29. Trademark – In General and What If

…people who are angry with me about Trademark had no idea what was happening.

Trademarking involves control. Joop (Hilger) puts himself in this position and the German community asks Phyllis Furumoto to intervene. She does at substantial cost and feels let down by those who had called her. What would have happened if she had not responded?

(Hilger) might have taken somebody to court … but he had no authority in the community at that point. And I was still recognised by most as Grand Master. So it was a very interesting juxtaposition in the mid 1990s. Now that is not so true because of the proliferation of different kinds of Reiki and the many students all over the world.

There is a possibility to protect Reiki with an “industry trademark” like, for example, pure wool. Simple criteria can be set and those using Reiki commercially could have shared the cost.

That could have cleaned up the “fringe” element of Reiki... They would have had to use another word, which would have been fine.

The Reiki Alliance could have become the organisation of licensed Masters of Usui Shiki Ryoho, leaving other practices to apply for their own trademark. This would have created clarity and would not have been expensive. It was not to be so.  

…to just assume that if you have a trademark you’re gonna earn money, is crazy.