Petition against the trademark on "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cdhawareness/
Over 6500 signatures of CDH families, doctors, nurses and friends, way to go everyone! Thank you so much for caring about these children and doing what's right. If you haven't signed yet, please do! Or just take a look at the comments on the signatures or read the blog to learn more about this trademark.
Because of this trademark, CHERUBS does NOT participate in "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Day" - it's used as "evidence" of why 1 group should own CDH awareness. It is also why we do not use turquoise.
This is a decision CHERUBS (and several other groups) made to protect our organization and members and to help fight for the right to raise Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness freely, without drama or lawsuits or other nonsense that have no place in the CDH community. It is a decision to take a stand against it and not promote it.
We fully encourage all CDH families to raise awareness in as many ways as possible and will continue to fight for your rights to do so.
This is the ONLY trademark on record at the USPTO on awareness of a health issue. There are some trademarks on events (for example - "Birth Defects Awareness Day" by the March of Dimes) - but none on generalized awareness of a cause. Imagine a trademark on "Breast Cancer Awareness" or "Autism Awareness" - it would never happen. But because, ironically, there is no awareness on CDH, the attorney at the United States Patent & Trademark Office just approved the application without any research on what Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia is. CHERUBS, backed by many other CDH groups, with the blessings of 1000's of CDH families and researchers and with help from 4 pro-bono attorneys - filed a petition to cancel this trademark that is currently in proceedings. You can read all about it at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cdhawareness/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cdhawareness/blog
http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92050284&pty=CAN&eno=2
Soon, we will release our Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Congressional Bill - to protect all causes, birth defects and diseases from having awareness hindered by corporate trademarks.
While we fully encourage all CDH families to raise awareness in as many ways as possible - CHERUBS does not participate or promote in any trademarked activities such asCongenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Day
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