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This petition is started in part of an appeal process against an application with the U.S. Patent & Trademark office for ownership of the awareness of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. CDH is a rare and often deadly birth defect that affects 1600 babies in the U.S. each year.

One organization, Breath of Hope, Inc., is seeking to own the term "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness" and therefore dictating it's use. This would be detrimental to every cause, every CDH organization, every family affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia that wishes to raise awareness, advocacy, research and support of this birth defect in memory and in honor of these babies. This would effectively exclude everyone but a few within a specific organization of using CDH Awareness ribbons, petitioning the government of CDH Awarness Days, holding events, fundraisers and any other activities in correlation for raising awareness of this disease without specific permission from one specific individual within one organization for their benefit.

It is our collective opinion that no one should benefit from the pain and / or deaths of babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia by claiming ownership of the awareness of this birth defect. We petition the United States Trademark & Copyright office to deny claims to this term and any terms that would negatively affect the families, medical care givers and general public who may be affected by CDH.

As this would be detrimental to several other organizations who have been practicing CDH Awareness for over a decade, 1000's of families around the world and general public - we hereby sign that we petition against the ownership and trademark of the phrase "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness" by Breath of Hope, Inc and any entity, organization or individual.





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The Application for Trademark Ownership

You can view the application for trademark ownership of "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness" here. It includes the original application, the amendment and the turquoise awareness ribbon (which is owned by Rainbow of Hope). Click here to view - http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/...


All documentation on file with the USPTO for this trademark application - http://tmportal.uspto.gov/external/portal/...




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BREATH OF HOPE, INCORPORATED

The people behind this trademark to prevent CDH families, doctors and other organizations from spreading Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness, the staff at Breath of Hope, Incorporated:

Elizabeth Doyle-Propst, CEO - elizabeth@breathofhopeinc.com
Stacy Everett-Harding, VP - stacy@breathofhopeinc.com
Rick Bryant, Advisor - rick@breathofhopeinc.com
Marsha McInnis, Advisor - marsha@breathofhopeinc.com
Jennifer Luning, Advisor - jennifer@breathofhopeinc.com
Jean Ashner, Advisor - jean@breathofhopeinc.com
Holly Centurino, Advisor - holly@breathofhopeinc.com




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From the United States Trademark & Patent office:

Word Mark CONGENITAL DIAPHRAGMATIC HERNIA AWARENESS
Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Promoting public awareness of congenital diaphragmatic hernia; Public advocacy to promote awareness of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. FIRST USE: 20070701. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070701
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 77436855
Filing Date April 1, 2008
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Supplemental Register Date July 16, 2008
Owner (APPLICANT) Breath of Hope, Incorporated CORPORATION VIRGINIA PO Box 6627, Charlottesville VIRGINIA 22906
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register SUPPLEMENTAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE





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That organization's response is that they wouldn't police how Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness is used. This is not true. This organization began threatening to sue over the use of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia last year, without grounds, without owning the trademark that was applied for on April 1st of 2008 as per the documents on the U.S. Patent Office's official web site signed by the CEO of this organization. Below are examples of how little this organization can be trusted with something this important and how no organization / individual / entity should have power over the awareness of a birth defect or disease. THIS harassment and types of threats will happen to every other CDH organization and families if this trademark is granted. Please help us to stop this from happening. 6 CDH organizations, the world's top CDH surgeons, and over 2000 people are standing together against this injustice. Please stand with us.

11/17/08 - A formal complaint was made to Zazzle.com by Elizabeth Doyle-Propst from Breath of Hope, Inc. to have CHERUBS on-line fundraising store removed or altered and our CDH Skateboard Campaign removed.

9/18/08 - A formal complaint was made to Cafepress by Elizabeth Doyle-Propst from Breath of Hope, Inc. to have CHERUBS on-line fundraising store removed or altered. Cafepress denied this request. Again.

8/31/08 - An "anonymous" e-mail, the same account used to send the e-mail about the trademark that alerted us, was sent to CHERUBS President with threats of personal blackmail and lawsuits if CHERUBS did not remove this petition and any references to "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness" before September 16th.

8/12/08 - An "anonymous" e-mail was sent to CHERUBS to brag about the trademarking of "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness". 7 organizations immediately went into action to stop this trademark.

1/4/08 - Yahoo.com representative calls CHERUBS office about a trademark complaint made by Elizabeth Doyle-Propst, President / CEO of Breath of Hope, Inc., asking that CHERUBS be removed from Yahoo's search engine and CHERUBS yahoo groups be taken down. http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet...

12/19/07 - Elizabeth Doyle-Propst, President / CEO of Breath of Hope, Inc. sends a formal complaint to Cafepress.com, where CHERUBS hosts an on-line store of fundraising and awareness items. http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet...

10/23/07 - Stacy Dinay Everett Harding, Vice-President of Breath of Hope, Inc. sent a letter to CHERUBS lawyer accusing our children's charity of copyright infringement. http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet...

10/22/07 - Elizabeth Doyle-Propst, President / CEO of Breath of Hope, Inc. accuses CHERUBS of copyright and trademark infringement again and threatens more legal action. http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet...

10/4/07 - Elizabeth Doyle-Propst, President / CEO of Breath of Hope, Inc. accuses CHERUBS of copyright and trademark infringement. http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet... http://cdhsupport.org/elizabet...

These are only a few of the threats, false charges and other attacks made by this organization to other organizations and CDH families.

The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

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What is CDH?



Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth. CDH affects 1600 babies a year in the U.S. - 800 of those babies do not survive. The cause is not known. For more information on CDH, you can visit CHERUBS.


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Sign the petition

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* Name
* Email
Comments
*Should any organization, entity or individual own awareness of a disease or birth defect? Should they be allowed to prevent families affected by the birth defect, doctors and hospitals and other organizations from freely using the term awareness without their permission?
  No
  Yes
  No Comment
*Do you think owning awareness would be profiting from a disease or birth defect? If no one else is allowed to use the term awareness but one organization can "own" it to sell items and dictate events and fundraisers for only their organization - is this making money off of awareness?
  Yes
  No
  No Comment
Display my name as anonymous on the signatures list
Yes, I want iPetitions to contact me on similar campaigns or petitions.
 
 Tell a friend about this petition

 

Petition Sponsors



Every single CDH organization was notified on August 12, 2008 of this petition and the trademark application. Within 3 days, all but 2 mobilized immediately, with leaders and advisors signing up personally here on the petition to help CDH families. This petition is sponsored by the following organizations who have chosen to take a stand for CDH families and babies around the world:

CHERUBS - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support - www.cdhsupport.org

CHERUBS Australia - www.cdh.org.au

CHERUBS UK - uk-cherubs.org.uk

Rainbow of Hope - www.arainbowofhope.com

Jack Ryan Gillham Foundation - www.jackryangillham.org

Olivia Raine Foundation - www.oliviaraine.org

2 additional CDH organizations and 3 CDH clinics who want to remain anonymous

Over 100 pediatric surgeons, nurses and other medical professionals

100's of CDH families around the world.




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This petition is for appealing a Trademark ownership only and is not used to appeal to laws or other legal advocacy as per the rules and laws of 501(c)III organizations

 

Thank You



We would like to say thank you to the 100's of CDH families who assisted in this petition - for all your hard work in recruiting people to sign, in spreading the word about the trademark and petition and raising TONS of awareness, in researching for the lawyer and for all your support to help stop this trademark.

Our Medical Advisory Committees and the over 100 pediatric surgeons, nurses and other medical professionals who are standing with us against this trademark. They have been raising Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness long before the first CDH organization existed and they are the ones who fight for these babies along side families every single day.

And to the Olivia Raine Foundation, the Jack Ryan Gillham Foundation, Rainbow of Hope, and especially our sister organizations CHERUBS UK and CHERUBS Australia - along with 2 other groups who didn't want to be listed publicly but all signed and recruited for more signatures! These groups all jumped in immediately, signed themselves, posted all over the internet for more signatures, and never blinked an eye or hesitated a second about standing up for CDH families and stopping this trademark! I am so proud of all of these groups and ALL of our members for putting CDH families first!!!

Thank you, all of you, for all your hard work and support!


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Organization Claiming Ownership of CDH Awareness - breathofhopeinc.com

Petition for Trademark Information - http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/...

All documentation on file with the USPTO for this trademark application - http://tmportal.uspto.gov/external/portal/...


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First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

 


From the Petition Sponsors; The views and comments expressed by signers of this petition do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the organizations who have sponsored this petition, their boards of directors or their members. Comments will not be edited or deleted. Duplicate signatures will be deleted.



From iPeitions; The views expressed in this petition are solely those of the petition's sponsor and do not in any way reflect the views of iPetitions. iPetitions is solely a provider of technical services to the petition sponsor and cannot be held liable for any damages or injury or other harm arising from this petition. In the event no adequate sponsor is named, iPetitions will consider the individual account holder with which the petition was created as the lawful sponsor.

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