TORRANCE, Calif. — A dispute over product packaging and branding has been raised to an unusual level for the intertwined Pagan communities, with one party filing an application to trademark the name Yule in an attempt, as reported, to protect its product from copycats. The response, which is largely driven by a that many common uses of the word would be forbidden if the trademark is approved, has come in the form of a campaign to educate the trademark examiner on the issues before any final decision is made.
![[Public Domain / Pixabay]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/advent-1821740_1280-500x283.jpg)
[Public Domain / Pixabay]
Ellwood and her partner received a letter directing them to cease and desist selling two perfumes called “Yule” and “Amatus,” because the name and appearance infringed on trademarks owned by Sage Goddess, Inc. The letter was dated Feb. 14, 2017, and the trademark applications were filed the following day.
“They copy a lot of our products,” said Nicely when reached for comment. This is the why he reported taking the step to file this and other trademark applications. In a further written explanation provided by the company’s attorney Scott Shabel, trademarks are necessary to file a complaint with the platforms Etsy and Shopify.
As recounted in that letter, many Wyld Witchery products were too close for their comfort: “The bottle, cap, sari silk, stones, ingredients, and labels for several products were in most cases, identical to ours, including products we’ve had on the market for years. The marketing and descriptive copy used to sell this competitor’s products were, in some cases, lifted verbatim from our website.
“When a number of our customers wrote to us saying they were confused as to whether our products were being sold by another shop, we had no choice but to take legal action to protect our trade name, trade dress and other intellectual property rights.”
Charissa Iskiwitch, who runs the Pagan Business Network site, also received a letter herself from attorney Shabel after the interview with Elwood was posted. In it he decried various factual errors, and requested that the offending piece be taken down.
Iskiwitch’s response came from attorney Courtney Lytle, who represents trademark clients and teaches that area of law. After Lytle remarked that registering Yule as a trademark for a perfume could easily prevent any scented products to use that name, Iskiwitch started organizing the resistance. Her goal was to alert the trademark examiner — who has yet to be assigned — that this is in effect a common word, which cannot be trademarked. Her tactics include talking to business owners whose products could be impacted, and to circulate online petitions.
However, Iskiwitch took pains to make clear that she was not interested in dissecting or disparaging the reasons for trying to trademark such a term. “I am not wanting to trash a business for practices or products or any other reason,” she said.
“It is not about that one person, [and] I won’t participate in that kind of thing.” However, “This is a huge issue,” because of the many scented products with Yule in the name. As she noted, the trademark “would allow one business to stop all others from creating products called Yule.”
According to Lytle, trademarks are broadly interpreted because they are intended to protect the consumer from confusion. The example she used was a line of spices: trademarking its name would also protect an expansion of the name into baked goods, she said, or any other reasonably-connected enterprise. That means that a trademark on Yule perfume could be enforced with cologne and toilet water, but also other scented products such as potpourri and incense.
Lytle freely admits that she’s mostly unfamiliar with Pagan practice, which puts her in line with most Americans who view the word Yule as an old-time synonym for “Christmas.” That’s why she believes the application could very easily go through without opposition. With it, she’s less clear, saying that while the trademark process is more predictable than patenting an invention, there’s still a great deal of discretion left to the assigned examiner.
Once a trademark application is filed, it’s much more difficult to oppose it; for starters, there’s a $400 filing fee. That’s why Iskiwitch got to work quickly. “I do not currently have any Yule products,” she said. Rather, it’s a “battle to help save this word for the business community.”
The application process can take a year or more to be finalized, but Lytle said that if approved, it would be enforceable back to the application date. From that point, it would be a question of if the trademark holder chose to enforce their rights or not.
Elwood said that her own attorney “implored” her to file state trademarks, which in narrow situations may even trump a federal claim. “My partner was apprehensive to go this route with trademarking the names of our holidays, and I agree with her, they belong to the community. However, the lawyer has assured us we do not have to enforce these trademarks, but they are there for if/when another situation like this comes about.”
What runs through this entire issue are accusations of bad faith. Elwood has been fingered for products purportedly too similar; she in turn claims that Sage Goddess spies tried to infiltrate her Facebook groups just before she received that letter.
Nicely asserted that the petition drive falsely accuses his family of trying to trademark the holiday, and that it is being organized by friends of Elwood.
![Wyld Witchery Yule oil [PBN]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/wyld-witchery-yule.png)
Wyld Witchery Yule oil [PBN]
In her PBN interview, Elwood said that she and her partner voluntarily pulled the “Amatus” products and renamed them.
As of this writing, the trademark application database does not reflect any such withdrawal. It’s not clear how quickly such an act would be reflected in the database.
Shubel, the attorney representing Sage Goddess, did not respond in time to answer questions about the cease-and-desist letter, dated the day before the trademark application. Iskiwitch’s attorney Lytle stressed that while the application date is the effective date for an approved trademark, it has to get approved first.
What’s quite clear is that a Pandora’s box has been opened. Regardless of intent or success, the idea of trademarking a Pagan or other minority religious holy day name for the purposes of selling products is now a topic of conversation, possibly even in business strategy sessions. For good or ill, Paganism is being visited with issues of the mainstream market.
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The work of journalist Terence P. Ward was made possible by the generous underwriting donation from Hecate Demeter, writer, ecofeminist, witch and Priestess of the Great Mother Earth.
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I get the company trying to protect their products, and I’m sure many of the names are trademarkable, and they should trademark as many as they can.
But you can’t trademark “Yule.”
It’s not theft to name a product “Yule,” it’s just unimaginative.
they can trademark it and such companies have succeeded with other words in the past
look up the trademark word reborn baby doll, which is a general term for a product same as “pop” is a general word for coke and pepsi
Put me down as opposing the registration of the name of a Pagan holiday to sell products or for any other purpose.
1. An application for ownership does not mean ownership. They were out of order in issuing that preemptive position. 2. Their Trade Dress issue is not the same as the trademark stance. 3. Unless they also are going to trademark the bottle, this issue could arise again in other places. 4. This would also open the door to multiple holidays being subjected to this same issue.
I think if it were me, I’d want to first come up with a novel bottle and do a design patent and then trademark the bottle and label graphics/colors etc. To my mind, that’s going to hold brand identity and value a whole lot better than a generic name like “Yule.”
There are and will continue to be probably hundreds of essential oil sellers and metaphysical suppliers compounding scents with the Yule name in some form. It’s almost a commodity descriptor. “Yule” tells people it’s probably going to smell something like pine or spruce and possibly some traditional warm food scent like cinnamon or gingerbread.
Along those lines, “Four Thieves” oil is another one that everyone offers in some variety. Sure it’s possible to trademark that, and perhaps someone has. But I can’t foresee a day when I’d be able to associate the name exclusively with Company X.
Chasing down uses of a common name, though legally possible, would pose an enforcement nightmare against other sellers who for the most part pose no real threat to Sage Goddess. The threat comes when someone starts selling a product which in total is virtually indistinguishable from one you have spent years building up in the consumer mind.
Their customers and Pagans in general need to tell them to back off the idea of trademarking any Pagan Sabbat or word commonly used.
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Ha! Wait till the Chinese start selling a copycat product like this on Etsy or Ebay. Let’s see them try to get the Chinese to stop. Fat chance and good luck!
There is always that problem, although it’s impact can depend on the quality of the brand being ripped off. When it comes to high end designer fragrances, the market is awash in cheap counterfeits, but arguably few, if any, of the counterfeit buyers were ever going to buy the real brand name stuff.
I posted on FB with the article. Yet, how can we not notice the INTEGRITY in this? Couple that with this whole binding ritual thing… a murder of crows descended to remind us of something … imo.
As of yesterday the government web site shows that they have withdrawn their application to trademark “Yule”. I suppose the backlash from the community was worse than having someone else stealing their ideas. I wonder what the public reaction would be if someone tried to do this with the word “Easter”…