The Scent of Peace by Bond no. 9 was released in March of 2006
The internet is -- we perhaps tend to forget this in our daily practice of it -- a fascinating, revolutionary medium of communication. It is the most democratic source of unfiltered up-to-the-minute news -- the simple citizen can now access the type of information that was in the past only available to powerful professional or government agencies signed up for example with press wire services such as Reuters or AFP, and then some more -- and at the same time it is an infinitely more reactive one. News but also rumors and gossip can spread like wildfire and nowhere more efficiently than within a community of like-minded people who are passionate about the same thing, in this case perfume.
Online perfume communities were somewhat shaken last week by discussions over the trademark infringement upon a Bond No. 9 perfume called The Scent of Peace, a technical and legal debate a priori that hit on a nerve and was echoed from blogs to forums and back to commentary forms. The issue was, interestingly enough, quickly and mainly framed in terms of social justice as it was felt that a small artisan perfumer, Liz Zorn of Liz Zorn Perfumes based in Ohio, had been unjustly attacked by a bigger company, Bond No. 9 from New York city. The public outcry was also fueled by the symbolic significance accorded the word "peace", which many people felt, ought not be reserved for a private party given its universal connotation.
It might be useful to offer some context. Bond No. 9 had also been singled out last year by members of online perfume communities for having, supposedly, single-handedly deprived many perfume collectors of the possibility of purchasing cheaper perfume decants on eBay than what full bottles cost. We will not go into the questions generated by this type of issue. For some reason, people thought that the decanters' shutdown on eBay was principally due to Bond No. 9 and this probably added to some of the animosity felt towards a company that is perceived as being particularly aggressive and unsympathetic to the "little guy" although unofficially made decants are in fact very expensive. By contrast, Bond No. 9 offer, for themselves, a cheap sample program and even the possibility of purchasing their scents in less pricey bottles and decanted in smaller quantities. This antecedent nevertheless helps to explain why many people were quick to react negatively this time around based on popular perceptions, although Laurice Rahme of Bond No.9, when we asked her about the eBay issue pointed out that they were not the only company involved, which sounds like a reasonable statement.
We decided thus to ask questions directly to three persons who might help shed further light on the issue, namely, Laurice Rahme of Bond No. 9, Liz Zorn of Liz Zorn Perfumes, and Sarah Horowitz-Thran of Creative Scentualization. Additionally, we contacted Avon and might get a comment from them and if we do, will update this post. Their common point? They all have a perfume containing the word "peace" in it, at some point in time; Liz Zorn has now decided to give up her "Peace on Earth" title at Bond No. 9 legal team's behest and replace it with "Solstice" but some of her unofficial supporters publicized the event enough that it came to the wider public's attention.
It all started from our standpoint with a post by Liz Zorn who was describing her current predicament as a small artisan being attacked by the aggressive legal team of a bigger company, Bond No. 9, over her use of the word "peace" for one of her fragrances. Since then, she has decided to remove all of her posts, but we have kept one quote that you can read below. Liz Zorn released a holiday fragrance titled "Peace on Earth" at the end of 2007. Bond No. 9 had issued a well-publicized fragrance in 2006 called "The Scent of Peace" which, in an innovative take, was linked to UNICEF and a charity organization called Seeds of Peace. Liz Zorn expressed herself eloquently and concluded by announcing publicly that she had decided to change the name of her perfume in order not to fight over the very word that meant the opposite of that type of action.
She wrote on her blog,
"If it had been something else like the word yellow or flower. I might have considered taking them on. But to go to war over the word “Peace” is to me an abomination. To even think such a thing, is unthinkable. And the bad, karma, Ouch!......gives me the willies." .......
Peace by Pablo Picasso. The Picasso dove was an inspiration for the design of the bottle of The Scent of Peace by Bond No. 9
Continue reading "Trademark Questions Over The Use Of The Word "Peace" {Fragrance News} Q & A with Laurice Rahme of Bond No.9, Liz Zorn of Liz Zorn Perfumes, & Sarah Horowitz -Thran of Creative Scentualization {Perfume Q & A}" »
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