Leonardo Art/Science Network under Legal Attack for Use of the Word "Leonardo"

 Roger Malina, Chairman of Leonardo/ISAST, San Francisco, announced Monday that the Association Leonardo in France was being sued for trademark infringement on use of the word "Leonardo."

Leonardo/ISAST and Association Leonardo are non-profit scholarly arts organizations working on behalf of a world-wide community of artists, scientists and scholars. Since 1968 this network has produced the scholarly journal Leonardo, now published by the MIT Press of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Leonardo/ISAST and Association Leonardo also award prizes and awards, co-organize conferences and events, and publish Leonardo Music Journal, numerous Leonardo web sites and the Leonardo Book Series through MIT Press.

The legal suit against Association Leonardo has been filed in Nanterre, France, by Transasia Corporation and co-complainants. Transasia claims to have recently trademarked in France the names Leonardo, Leonardo Finance, Leonardo Partners, Leonardo Invest and Leonardo Experts.

Transasia is claiming over a million dollars in damages based on their claim that a search engine request using the word "Leonardo" brings up not only their web sites but also those of the Leonardo arts organization.

The suit asks that the Association Leonardo be forbidden from using the word "Leonardo" in its web site projects or any other products or services.

Following issuance of the suit, Transasia asked that a search warrant be served on the legal address of the Association Leonardo, now the home of the widow of Frank Malina - the founder in the 1960s of the Leonardo Journal. The search warrant was served with no prior warning by a squad of eight policemen.

Leonardo/ISAST and the Association deplore this attempt to destroy the activities of a 30-year- old network of artists and scientists that has championed the work of artists using new media and the sciences.

A Leonardo Legal Defense Fund has been

Further information on the Leonardo network and its activities can be found on the Leonardo family of art web sites:

Leonardo On-Line:

Observatoire Leonardo:
http://www.olats.org

Leonardo Electronic Almanac:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/LEA