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This
Page: Background Helen Belot’s
resignation from the Sekhem Association
The
Attacks on Helen Belot’s Sekhem Lineage
Trademark position Copyright
Position Implications for people in my teaching line Implications for people not in my teaching line
The Sekhem Association The Future
________________________________________________________________________________
Sekhem - Withdrawal of Trademark and Copyright
Permissions, and the Future of the Sekhem Association
Date of posting: 30th
November 2007.
This page has been posted to
provide information about the withdrawal of trademark and copyright permissions
for the energy taught by Helen Belot and known as Sekhem and about the
implications for the Sekhem Association based in
For visitors who have landed
on this page from internet search and who are not familiar with the history of Helen
Belot’s Sekhem, it might be helpful to read other
postings about Sekhem in the Information Centre on this website before reading
this page. Please click on the header at
the top of the page to go to the Information Centre.
There is a lot of narrative
on this page. The headers in blue at the top of the page give the main subject
categories on this page. Please click on the headers to go direct to them if
you want to avoid scrolling down this page.
The main categories are:
- Background - a very brief introduction
to some of the history behind the development of Sekhem.
- Resignation from the
Sekhem Association - Helen Belot’s
resignation from the Sekhem Association and the two statements about this
that she has released.
- The attacks on Helen Belot’s Sekhem lineage - some of the problems
experienced by the lineage from people who do not wish to recognise it.
- Trademark position - some
of the issues relating to trademark rights that Helen Belot has title to
and copies of some of my correspondence to the
- Copyright position - commentary relating to
copyright issues.
- Implications for people
in my teaching line - some guidance on where I
believe that we stand.
- Implications for people
not in my teaching line - some points which it might
be helpful to consider.
- The Sekhem Association - its current position.
- The Future - some thoughts about the
future.
Purpose
of this page
The primary purpose of this
page is to have standing information on this website for people who are downline in the Seichim and Sekhem teaching lines from
myself. It is also helpful to have information available online for the wider
Sekhem community as well.
There will be Sekhem Masters
around the world working by themselves and not in contact with other Sekhem
Masters. They are not likely to be in receipt of ongoing information about
developments in the Sekhem community. They could be affected by legal issues
arising from current developments.
By posting this statement on
the internet where it is open for anybody to read, there is the risk that I am
adding to a difficult situation. I apologise to anybody in the Sekhem community
who would prefer that the matters referred to in this page are best kept
private. I do need to be able to communicate with people in my teaching lines
and with the people who helped me with information to oppose the trademark
application in the European Union and who are awaiting clarity from the EU
about what was trademarked.
Background
The Australian Energy Master
Helen Belot gave the name Sekhem to an energy that started to be re-channelled
in
I learned Sekhem direct from
Helen but have had no direct contact with Helen or the Sekhem Association since
Autumn 1999. I opposed Helen’s application to
trademark the word Sekhem within the European Union.
Helen
Belot’s resignation from the Sekhem Association
At the Annual General
Meeting of the Sekhem Association in September 2007, Helen resigned from the
Association and advised that she was withdrawing permissions to use trademarks
in the territories where she is the trademark owner. She also advised that
copyright permissions to reproduce her training material were being withdrawn.
She has given notice of potential legal action against people who continue to
use trademarks and copyrighted training material without prior permission.
I have received from various people
copies of the two official statements released by Helen. Apart from correcting
a few spelling mistakes, the statements as received are reproduced below in
blue.
STATEMENT ONE
BY HELEN BELOT
Most of you
will already know that I have resigned from the Sekhem Association and did so
at the Annual General Meeting on September 16th 2007. The following is the
statement I read out at the meeting stating why I had taken such a step.
To All Sekhem People.
To write the
Annual Report last Sunday 9.9.2007 it was necessary to review the year and this
brought greater knowledge and understanding of just how extensively negative
changes had again infiltrated into the Sekhem membership.
To me Sekhem was a stepping stone to what I came to do and not the be all and
end of my life despite the more than 20 years I have focused and worked with
this energy. These last many months of attacks and difficulties have been a distraction
and a diversion from my work I really need to be doing. This
plus recent events, particular in
Sekhem is the word I chose to represent this energy that has been released in a
very pure form into this world. It is however just a name and the energy is still
there as pure as ever. The restrictions on using the name and the logo will
exist for the next 10 15 years for the trademarks are still in place and are
personal to me. This does not in any way limit the energy. Those who channel
this energy should search in their heart and with honesty ask themselves 'Have
I contaminated, restricted or altered it in any way?' We will all have done so
at some time, mostly by wanting a specific outcome for our clients, ourselves
or even for the glory of Sekhem but it is still not being a pure and clear
channel for the Will of the Higher Power. Only you, and possibly some of your
clients, know where you stand in that regard so be
honest in your self assessment.
There are
people in this world to whom purity is seemingly an
offence and so must be destroyed or smirched. Perhaps at some deep level they
understand they will not or cannot archive or sustain a level even close to
purity and so must smash or destroy always putting the blame on someone else.
Jealousy also plays a role in such behaviour. Destroying the reputation of the
person at the top is a classic way to increase these people's own self esteem
and in belittling what they could not achieve convince themselves
and others it was worthless anyway.
There have
been many such challenges during my life and they always follow a similar
pattern. It is to protect such destruction both personally and to Sekhem that I
have chosen to withdraw the name from public use so reducing the target for
those who do not want individuals or this world to become a better place. I
would suggest that you find a different name for what you channel and continue
to work with this energy to the very best of your ability and without ego. When working in that way the results will astound you as I have
frequently said. Many of you have already called what you do by
different names so find what reflects honestly what you do and is not just a
marketing list of superlatives that mean nothing and can cause harm or at the
least wrong expectations.
For those of you who have held to the high ideals, integrity and purity of this
energy I thank you and honour you for how you have worked always for the
highest good of your clients and the world. It is through people like you that
in time this energy will re-surface under a different name and with a higher
vibration.
Sekhem
worldwide was moving towards a position of great strength and importance that
focused negative attention from both on and off this planet. On the earth plane
detractors and those who were jealousy of what Sekhem can achieve responded and
intensified the attacks on all fronts. In the last month I had a lot of
communication from supporters, detractors and those who are neutral and
objective observers, and all had the same message that both Sekhem and myself
were under severe attack from those I call the opposition. Meditating and
seeking advise from many sources both within the Sekhem family and outside it
the advice was always to protect myself and the perceptions of the general
public about this energy. My decision may seem radical but I am assured as
other measures had failed.
A quick after
hours call to an Australian lawyer pointed out that with no exceptions to the
trade marks it will be easy to police offenders. Those who continue to use the
name or logo will leave themselves open to fines. The more frequent or repeated
use would bring larger fines so it is in everyone's interest to change their
cards, literature and websites as fast as possible but even more importantly so
that they do not become the target for those who wish to destroy them and the
reputation of this energy. It is unfortunate that the innocent always suffer
the most in these circumstances but that is the way of the world at this
moment.
My apologies
to all for any inconvenience my withdrawal from the Association has caused but
such drastic action was necessary to protect both the name of Sekhem and myself
from denigration and future legal action.
The stock of
Sekhem essences, elixirs, coloured bottles, creams and lotions I am selling off
at half price for anyone who wants them. First come
first serve for I will not be making more once these are gone. The Sekhem Story
will also be half price. This offer ends on 15th November as on that date the
credit machine will no longer be available.
Now I will
move forward whole heartedly to complete the very important work I came to this
incarnation to do. May you also move forward to your purpose with joy and fulfilment.
I thank you
for all the good times shared and let us put the rest behind us.
Love and
Blessings to you all
Helen
STATEMENT
TWO BY HELEN BELOT
To Dispel Confusion
Trade marking is different in every country which is very confusing so to
assist let me set out the do’s and don'ts as clearly as
possible.
The Sekhem Logo
No one any where in the world can use this logo except myself.
If you have a silver of gold medallion then certainly wear it with pride for
they are made under license and hold pure energy of Sekhem. These will continue
to be available.
The Word Sekhem
No one in the EU countries (which of course includes the UK), Hong Kong or
China can use this word on matter how it is written, upper case, lower case or
in any combination.
That of course means you have to find a new name for what you teach.
Teachers need to alter the manuals to reflect that what they are teaching had
its origins in Sekhem but is now.....( Your name for
it)
In
Those who teach in other countries not covered by the trade marks have a choice
but must inform their students of the restrictions in other parts of the world
to protect them.
Groups
If people are still wanting to form groups or some
type of Association then certainly go ahead but there must be no mention of the
word Sekhem or my name included in the title or description of the type of
energy it represents or uses. The exception to that is
The Start Up Procedure
This is entirely up to the individual but my advise would be to continue to ask
for the purest Sekhem energy as to do anything else will bring a difference in
the energy.
As not everyone who learns Sekhem belongs to the Association or is a current
member would each of you please pass on the knowledge of these restrictions to
your friends or others you know who have done Sekhem.
Masters it is your responsibility to notify your students so that all may know
and adhere to these restrictions
I actually see these changes as being very liberating. The energy is still in
existence and in its pure form.. Ultimately those who
use this energy with purity of intent and integrity will bring it back at a
higher vibration and under a different name or names. Where ever I am I will
support these people.
Best wishes to you all
Helen
Helen’s statements have
clearly not been drafted by legal professionals because they lack the
preciseness needed in reference back to law and to legal title. However, the spirit
of what Helen is trying to say is all permissions to use name and / or logo as
appropriate in those territories where she holds trademark rights are
withdrawn.
When Helen refers to the
risk of legal action, I do not know if she means that she would initiate legal
action against other people or whether she thought that she would be a
defendant in legal action taken against her.
The
Attacks on Helen Belot’s Sekhem Lineage
As I have not been a member
of the Sekhem Association and have not been in contact with Sekhem Association
Members, I do not know what internal difficulties have been experienced within
the Sekhem Association.
Regarding Sekhem related
matters external to the Sekhem Association, it has been clear to me that there
has been an ongoing and sustained attack against Helen Belot’s
Sekhem lineage for some time from those who wish claim that her Sekhem is just
a slight variation on the Seichim that she learned earlier and who wish to
claim that she has just repackaged Seichim with a different wrapper in a
marketing ploy to give her some competitive advantage in the market place. Every time that I have posted up something
relating to Seichim or Sekhem on my website, I have received communications
trying to restrict the meaning of what I have said and to control what I say. That
has included telling me that Seichim and Sekhem are the same energy. Well, I
was there at my initiations and know that they are not the same energy.
Some of the internet forum
sites give a clear idea of what has been going on in public. Less publicly,
numerous e-mails have flying around the world regarding the reintroduction of
Helen’s Sekhem energy with copies of correspondence and extracts from Helen’s
original training manuals referred to out of context. Also, there has been an
ongoing flow of leaks from some members of the Sekhem Association to those who
have been undermining the lineage.
So that a more balanced view
of the reintroduction of Helen’s Sekhem can be made available to the healing
community, I acquired the web domain www.sekhem.com
in July 2007 and in the early part of 2008 will post up as much factual
information as I can including some of the material submitted in opposition to
Trademarking Applications in the USA and the European Union. This website will
always appear at the top of the internet search engine results when it has been
relaunched and will be safe for as long as I am still alive from the people who
have been trying to spin and to manipulate the truth about the reintroduction
of Helen’s Sekhem energy and to airbrush it from history.
Trademark position
Other pages on this website
give the position regarding trademark rights over the Sekhem logo and name in
In the case of the European
Union, it is clear that Helen and I have a different interpretation of what the
EU has granted trademark approval for. As I have no wish to break the law, I
have now written three times to the
Letter to
I am
responding to your letter dated 29th July 2004 which was posted out
from your offices on 3rd August.
I had made
application for prior right to use the word Sekhem on the basis that I had been
using it before the date of Helen Belot’s application
to trademark it. If the European Union will not accept that I had a right prior
to the date of application to trademark, I will not appeal against this.
However, I
would like to make a number of observations.
In my initial
opposition papers, I advised that other people had been using the word Sekhem
within the teaching line of which Helen Belot is part prior to her being able
to teach Sekhem. I shall send a Statutory Declaration to that effect from one
of Helen Belot’s teachers in
I would ask
the European Union to reject the application to trademark on absolute grounds.
There is lack of distinctiveness for what Helen Belot is trying to trademark.
The word Sekhem is well established in the public domain within the European
Union, and writing it in capital (upper case) letters does not give enough
distinctiveness to support it being trademarked. In my initial opposition
papers, I gave many examples of the use of the word Sekhem within the European
Union. Today, I send some more. As far as possible, I have tried not to repeat
the examples which I submitted previously. Please note that I am providing over
100 examples of the use of the word Sekhem within the healthcare sector in the
I would also
make comment that Helen Belot was aware that other people were using the word
Sekhem in contexts similar to that which she uses it when she made application
to trademark in the European Union. Those people include Diane Shewmaker who opposed the application to trademark within
the
**********************
Not Trained in this System
Also to assist in your choice of Teacher the following are
not recognised by Helen Belot or the Sekhem
Association as Masters of the original Sekhem system
► Vicki Fein
►
Margo (Deepa) Slater
►
Patrick Ziegler
► Diane Schumaker
►
Simon Treselyan
►
Chris Heath
► Amon-Ra Antares
*********************
I would also like to suggest
to the European Union that Helen Belot’s forward work
programme linked to Sekhem within the European Union is disclosed. I have given
numerous examples of the use of the word Sekhem. If Helen Belot does not intend
to visit the European Union regularly from Australia to teach and to practice,
the granting of the trademark to one single non-European Union person who uses
it in a limited capacity will impact upon the many people who I have showed do
use the word Sekhem regularly in their work within the European Union.
I would be pleased if you
could advise me in due course about the outcome of the application to
trademark.
Letter to
I am writing
in connection with the trademarking of SEKHEM.
There is some
confusion in
My
understanding is that
- The word SEKHEM written in upper case
(capital) letters has been given trademark status for product classes 03,
33 and 42.
- The word SEKHEM written in upper case
(capital) letters has not been given trademark status for any product
classes outside of classes 03, 33 and 42.
- The word SEKHEM does not have
trademark status if not written with every letter in upper case (capital)
letters. For example, the presentation of the word as Sekhem or SeKhem is not covered by the trademark in any product
class including product classes 03, 33 and 42.
- The logo shown below has not been
given trademark status.
It would be
helpful if you could confirm that my understanding is correct or if you could
correct me if I have not understood correctly.
Letter to
I am writing
in connection with my letter to you dated 2nd May 2006.
I have not
received a reply and the situation regarding exactly what has been trademarked
is of concern.
The following
is a selection of current websites where people are saying either that the
Sekhem logo or the word Sekhem not written in uppercase letters are
trademarked.
http://www.psychicsahar.com/artman/publish/article_264.shtml
http://www.hypno-sekhem.com/leaflet1.htm
http://www.sheilacaldwell.co.uk/sekhem.html
http://www.complementary-therapy.com/
http://xandran.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sekhem.html
http://krysalistraining.com/index.html
People associated
with the trademark owner are telling people that ‘Sekhem’ has been trademarked
and are asking them not to use this word.
I would
appreciate it therefore if you could be kind enough to advise
in accordance with my letter of May last year.
Letter to
I am writing
in connection with my letters to you dated 2nd May 2006 and 7th
April 2007.
I have not
received a reply to either letter and the situation regarding exactly what has
been trademarked is of concern.
I am writing
today on three accounts.
Trademarking
of the Sekhem logo
In response to
my comments about wishing to oppose any application to trademark the Sekhem
logo when I first filed papers opposing the application to trademark the word
Sekhem, your offices advised that there was no application to trademark the
logo. I have discovered subsequently that an application to trademark the logo
was made separately and that the EU has granted trademark rights to the logo.
The logo trademark registration number is 002006773. Whilst the EU Court would
most likely have made the same judgement about my opposition to trademark the
logo as for my opposition to trademark the word Sekhem, I would like to make
the point that it is reasonable for me to expect that if I ask the Court for
information during legal proceedings that the Court will give me the correct
information.
As trademark
rights have been given to the logo, comments made in my two previous letters
regarding the logo are no longer relevant and can be ignored.
Trademarking
of the word Sekhem
It is
important to know whether my interpretation that trademark rights have been
given for the word Sekhem when written in capital (upper case) letters only is
correct or whether the intention of the Court was that trademark rights were to
be given to the word in any combination of upper and lower case letters. Could
you please advise on this.
Absolute
Grounds
The European
Union trademark legislation gives your office the responsibility to research
the use of any word or logo which is the subject of an application to trademark
with the intention that words or logos that you find are already used widely in
the public domain cannot be trademarked. I gave your office many examples of
the way in which the word Sekhem was being used around the various countries
within the European Union in contexts that were directly relevant to Product
Category Class 42. Could you please advise why the European Union did not find
that these submissions were sufficient to refuse application to trademark the
word Sekhem in Class 42 on absolute grounds.
It does not
reflect well upon the Court when correspondence is not replied to and I would
appreciate it if you could be kind enough to ensure that this third time I do
receive a reply to my enquiries.
Copyright Position
The law regarding copyright
of material such as written works is different to that concerned with granting
trademark approvals and the remedies for dealing with breaches of trademark
law.
As
a very broad generalization, most countries in the world do not have any formal
authorization or registration system for copyright. As a generalization, it is
usually sufficient for the owner of written work to indicate that he or she
wishes to exercise copyright ownership for copyright ownership then to exist in
law. There can be exceptions to this in different parts of the world where for
example it can be acceptable to reproduce copyrighted work for educational
purposes and in which no commercial transaction takes place.
An international treaty known as the Berne Convention seeks to establish
a uniform approach to copyright law across those countries which have signed up
to the Convention. The
Unless there are any
contractual arrangements to the contrary, copyright owners can restrict the use
of copyright material.
Implications
for people in my teaching line
There are two sets of issues
that relate to people in my teaching line in connection with using the word
Sekhem, the Sekhem logo and Helen’s teaching material.
The first is that I usually
write the word as Sekhem and not SEKHEM. If my interpretation of what the EU
gave trademark rights to is correct,
then there should be no problem writing the word as Sekhem subject to
the rules on ‘passing of’.
There is a
legal concept in trademarking law called ‘passing
off’. This means using very similar names or logos for products and services
for which there is already a registed trademark. For
example, we are all familiar with the trademarked Coca-Cola logo. If another
cola manufacturer chose to bottle the drink in similarly shaped bottles and
with a similarly designed logo but just changing the name slightly to
Coca-Kola, in law this would be seen as an attempt to copy the Coca-Cola
product and to ‘pass it off’ as the Coca-Cola product.
To ensure that rules on
‘passing off’ are not broken, it would be advisable for people in my teaching
line to make it clear at all times that they are working with Helen’s system as
at Autumn 1999 and that they are not working with her most recent system.
The second is that as far as
I am concerned I have a contractual right to work with everything connected
with Helen’s Sekhem as it was at the time of learning with her, irrespective of
what has been trademarked or what Helen would like to treat as copyrighted
material. At the time of transaction, Helen agreed that all her training
material, names, logos, etc., could be used by myself and everybody down in the
teaching lines beneath myself. No restrictions or conditions were imposed. I
have a business background and my questions to Helen were specifically designed
to ensure clarity on this matter. If there is a problem with this, also as
indicated previously I would like this matter to be heard in an
For anybody in the teaching
lines beneath me affected by the current situation, it will be necessary for
them to be teaching Helen’s system as at Autumn 1999 unchanged to seek refuge
under any contractual rights which I believe that I have. If Helen’s system has
been changed, then they will not be teaching Helen’s system and will have no
rights. In the European Union, this affects people in Eastern Europe who have
been told that they are downline in the teaching line
from myself and who have been taught something that has lost some of Helen’s
original Sekhem symbols, has gained some new Sekhem symbols and has also
acquired symbols from Kathleen Milner’s Seichem system. This system is not what
Helen taught and was passed on by myself and cannot be claimed to be in my
teaching line. In the USA, people who have fallen for the line that Seichim and
Sekhem are the same and do not have the sensory perception to feel the
difference between the two are likely not to be teaching what came from Helen
through me. This will be particularly relevant where all the training manuals
have not been passed down the teaching lines. Sekhmet has indicated that there
is a problem with fragmentation in some parts of the Sekhem teaching lines downline from myself in the USA because people have not
challenged the ongoing comments from some people that Seichim and Helen’s
Sekhem are the same and because they have allowed their minds to influence
perceptions accordingly.
If anybody in the teaching
lines underneath me gets into legal difficulty with Sekhem, I would be happy to
provide statements regarding events when I learned from Helen which may be used
in any legal proceedings. In
Implications
for people not in my teaching line
The implications for people
not in my teaching line might be quite severe. The advantage of working under
the Sekhem brand has gone, there will be time lost rewriting publicity and
training material, and it could be some time before a brand can be developed
around what new name you call Helen’s energy by. In the case of some Sekhem
Masters, there could be a serious loss of earnings resulting from Helen’s
decisions.
If anybody is not happy at
following Helen’s directives, then trademarking and
copyright law is not likely to be the only law applicable to the present
situation.
Given that I am not a legal
expert and given that Helen’s directives apply to people living in many
different countries around the world, local legal advice should be sought.
Potentially, a number of areas of law could be applicable to the situation
where they exist in different countries.
The starting point is to
establish is what legislative jurisdictions cover contractual agreements with
Helen. In simple language, this is a question of establishing whether
contractual agreements are based upon Australian law or your local law. If this
matter has never been made clear, then by default local national law might
apply.
The nature of the contracts in
your teaching line between Helen and the people that she has taught directly as
Head of Lineage should be examined. If these contracts were entered in to
before any trademarking rights were granted, it might
be possible that the nature of any contract rights being passed down the
lineage would take precedence over later trademark rights. It might not be
necessary for there to be written contracts in the case of dispute. Local
Courts might have the power in law to work out what the essence of the
agreement was meant to be based upon custom and practice in the sector and then
to determine the rights and responsibilities of parties to the contracts.
If the contracts were
entered into after trademark rights were granted, any licence agreements should
be reviewed against any local unfair contracts legislation or related legal
principles that have status in local law. Writing something in to a licence
agreement does not necessarily mean that it can be relied upon as defence in
the case of dispute if it is not compliant with local law or principles.
Individual Sekhem Masters
within teaching lines could also have liability in law if the contractual
agreements at the top of the teaching lines with Helen have not been replicated
adequately down the teaching lines between Masters and students.
In the event of legal
dispute, it might be possible for Sekhem people to claim for consequential loss
as a result of Helen’s decision. This would cover loss of earnings because the
Sekhem name can no longer be used and used as a brand name, the cost of
destroying old publicity material and the cost of developing new publicity
material design templates, the cost of getting websites changed, etc..
Many legal systems have a
concept of duty of care. Quite simply, this means that in business transactions
the different parties have responsibilities to each other. In the case of any
difficulties the concept of duty of care means that every action should be
taken to minimise any losses to the other parties.
The Sekhem
Association
There is no announcement on
the Sekhem Association website about Helen’s resignation or about her comments
about the ending of the Sekhem Association. If anybody would like any official
comment on this matter I would suggest that they make enquiries direct to the
Sekhem Association.
The Future
We are now clearly in
unprecedented territory within the healing sector with the closing down of
Helen’s Sekhem lineage. Not only have innocent people uninvolved with the politics
and other conflicts been abandoned but they have now to deal with their former
Head of Lineage raising the spectre of legal action against them if they continue
to use the name and training materials which they paid to use. As far as I am
aware there has been no other situation in the sector where potentially the
ability of some healers to earn their living has been so affected.
We are suffering from a lock
down of the Sekhem energy due to the trademark situation and due to the ongoing
attacks from the people who do not want to recognise that Helen was working
with an energy different to Seichim. The best thing I
can suggest to people is that they remember to hold their own personal space
and to keep working with the Sekhem energy. Helen’s Sekhem energy is here for a
reason and Sekhmet wants it to be here. She is the Divine Head of Lineage for
this energy. There is no other living human Head of Lineage above Helen in the
lineage for this energy. It is to Sekhmet that we need to look towards for
support and to find ways to break the energy locks. If we keep talking to her,
I am sure that in due course there will be intervention when appropriate.
At this stage, the only
constructive action that I can take is to continue to try to get a response
from the
Anyway,
sorry to have to break such bad news.
Date of posting
: 30th November 2007
www.healingenergies-at-londonwest.com info@healingenergies-at-londonwest.com
healingenergies -at- londonwest
Telephone