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The Church of Reality is a Registered Trademark |
The Church of Reality is a registered trademark owned by the First One, Marc Perkel, in trust for the Church of Reality. In granting this trademark we have to specifically disclaim that the word "Church" by itself is our trademark. As I understand trademarks, the mark protects the exact phrase and anything close enough to be essentially the same thing. This often includes sub phrases of the original phrase trademarked. So the copyright office preemptively prohibited us from claiming that "Church" is our trademark.
But - they didn't preclude me from claiming "Reality" by itself as our trademark. And therefore I do claim it. This serves notice to all who see this that in the context of the classification for which this trade mark was granted - the classification 045 "Counseling in religious and spiritual matters" that "Reality" is also ours. We own reality in the context of religion. Thus any other religious institution, for example, who used Reality as part of their name would be infringing on our trademark.
Trademarks are used in business and other organizations to create an identity in the minds of consumers. In the case of churches, consumers are potential members. Religion is a marketplace where religious institutions compete for the souls out there who are looking for a religious identity and these religions market themselves to the public based on that religious identity. For example, if I were to pretend to be a Catholic church the real Catholic church would sue me for trademark infringement. The word Catholic is their marketing word. If I use that word or something so similar that it confuses people into believing that I am the Catholic Church - that would be trademark infringement.
Reality is our trademark in the context of religion. Reality is not just what we believe in - it's our marketing word. In fact - it's our Sacred Message. And it is one of our Sacred Missions to spread the Sacred Message. But we can't do that if someone else hijacks our trademark and uses it, for example, to promote a competitive religious belief as reality when it is in fact not. We are the religion of reality and no one else can market themselves as a religion and use Reality to promote themselves.
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