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Changing name of LINKEDin group for Adventists |
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On March 6th an Associate General Counsel of the General Conference sent me an e-mail informing me that many LINKEDin groups have names that violate Adventist Trademarks. Here is a list of their registered Trademarks ® - Click Here |
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I would like to thank all the members of Adventists LINKED for your prayers and your comments in the discussion. After prayer and careful consideration I have chosen a new name for this group, but even this new name is not finalized. However, I feel some urgency to remove the name that the GC lawyers object to. |
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We are God’s people who understand the inspired writings which says we should never be ashamed of the name Seventh-day Adventists |
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We are Seventh-day Adventists, and of this name we are never to be ashamed. As a people we must take a firm stand for truth and righteousness. Thus we shall glorify God. We are to be delivered from dangers, not ensnared and corrupted by them. That this may be, we must look ever to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. - - Letter 106, 1903 (also Selected Message, Book 2, page 384, par. 2) |
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The problem to be solved is HOW do Adventists who Network on the internet for the blessings of fellowship, sharing information and discussion; describe who they are? Especially when they are not given permission to use their name to describe their meeting venue with the words “Adventists” or “Seventh-day Adventists”? Without the name that describes who we are, it is very hard to describe our group to others. |
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It was a lively discussion between March 13th and 18th with 75 comments. Many group members seemed to favor replacing the word “Adventist” (which is trademarked and owned by the Seventh-day church) with the letters SDA which is what the church previously called itself for many years. |
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I wanted a new name that keeps the second part of our original name “LINKED” - however that meant we would get SDAs LINKED or LINKED SDAs - - unfortunately, there is a group established by our friend Andrew Baker on March 10, 2008 with the name Linked SDAs and I do not want to create any confusion by a similar name. Therefore, in our search of a new name we would have to change the word LINKED also and this would result in a name totally different then Adventists LINKED which has been our name for over four years. |
Another consideration is that ‘SDA’ is now frowned on by the church and after many years of calling themselves SDA they decided to change the thinking of millions of people who were used to the SDA abbreviation. I remember extensive efforts by the church in 2002 and 2003 to change from SDA to Adventist. Therefore, if we chose and name with SDA, we would not be in harmony with years of effort by our church leaders to get away from SDA. I do not think the GC lawyers would be happy with SDA.
It is ironic how this shows the poor planning and stratagem of the legal department who have relinquished their claim to ‘SDA’ trademark because of their disdain for it. The poor part of the strategy is that by insisting groups of Adventists like us change their name, and allowing ‘SDA’ to be available, this just drives members to use “SDA” which the church does did not like anymore. Amazing, when you think of it this way. |
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I also considered the possibility of another organization using SDA, who can tradmark that name for themselves. This might trigger some legal action or accusation that SDA was apostate organization or not true Adventists. I want to avoid this possibility. |
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Knowing the effort made over the last nine years to change the mentality away from calling ourselves SDAs - - I do not want to displease anyone even if the option left open sounds good, we know that this option is not really pleasing to our church leaders. |
I also remember back to Fall of 2002 when the NAD launched a program designed to bring order and some unity to church websites by the e-church award program. It was the church that coined the word e-church to describe the local church presence on the internet.
Electronic mail had become popular in the 90’s and was commonly called e-mail, I can safely say that e-mail has been assimilated into your vocabulary. E-commerce is how we describe doing business on the internet.
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Let me throw out a few e-words at you to show how our technology crazed culture has accepted the e concepts of this internet and electronic age.
e-mail is a very well known phrase used daily, have you ever received an
e-card, or e-money.
Ever done any e-business, as a result of e-marketing.
How about ebay - - do you e-file your taxes
Educators are using e-books and e-learning tools.
Some new ones catching on is e-speak and e-security
E-surance is a brand of Allstate Insurance that was unknown just a few years ago.
You can find more on www.e-words.us
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There is a major corporation creating a list of brands starting the letter ' i '
iPhone - iTouch - iPad - i Tunes |
I propose that we take this opportunity to coin a new e-word for this developing
e-dictionary. |
I propose e-ventist (the word e-Adventist was suggested – but I feel that is too close to the forbidden word) and there is a church owned website www.eAdventist.net
An e-ventist is a Seventh-day Adventist who wants to network with other Adventists on the internet but the internet group he or she has joined does not have permission to use the A word in its name.
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I have changed the name of this LINKEDin group to
E-ventist Network |
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The group name was changed on 3/18/2012, so that the GC lawyers can not close down our cyberspace group. People can still find our group because Adventist and SDA will appear in the group profile which is searchable by LINKEDin users who search the Group Directory. |
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I estimate that there are 5,000 Adventists who have joined the 97 LINKEDin groups for Adventists and we have replaced the word ‘Adventist’ which has upset the GC lawyers with the new word created to describe who we are and why we need a new word to describe who we are. |
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With God’s blessing we will coin a new word which may attract other Adventists and even entice owners of the other Adventist groups to change the name of their group before or when the GC lawyers contact them with their demands. |
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As many of you may know Dan Jackson, President of the NAD, sent a letter to the members of the NAD Executive Committee dated Jan. 31 informing them that he consulted with the GC Legal Counsel and they advised him that a motion passed at the last Executive Committee meeting in October was improper. Based on the counsel of the GC lawyers he canceled a decision that was voted and passed by the NAD Executive Committee. I was quite impressed with how powerful these GC lawyers are in the church and I want to satisfy the GC legal department ASAP with a new name for our group. |
I hope you like this idea and I encourage you to comment on the existing discussion.
Click here to go to the E-ventist Network group
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God Bless
Mario |
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