Parkour.net is closed. Jerome was contacted by Jean-François Belle today and asked to remove references to David, the Belles and the term Parkour. Translation of the message on the website can be found in the read more.
Parkour.NET is closed. I will explain the reasons without making comments.
Jean-François Belle called me today, Friday, June 13, 2008 at precisely 18h32. Here is to summarize what he said:
--
I (Jerome Lebret, the domain name holder and parkour.net responsible
for this one) must not associate David Belle and his family the
Yamakasi. With Yamakasi there are accidents.
-- I must remove the site anything that refers to David Belle or his family.
-- I will receive a formal notice. Caution complaint.
-- The word "parkour" is removed and protected, they (David Belle, Jean-François Belle etc.) Want it back.
-- David is in agreement with everything.
Shortly
afterwards, and before writing this message, I sent an SMS to
Jean-François Belle and David Belle saying, "If you have something to
say to the practitioners of parkour, does not hesitate, it's time !
Mail: (an e-mail) or SMS. J. "
I give them an opportunity to explain
here in a message "release". We'll see whether or not to use this
opportunity in the future.
Parkour.NET is therefore closed. I have nothing planned or decided for the time to read.
If you want to contact me, I propose solutions or alternatives or send me your comments about all this, do not hesitate:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
It is 19:30, I shut down the site.
Users' Comments
Display 17 of 17 comments
1.
06-13-2008 14:12
It will be very interesting to see if the Belles are successful at copyrighting the term "parkour". IMO, the term has become too widespread to be a brand name. Interesting, too, that the Belles called Jerome first, before acquiring a "Cease and Desist" official letter (this is what I interpret the "Caution complaint" to be akin to). I wonder why they are making this move so late in the game?
2.
06-13-2008 17:44
i agree with Phytolith, there is no possible way that they will be able to copyright it. but is they manage to, they can keep people from using the term, but they cant do anything to the people who already used it, i.e. the titles of youtube/googl video/meta cafe etc. etc.
3.
06-13-2008 17:55
I don't understand this move at all. If they Belles really wanted to spread parkour and what it offers to it's practitioners, copyrighting the name is not at all the right way to go about it. It just seems to be a completely backward move.
4.
06-13-2008 19:15
I agree with gustma02.Isn't this about the opposite of what parkour is?(philsophy wise)If they succeed in copyrighting it just have to give it a new name then I suppose.In the end they can take the name but they can't take the spirit.
5.
06-13-2008 19:35
amen to that!!!!! you can take the name but you will never take our spirit, we have learned to overcome obstacles efficentlt with grace and poise and we will overcome this obstacle as well ^_^
6.
06-13-2008 20:02
thats lame... hows his philosophy going to get spread around if he crys when people try to inform other people about it...i love parkour with a passion... not loving belle right now lol
7.
06-13-2008 20:57
Let's hope to god they don't follow suit with other sites.Like Urban Freeflow and our own APK. Even if so we will prosper,still vaulting and leaping.I dunno about everyone else but Parkour/Free-running brings me a sense of peace in a world filled with chaos.So let David take the name,but Im a tracuer and no one,not even god himself,is gonna take that away from me.
8.
06-13-2008 21:57
Part of me thinks David is not part of this. Stuff like this has happened before (PAWA) where they claimed to be representing him, but in fact they were not. I know David is the type who could care less what others are doing and is only concerned with his own training and the Jeff is teh one managing him and getting "him to "organize" things" It seems there is always someone trying to take advantage of him and his parkour.
9.
06-14-2008 04:10
Don't just to conclusions folks. I'm not saying it's not a possibility, but just take a look at what we know, and then what we don't know.
10.
06-14-2008 11:03
good point: after all, maybe the parkour.net guys did promote bad parkour, or spread rumors, or other things that would get anyone upset. We can't tell with only one side of the argument. And there seems to be some Belle/Yamakasi tension underneath this too.. anyway, I don't think any of this will affect much the american parkour community, which has become its own thing now
11.
06-14-2008 13:19
wow. dick move.
12.
06-14-2008 19:21
I don't think the .net guys (myself included) were doing anything against the wishes of the belles..nothing different from the other communities really. I'm interested to see what the reasons are though.
13.
06-16-2008 03:22
Where is the original french post? I'm interested in the "With Yamakasi there are accidents" statement.
Does anyone know David Belle personally? Is this out of character? Often people are swayed by other people's influences on them and destroy relationships as a result.
14.
06-16-2008 08:02
This doesn't sound like David Belle.... Why would he request any site to take down the name of "parkour"?
15.
06-16-2008 11:49
Interesting news to say the least. Without knowing the full story, this sounds really fishy and sounds like a private dispute. Will wait for more details as they arise. Please keep us updated!
16.
06-20-2008 14:55
Why the hell would they even what to copyright parkour. I thought they wanted to spread it.
17.
06-25-2008 11:39
Woa! That's the craziest thing I've heard since I first saw clips of B13 on YouTube. That doesn't sound like David AT ALL but I definitely look forward to hearing more details.
Display 17 of 17 comments
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Why the hell would they even what to copyright parkour. I thought they wanted to spread it. 