Physical TOTJO Temple in Texas Project

well...
when I start working on cafepress and zazzle i found that "LucasFilm" or whatever is called, own the copyright of crazy things as the word "Jedi" and many others .

Maybe if someone really build a temple there is NO WAY to call it Temple of the Jedi Order
because copyright infringement, so ...

What is the point to have a temple, that can not carry our name?

in my opinion right now, we need to find first what are the LEGAL options to use our name.
or more crazy, try to find why " Jedi" is copyrighted, or worst, try to make "lucasFilm" release the rights of it.
Or even more crazy, go straight to George Lucas. ( maybe doesn't work, because now Disney own some of the rights)
Maybe we need to deal with Disney?

I know, there's money involved in this process too, but the only way to make something Legit/Legal, is to do it right.
and right now, looks impossible to use our name...
Maybe they allow this website just because we aren't big, and because we are just a few guys, and we don't make any money, and there is no presence in the real world.

Looks crazy, but ... it looks that we don't have the right to use even our temple name, outside here.
Maybe that is more important?
Maybe is more important to make this a recognized religion? ( some places/countries don't have a way to legalize a religion) and make release the "Jedi" word to be used freely.

What is the point to have a temple without our name?

Connor Lidell wrote: Now, you've brought up the point I hoped you would. What if we did try and work for a donation-supported site? Why are you afraid to ask for money?

Connor Lidell wrote: I don't mean to assume you feel anything. Don't assume the accusation was pointed at you, because it wasn't.

"As you brought up a point"

"What are you afriad of?"

Lol, don't see anyone else pointing out what I did, lol...

Connor wrote: But, this website is THE most successful Jedi website, ever. It's why I originally left my little sphere of the net to join here. Because, I believe that this place has the most chance of reaching the most people.

Think about it. We do need to start small. But, we have the ability to do it. You have people who want to support you, but maybe don't know how. I know I've never donated because I just don't know what it would do. There's no community-wide effort. But, if the council made it known their goals, I would understand what the donations would be doing and the purposes behind them. If you put up how much money was gathered every month, people would see the growth. People might get excited and understand why we might donate. People might even start giving to the temple regularly.

So our repeated acknowledgements that we need funds to help the internet operating costs have been missed?

Ah, so you want to see our financials each month...

Well, if we had a money person (financial officer?) that we could assign that task to every month, that might happen...

Or, if we didn't (as council) have to give permission or answer these types of threads, lol, maybe we could squeeze a few more minutes out of our day... But, I'm stretched pretty thin...

To my core, I believe in it. But I don't run this site. I help run IJRS. And, our temple project is in progress. Has been for years. We are at least moving in a direction.

Here's the problem: I will donate when there's a purpose to doing so.

It goes toward operating costs of the site...

Our biggest expense is site cost, every dime goes there, and its still short of making it...

Until site costs have a surplus, that is where all the money goes...

And WHEN there is a surplus, we can discuss even more...

I'm asking the council to find a purpose. Like I said, website funding, building, whatever. It can't just be "implied" either. It's gotta be a corporate campaign, with money becoming a tool we use.

Money is extremely powerful. That's why I don't use it lightly.

This nonchalant attitude about donating is the reason I don't donate. I don't even know what it would do.

I feel as though I've become an antagonist, here... I don't understand how that happened. But it doesn't make me feel good. So sorry if I'm spouting nonsense. I said earlier I may be wrong. But, I believe in this so much with my soul. There is power in it.

You have not been labeled that....

But, as everyone else bowed out, and you want to talk, I'm talking...

I'll admit, I'm talking strong, but, I know you can handle it....

There are four trademarks / service marks registered in the US for the word Jedi. They're all owned by Lucas companies. The one that's probably preventing us from selling t-shirts, caps etc is this one. Look at the last paragraph.

Word Mark JEDI

Goods and Services IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: Children's activity books; novels for adults; book covers; book marks; books containing puzzles and games; books featuring photographs; books for role-playing; children's books; children's books combined with toys and sold as a unit; children's story books; coffee table books; comic books; comic magazines; printed instructional manuals and strategy guides in the field of computer games and science fiction; juvenile books featuring science fiction; magazines in the field of science fiction entertainment; novels for juveniles; posters; puzzle books; read-along children's books; series of fiction books; sticker albums; sticker books; stickers; story books; temporary tattoos; trading cards; art prints; animation cels; collectible trading cards; lithographic prints. original works of art created from paper, photographic prints; printed art reproductions; posters featuring printed replicas of characters from movies. FIRST USE: 19931000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19931000

IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: Clothing, namely, caps; children's footwear; coats; costume accessories, namely, headwear and belts; crop tops; dresses; fitness tops; footwear; gloves; hats; head wear; jackets; knit caps; masquerade costumes and masks sold in connection therewith; pajamas; shirts; sleepwear; slippers; sweatshirts; T-shirts; underwear; visors. FIRST USE: 20050500. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050500

Connor Lidell wrote: This nonchalant attitude about donating is the reason I don't donate. I don't even know what it would do.

Congratulations! You're now officially part of the problem.

The donations keep this site afloat, something that doesn't just magically happen because we're a religious organization. This is why other religious organizations solicit donations--because it's their only source of income, and all of them have some kind of expense. Nothing is truly free unless it's given with no strings, including hosting. Websites aren't free (at least not pretty, functional ones), and even if they were, that would mean that someone, somewhere is making a general donation of something that costs someone money somewhere, OR that they've found a way to monetize it.

The fact that you demand a "purpose" for donations before you'll consider donating is disheartening in a thread about a physical meeting place, when our world-wide accessible digital one doesn't make enough money to keep it up and running without becoming someone's out-of-pocket. It's doubly sad when you consider that hosting this website is considerably cheaper than the upkeep on any physical land/building combination, most likely anywhere on the planet.

That is one of the reasons TOTJO will "never" be able to afford a physical temple: because until something really, really ******* drastic changes in TOTJO's bank account and member participation in general, we'll never be able to do anything more than we are currently doing. Hell, we're doing good to tread water financially, and we hemorrhage new members for some reason.

But yeah. No. Physical temple before we get the cheaper, more-accessible version stable. Totally great idea.

*sigh* Fine, I'm sorry. I'll let it go.

I feel as though it's a matter of making it a sitewide focus. But, I'm probably just wrong.

Whyte Horse wrote: 4. Vote

Council's agreement:
Br. John: Said he wants a temple
Jestor: said he wants a temple
Akkarin: said he wants a temple
Brenna: said she wants a pony

Oh wait, maybe I got one of those wrong

Looks correct to me. But im not on council, or you can be damn sure there would be ponies by now!

[Enter Wes on his dark Unicorn Pegasus Pony... Wes, have you named it yet? :lol:]

Jestor wrote: [Enter Wes on his dark Unicorn Pegasus Pony... Wes, have you named it yet? :lol:]

Twinkie.

Brenna wrote:

Jestor wrote: [Enter Wes on his dark Unicorn Pegasus Pony... Wes, have you named it yet? :lol:]

Twinkie.

HAHAHAHAHA.....

So, i was just faffing around on facebook and saw this.






Sure, we arent in the business of feeding the poor (officially anyway) but bottom line... there are more important things to spend our money on than building things.

Like ensuring that the Temple we do have stays up.

Buildings are just shells.



(though if we are ever in a position to have 1.1mil for a building, im petitioning for ponies. Just so you know.

And a hot tub.