Plea for help from Horowhenua Library Trust
Update
(by Liz Rea on behalf of the community):
There has been a lot of news in the last 24 hours – much of it has been collected in this Zotero group. Coverage of the story includes three radio stories, one TV clip, blog posts, tweets, Facebook and G+ updates. We are overwhelmed by the support we are getting from around the world – thank you so much for your time, money, tweets, and attention to our plight.
We learned a few hours ago of a press release and statement from a LibLime/PTFS staff member that states their intention to transfer the TM to the Horowhenua Library Trust. However, as of this writing there has been no official communication between LibLime/PTFS and HLT that I am aware of. We will update this post again when we have more information, and thank you again (and again) for your support.
Original Post
Horowhenua Library Trust is the birth place of Koha and the longest serving member of the Koha community. Back in 1999 when we were working on Koha, the idea that 12 years later we would be having to write an email like this never crossed our minds. It is with tremendous sadness that we must write this plea for help to you, the other members of the Koha community.
The situation we find ourselves in, is that after over a year of battling against it, PTFS/Liblime have managed to have their application for a Trademark on Koha in New Zealand accepted. We now have 3 months to object, but to do so involves lawyers and money. We are a small semi rural Library in New Zealand and have no cash spare in our operational budget to afford this, but we do feel it is something we must fight.
For the library that invented Koha to now have to have a legal battle to prevent a US company trademarking the word in NZ seems bizarre, but it is at this point that we find ourselves.
So, we ask you, the users and developers of Koha, from the birth place of Koha, please if you can help in anyway, let us know.
Help the cause – contribute to our legal challenge fund:
Contribute using PayPal
NZ cheques can be made out to Horowhenua Library Trust and posted to:
Levin Library, 10 Bath Street, Levin 5510
Bank deposits can be made to this account:
Te Horowhenua Trust, Westpac, Levin, NZ. 030667-0299274-00 REF: Trademark
Good luck. I’ve just made a donation and I encourage others to do so.
Here is an in-depth article on the issues involved http://lwn.net/Articles/386284/.
I’m a student and really cannot afford to make a donation.. is there any other way I can help? Please let me know 🙂
hi, do u have a bank account number that i can deposit a donation for your fight as i dont have a credit card for paypal. i dont have a job, so therefore cannot donate much, but i feel i have to help!
Unfortunately I’m not in a financial position to donate to the cause, but have you considered, or contacted the EFF legal team? They may be able to help out with lawyers and/or funding. They do great work in protecting digital free speech.
Check them out at: https://www.eff.org/about/contact
Regarding Chris’ comment, those agreements aren’t working for NZ then, because we are actually isolated and small.
I fully support this campaign. How could MED even approve it in the first place? Little problem with the paypal fund is that you can only donate in US dollars and they don’t tell you the exchange rate until after you’ve finished, so I ended up underestimating the amount in NZ dollars.
I would like to help your cause.
get ahold of me. I dont have a credit card or penpal. Im a graphic desiner.
I can offer you my services and time as well as a koha.
Kia kaha
Not sure if this helps, but could you prove ownership of an unregistered trademark?
http://www.jaws.co.nz/media/25398/enforcing%20rights%20in%20unregistered%20trade%20marks.pdf
I would certainly like to help and can write about the issue. Please contact me as soon as possible.