Not in Our Name: SECC Joins Campaign to Protect ‘Social Enterprise’

August 23, 2012

The Social Enterprise Council of Canada (SECC) has added their voice to the international efforts to stop Salesforce.com’s attempt to trademark the term “social enterprise” in the US, EU and Jamaica.
 
This move was sparked by Social Enterprise UK’s Not in Our Name campaign, which seeks to protect the social enterprise term on behalf of the global social enterprise sector.
 
The SECC’s press release states, “The idea of trademarking the term social enterprise is no different than trying to trademark other terms that are part of our every day language, such as non profit or economic development.”
 
Brendan Reimer, CCEDNet’s regional coordinator, adds that, “Social enterprises have existed as a community economic development tool for more than a century in Canada… Social enterprise is not a term that the private sector, or any company, can just claim the rights over.”