A friend of mine who is an AG asked me to pass this on.  I hope you are as
outraged by this as we are.

Vickie Elam White

****************************************************

16 April 2002

Dear Accredited Genealogist:

ICAPGen is alerting you to a legal matter that is important to the
protection of your AG credential. Until recently, we were unaware that the
Know Your Heritage Organization, with officers Paul N. Daniels and Jeanette
K. B. Daniels and faculty Roger Minert and James W. Petty, filed for the
rights to the AG service mark. They filed on 1 September 2000 with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office. On 12 March 2002, they were granted the
service
mark.

This action was highly unethical and illegal because the service mark has
belonged to the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints since 1964 when the Accreditation Program was implemented
and the first tests were given. When the LDS Church officially transferred
the Accreditation Program to the International Commission for the
Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) on 31 August 2000, all
rights to the term "accredited genealogist" were transferred to ICAPGen.
The
transmittal letter from the LDS Church clearly states that ICAPGen is
entitled to use the AG credential. However, on 1 September 2000, the day
following the transfer, KYHO filed for the service mark, a well-planned
attempt to pirate the credential without any knowledge of, or approval
from,
officials of the LDS Church or the newly-created ICAPGen.

From the moment of the announcement of the LDS Churchs plan to discontinue
the Accreditation Program until the time that it was transferred to
ICAPGen,
the lines of ownership were clearly established from the Church to ICAPGen.
The LDS Church has provided ICAPGen with all the necessary papers showing
its ownership rights from 1964 until 31 August 2000 when the transfer was
completed. We are taking the necessary legal action to have the ruling of
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office overturned.

National genealogical community leaders are being informed as to what has
happened. Those with whom I have spoken are allied behind us, and we think
that as more genealogists across the nation are informed, they too will
join
in supporting our efforts to correct this situation. The universal response
is shock to think that anyone could do something so obviously illegal as to
presume ownership of the AG credential after its public transfer from the
LDS Church, which created and used it for nearly forty years.

Please do whatever you possibly can to inform others of what has happened.
ICAPGen is asking for your support as we fight to protect our precious AG
credential. We will keep you informed. In the meantime, you remain
Accredited Genealogists registered with ICAPGen; therefore, please stand
firm.

Sincerely,

Carolyn J. Nell, AG, FUGA

Chair, International Commission for the 
Accreditation of Professional Genealogists

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