User Login
Poll
Who's online
Newsletter Sign-up
Acubalance is a great clinic name
You ever see a name of a business and think... "good name, I get it". I remember back in early 2000 sitting with my friend Spence discussing what name I should call my clinic I was incorporating in British Columbia, Canada. The only criteria I set was that it had to begin with the letter "A", because in 2000 being first in the yellow pages was important. Since the explosion of the web the yellow pages have become almost irrelevant, at least for what letter your name starts with. I remember feeling positive about Acubalance. It was a play on two words, balance and acupuncture. I incorporated and shortly after created our clinic website www.acubalance.ca
Over the years I have noticed about 5 other clinics start to call and use the name Acubalance for their practice. We are in British Columbia, Canada and they are mostly in the states. No harm right? Well actually it is starting to upset and irritate all of us at the original Acubalance. So there is harm. Yes mimicking is a form of flattery but I honestly would prefer you just drop me an email to say "great name, I wish I had thought of it" rather than taking our name without permission.
More than one Acubalance on face book and twitter and many versions of acubalance websites on the web is very confusing and misleading to the public and our colleagues. We at www.Acubalance.ca (British Columbia Canada) have put a lot of work to establish ourselves and having new practitioners take advantage of our web presence and ranking and to build their practice does not sit well with us. Would it be ethical to start a new herb line with the name Golden Flower or KPC? What about creating a new needle brand and call it carbo? Or even a new publishing company called Eastland Press. It would be confusing to know as to who is really who and the new company would definitely benefit from the good will that the original company has created over the years.
I even contacted the new practitioners in Chicago more than once about changing their name or at least give recognition to www.acubalance.ca by providing a link to us from their site. They actually have taken our full name Acubalance Wellness Centre (but with the American spelling of "center")
They may choose to deny this now but when I called and spoke with Julie in early Dec 2009 she admitted to having seen our web site. But since they have already put money into signage etc it would be too expensive too change now. (The cost to them is not really a good excuse to not changing their name since it is NOT their name). She thought no harm since they are in Chicago and we are in Canada. I explained with the web and them also having an acubalance face book group the boundaries are no longer so clear.
Anyway, I have emailed twice, one phone call and still no response or links. I thought I would ask my peers and colleagues what I should do. Harm has been done as I actually feel somewhat violated and that the efforts of my team over the last 10 years could be jeopardized by other clinics presenting themselves as Acubalance. It really comes down to business ethics. Any Advice?
Here the first email i sent Julie. I do not want to put her last name or web site because CMT is so well positioned with google I would not want to give their site any extra rankings. Yes, I am feeling a little bitter towards them. But I bet Bluepoppy would not be impressed if I started the same CM publishing company with the web address www.bluepoppy.ca
Hi Julie,
I am sorry we are having to meet this way. Although you are in Chicago, having a web page and now a facebook page is making it confusing for the public. It is no different than you starting a Bluepoppy book company in Chicago or a Living Churchill publishing company etc. The Chinese medicine world is small already and the web removed barriers even more.
I truly feel violated. It is a form of identity theft. And we notice not even a link back to our site where the name originated.
I appreciate your offer to acknowledge acubalance on your website
"Although Acubalance Chicago is not connected in any way to Acubalance Canada, we would like to acknowledge the unique contribution that Acubalance Canada www.acubalance.ca is making to both the profession and the public in the area of natural fertility care and women's reproductive health."
Lorne
Active forum topics
Recent comments
- The Mystery of Mu Xiang...
1 day 23 hours ago - love the ethics and yang sheng of the doc
2 days 5 hours ago - Another nice quote of SSM
2 days 16 hours ago - Dietetics: Sun Simiao on Healing with Food
2 days 16 hours ago - Supplementing and Boosting in the Bedroom
2 days 16 hours ago - Sun Simiao on nurturing life
2 days 17 hours ago - Short excerpt from chapter on Ethics
2 days 18 hours ago - The Great Physician's Professional Practice
2 days 18 hours ago - Medicine and the Macrocosm
2 days 18 hours ago - getting my book fast and cheap
2 days 21 hours ago
Conscience & Integrity
Wow Lorne,
That's just plain crummy. And worse - it shows a lack of integrity & conscience on the part of the Acu Chicago folks. Does nothing to elevate us as a profession (or as a human being) to steal from each other.
When I opened my practice, naming it was one of the more difficult decisions I had to make. I put my name in front of my 1st choice "Acupuncture Associates" because a practice located in my state had that name. They have since changed their name, but at the time I called & spoke with one of their practitioners about naming my practice. They felt certain that my name would be the focus & that their name would remain their focus. If they had balked in any way, I would have had to find another solution.
While I am not a fan of litigating much of anything, I don't think it would be a bad idea to find out what your legal rights are. For instance, could you trademark your clinic name in Canada & the US? That way, in the event you wanted to open clinics in the US, the name would be yours. Anyone trying to use it would be barred from using your name. I have no idea what trademarking costs, but seems it may be worth it to protect your good name, hard work & reputation.
The brand new clinic should change their name
The new chicago acubalance wellness center is approx only 6 months old,...and they admittedly knew about acubalance vancovuer (10 years+) when they named their clinic...Lorne, you and your team have worked way too hard to create this entity which is well known and respected in the small industry. I am sorry this has happened.
Kirsten Karchmer M.Ed.,
Kirsten Karchmer M.Ed., L.Ac. M.S. FABORM The Texas Center For Reproductive Acupuncture
I find it absolutely reprehensible that a clinic would knowingly choose the name of their clinic to profit from the success and profile of a colleague. As acupuncturists, we are faced with a dilemma of credibility. Our profession is so often viewed as a fringe therapy with mysterious benefits. That said, it is our obligation to endeavor to uplift the professionalism of Traditional Chinese Medicine. How can we do this when we are pillaging names of incredibly successfully clinics to benefit from the hard work and years of dedication that our colleagues have given to our profession? In my opinion, Lorne's hard work and commitment to advancing Traditional Chinese Medicine (and especially reproductive acupuncture) more than any other practioner in our field and this is how he is repaid…with thievery?
I hope that the folks at acubalance Chicago are aware that they are breaking the law and it is my greatest hope that they will chose the high road and do the right thing…not only for themselves but as our colleagues and as professionals.
I encourage everyone who shares in this outrage to contact the acubalance in Chicago and voice your opinions about stealing another clinics name.
Unprofessional to say the least
It is incredible to think that in our "friendly" community of energy based healing work that someone would so blatantly steal from another colleague? What kind of start is that to Julie's career in holistic medicine?
Julie what are you saying with this act of theft?
Don't you believe you can succeed on your own merits?
Speaking for myself you have certainly lost my respect and by not changing your business name as requested have just ensured that you have lost the respect of the whole TCM community in North America.
Do the right thing and change your name.
Kaleb
The lack of integrity being
The lack of integrity being shown by this Chicago clinic is appauling! Lorne and the original Acubalance Centre in Vancouver have done so much for our profession (info sharing, education, uniting the TCM community)....I am shocked at the back handedness of knowingly adopting their name. Since a polite request hasn't been enough for them to take responsible and appropriate action, hopefully this public shaming to all colleagues across north America (and internationally too) will be motivatiing.
Do the right thing. We practice energy medicine.....and your business is currently aligned with intensely negative energy.
Stop using someone elses clinic name as yours!
I am sorry that you have had to deal with this. I know this is no walk in the park. I will say that I have felt the same at times. Before we used Reproductive Wellness you couldn't find it anywhere on the net…Now everyone has attached it to their name. I saw someone else in Utah using Reproductive Wellness with their clinic name. Regardless, I feel that our situation is a bit different than yours, and there is no need to go into detail about our situation when this is about you.
Acubalance Wellness Centre was Stolen from Vancouver
If the Acubalance in Chicago admittedly new of the Acubalance clinic in Vancouver then they definitely should change their name. Even if it was an honest mistake, once you talked with them they should have tried to at least change their name to differentiate themselves.
They seem to have stolen the name in it's entirety " Acubalance Wellness Centre " and the websites even seem to have a similarity to them. (maybe it's just me).
I do hope that this new clinic does the right thing and changes their name, not because they have to, but because it's the right thing to
do !
Ryan
Are you over reacting a little bit?
As a fairly recent grad, I know that choosing a clinic name is overwhelming. Any name seems to have been chosen. Many are used over and over in various states. An example of this is Acupuncture Works. This name is brilliant and used all over the place. There is nothing illegal about this unless people take the time and effort to completely own their name by whatever legal methods are necessary. I'm sure Blue Poppy acquired trademarks or copyrights or did what they had to do to own that name as their brand. Honestly, acubalance is a wonderful name, so wonderful that they probably thought it was used all over the place. There are so many acupuncturists out there, and only so many clever ways play with acu-.... I SERIOUSLY doubt that they were trying to capitalize on the prestige you have earned. That sounds really paranoid actually. Bottom line-do the legal work to own your name, and then you have the power to keep it from others. Otherwise, you are in another country, and I think the name is fair game. (I really like this website, I will probably be banned now-Sorry!)
Acubalance
I was searching for your website the other day Lorne when i came across the other Acubalance websites in the states. I was completely confused. To be honest i thought you branded your clinic into the United States. There has to be some laws that protect you and your brand. You have been established for many years and even as a student i knew who you were and are. I can't believe that someone else has stolen your name. I remember there was a case in Australia where a company had used the same name as company in the States, and the company is Australia were prosecuted. You have worked hard to establish your brand and are in the forefront for taking Chinese Medicine into the future with Chinese Medicine tools, Pro D seminars etc. Clearly, this woman is well aware of what she is doing and committing. (Chinese Medicine Practitioners are consciously aware are they not??? ) Wouldn't you want to establish your own business and name.
Acubalance
I have worked out of the Acubalance clinic in Vancouver for the past three years. We have built up a reputable practice that is well respected in the community. We have extensive referrals coming in from both the general public and from many medical professionals. This was built mostly by Lorne, but certainly all of us have contributed to this via conversations, public talks, and community outreach. We are known for being a competent and caring team of health care providers.
To me it is very un-ethical for some other group to come and piggy back on our hard work. When googling Acubalance, our clients now have to weed out who is the actual Acubalance that deserves its name. Who is the true Acubalance that has put in its hours to achieve public trust and recognition. If this piggy-back clinic falters in the public eye, we will most certainly be affected as well. There is no reason for this. Clearly there are millions of ideas for names from which this other clinic can figure out. They can then do their own hard work to develop their own reputation.
Perhaps I should change my personal name to Giovanni Maciocia, residing in Vancouver. I am sure that this would help me gain fame real fast! Absolute bullocks! Life is not so easy. We all need to put in our time and do our own hard work!
Change your name. Be creative. Do your own hard work.
Dr Trevor Erikson, Dr TCM, FABORM, Diploma of Chinese Dermatology
www.acubalance.ca
www.skin.health-info.org
Acubalance
Hi Lorne,
Acubalance is indeed a great name! And your website is beautiful!
I think we are in a time of transition due to the internet and facebook and the like. With all due respect, to me, the tone of these comments sound a bit like a lynching. And perhaps a bit dramatic. Can you yourself be sure that you were the first in the world to use that name? I understand that this posting is meant to put peer pressure on those people to change their name, but until there are laws that you can call upon, you could be putting out fires for years. Are you insisting that all the other clinics with the same name drop it as well? Because there seem to be more than the one in Chicago. And unless you are selling products nationally or internationally I don't think that the bluepoppy, KPC, Goldenflower references are necessarily fair ones.
Here in the U.S. all one has to do is go to the courthouse and get a DBA in their local county. This is what we were taught in school. They don't tell us "Come up with a name, Google it, and if someone in another country has it - don't use it"!
Some people do lack imagination. And some do make poor choices. But I don't think that those people did anything legally incorrect. And if this were any other time in history it wouldn't be a big deal at all.
Hopefully this topic will make it's way into the Ethics classes and the business classes at Acupuncture schools everywhere and encourage people to be original and call attention to the conflict that can arise within our community when not doing so.
Warmly,
~Shelly
agree with balancedlife
I agree with balancedlife. There are hundreds of clinics with the same or similar names. If you are worried about someone using your clinic name the remedy is to trademark that name. Then you have legal ground to ask them to cease and desist using your name.
Clinic Name - Ethical or Legal ?
I believe that legally one can take the name of another clinic easily. I believe this post is more of an ethical nature than a legal nature.
Knowingly using another successful clinics name to help build your new clinic is to me, unethical. The above mentioned clinic was notified and knowingly copied the clinics name in it's entirety. Not a great way to begin your business.
Check your facts before you name your practice!!!
To those who see nothing wrong with this, I'm not sure why your business class neglected to instruct you to do a proper search before naming your practice but, I had business classes with Marilyn Allen and I remember quite clearly her telling us to do a search before using a name especially given the age of the internet. **"In Points for Profit" by Hanora Lee Wolf, Marilyn Allen and Eric Strand, a standard text for acupuncture business tells you in two separate sections to "search for name availability, you need to choose a business name that on one else already has." Obviously she did a search because she said she had seen the Acubalance website and decided to use the name.
Just because Acubalance is in Canada, doesn't mean it should be open territory to take the name in it's entirety!! Honestly, I can see why they would want the name on one hand but please..... that is a huge moral issue knowingly using an internationally known and reputable name in our business. Ignorance isn't an excuse for infringing on someone else's property.
That being said, Acubalance is a great name with a great reputation. To use the name shows not only a lack of origination but a total lack of regard for the hard work Lorne, Spence, Trevor, Ryan, Erin, Raeghan and Alda have put into it. Not to mention it is capitalizing on their popularity, internet exposure and stellar reputation in the community.
The fact that they used "Acubalance Wellness Centre" spelled the american way shows even less depth of originality and character. Once called on this they should have responded by changing their name to something that sets them apart as a totally different and new practice. It does give the impression that the original acubalance has opened a clinic in the states.
Ultimately this will be resolved, I'm certain of that. ;-) A new sign and business cards are very cheap in the long run.
Acubalance
Lorne,
in your first post you asked for advice and I can see that none of us have really come forth with any. The advice posted here seems to be addressed primarily to the Chicago people. So for what it's worth, here's my advice:
Consult with Lao Tzu before consulting with lawyers (and I'm not being flippant here.... I am truly sincere.) And/or consult the I Ching for the proper course of action.
Then take it from there...
There is the perfect solution out there for you, I am sure of it...
All the best,
~Shelly