Ann Wigmore Foundation in New Mexico.

 

Susan arrived at a time of transition. Dr. Ann had perished in a fire at the

Hippocrates Institute in

Boston back in '94 (she was 83), and the insurance money would not cover the

cost of

rebuilding the Institute. Thus it was decided by the Board of Trustees to move

out West where

property was cheaper and the climate milder (Dr. Ann had always kept Hippocrates

at 85

degrees, year-around).

 

Within a few months of Susan's arrival in San Fidel all of the staff, including Shu Chen,

had left for other opportunities. Susan found herself promoted to Director by

default, according

to Donald Haughey. Don also says that Susan became involved with the Wigmore

program

five years after Dr. Ann had passed over; Susan had never met, much less known,

Dr. Ann

Wigmore.

 

In '02 Susan contacted Creative Health because she was having financial

troubles, and was

several years behind in her legal paperwork. Mary Jane Moore, Director of

Creative Health for a

decade, went down to the Foundation's center in New Mexico and brought all of

the legal

paperwork up-to-date, securing concessions and forgiveness from the State of

Massachusetts.

At that time Donald Haughey was named to the new Board of Trustees of the Ann

Wigmore

Foundation.

 

In '03 Susan contacted Creative Health, along with numerous other raw living

fooders including

Hiawatha Cromer and Victoria Boutenko, and strongly suggested that each of us

donate $1,000

a year to the Foundation because it was, again, having financial difficulties,

and it was " Oh, so

important to keep Dr. Ann's legacy alive. " In that year Hiawatha Cromer went

down to New

Mexico to assist as a volunteer. Within a few weeks she contacted me, and asked

if I could

donate or raise $20,000 for emergency property repairs for the Foundation's

center. I demurred

because my support is with Creative Health, a group that actively hosts and

trains hundreds of

people a year; Susan wasn't doing a fraction of that many.

 

In '04 I was contacted again by the Foundation, first by Susan and later by her

attorneys. They

demanded that all sales and assets of chiDiet.com be turned over to the

Foundation because

we were using the copyrighted terms " Ann Wigmore " and " Living Foods Lifestyle. "

My

attorney found that " Ann Wigmore " never was a registered trademark as far as we

can tell; " Ann

Wigmore Foundation " had been registered at one time, but had been allowed to

lapse in '99.

" Living Foods Lifestyle " had also been allowed to lapse in '99. This can be

easily verified at

http://www.uspto.gov/.

 

Furthermore, since chiDiet.com was part and parcel with Creative Health

Institute Trust, and since

we were operating under a Charter originally granted by Dr. Ann Wigmore and

Hippocrates

Institute of Boston (the predecessor of the Ann Wigmore Foundation), we had full

right and

permission to use Dr. Ann's name, phrases and teachings. Upon advice of attorney

we told

them to " buzz off. "

 

Susan contacted Donald Haughey, and by the end of that conversation Don had

resigned from

the Ann Wigmore Foundation Board of Trustees, and Susan was going to sue Don and

Creative Health, a threat that Donald laughed at.

 

As an aside, my attorney recommended that I file for the trademark names myself.

We

considered it, but didn't do so for two reasons. We were concerned that others

would perceive

such a move as a power or money grab by Donald and/or myself. It was also felt

that the terms

" Wigmore Diet, " " Living Foods, " " Raw Living Foods " and " Living Foods Lifestyle "

had entered

the public lexicon.

 

When a name enters the public lexicon it means that it's of such common usage

that it's a generic

term and, thus, can't be copyrighted or trademark registered because it would

cause a confusion

for the public. Could you imagine what shopping would be like if the term

" water " was a

trademark? Nobody would be able to use that name on their product. They could

sell " H2O, " or

" stuff that comes out of taps, " but they wouldn't be able to call their product

" water. "

 

In addition, it's the legal responsibility of the trademark registrant to

rigorously enforce usage of

their trademark. Since the '60s Xerox has done just that with their name.

Everybody else had to

sell " copiers; " to sell a " xerographic copier " was a trademark infringement

(it's correctly written as

" Xerographic copier " - I don't need THEM mad at me! <g>).

 

It doesn't take much digging around on the Internet to see that " Living Foods

Lifestyle " is a

generic term that describes the way we live our lives. I got 17,100 hits on it

this morning, and

3,900 on .

 

There was a third consideration. Anyone who knew Dr. Ann Wigmore also knew that

it was her

dream and intention that any and all who learned the lifestyle from her go forth

and share it with

the world. That's why we've always been so supportive of all raw and living

fooders in this

newsletter. That's what Brenda Cobb learned from Shu Chen, that's what she went

out and did,

and that's why she's now being sued.

 

Apparently in the last 18 months Susan found an attorney to get her trademarks

current. While

the original intention was to sue Donald Haughey, chiDiet.com and Creative

Health Institute, any

good attorney knows that it's hard to win a case when someone has been using the

term since

before it was registered as a trademark, or if they have permission to use the

term.

 

So, good attorney that I'm sure he is, he chose Brenda Cobb's book as his

target. Interestingly

enough, when her book went to press " Living Foods Lifestyle " didn't show up as a

registered

trademark.

 

In good faith Brenda went forth from her life-saving training at the Ann Wigmore

Foundation,

doing what they (Shu Chen and staff) encouraged her to do - share this knowledge

with the

world - and then somebody else comes along, takes over the Foundation, and

proceeds to

make money with it any way they can.

 

The best way to help Brenda right now is to convince the judge that the terms

" Living Food "

(currently expired), " Living Foods, " " Living Foods Lifestyle " (some searches

show it as

expired, others as renewed), " Raw Living Foods, " and all combinations of those

words are part

of the common lexicon, in the public domain, and should not be used as

trademarks.

 

Email Brenda a letter, then mail a copy of it to:

Living Foods Institute

560 Elmwood Drive

Atlanta, GA 30306

www.livingfoodsinstitute.com

Brenda

Direct office line: 404-607-1816

Cell: 404-625-1956

 

Brenda needs to have these letters by April 25th. Even if you can't get a

hardcopy to her in

time, at least email and tell her what you think.

 

Susan Lavender and the Ann Wigmore Foundation can be contacted at

livingfood and their website is http://www.wigmore.org/.

 

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