I recieved this notice from an ACIM teacher I know in Portland:

TRADEMARK SERVICE MARK NO LONGER VALID OR NEEDED

PRESS RELEASE

New Christian Church of Full Endeavor, Ltd.
Release of Trademark/Servicemark by
Foundation for Inner Peace, Inc. and
Foundation for 'A Course in Miracles,' Inc.

June 23, 2005
Contact: Monty Barber, Esq. or
Kate Forbes (608)254-4431, ext. 520 & 521

On April 25, 2005, Judge Robert Sweet of the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York approved an
agreement among the FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE, INC. and FOUNDATION
FOR 'A COURSE IN MIRACLES', INC. together with the NEW CHRISTIAN
CHURCH OF FULL ENDEAVOR, LTD., providing, among other things, that
the book title, 'A Course in Miracles,' and its acronym, 'ACIM,' will
no longer be trademarked or servicemarked. This means that the
formerly trademarked and servicemarked book title, A Course in
Miracles and its acronym, "ACIM," are now free to be used by anyone.

The respective foundations do, however, reserve the right to
trademark "ACIM" ONLY in its current log format (a vertical rectangle
containing a starburst and ACIM inside) as used on its current Course
editions. "ACIM" alone will now be free for use by anyone.


What Does This Mean?


In 1993, the Foundation for Inner Peace registered the book
title "A Course In Miracles" and the initials "ACIM" as legal
servicemarks and greatly restricted their use by other organization
and teachers. In 1996 a law suit was initiated between Penguin Books
(the publisher of ACIM at that time), Foundation for Inner Peace and
Foundation for ACIM against New Christian Church of Full Endeavor.
The perceived violations were copyright infringement and servicemark
misuse. The case was broken up into two parts. The copyright portion
was settled in October of 2003 (seven years of litigation) with
United States District Court declaring the original copyright for A
Course In Miracles null and void. The basis of the decision was that
there was too much prior distribution before copyright. The honorable
Judge Robert Sweet presided.

Now, the second part of the case has been decided and the
servicemarks on "A Course In Miracles" and "ACIM" are no longer
valid. This means that anyone can use them without putting a
registered mark (r) after them and citing the "owners" and including
other legal disclaimers and restrictions. Any group, church or person
can now call themselves an "A Course In Miracles" school or teacher.
Any group, church or person can now say they are teaching an "A
Course In Miracles" class. Any web site or email group can call
itself an "A Course In Miracles" group freely without being asked by
lawyers to "cease and desist" and threatened by legal action.

There is a long, long history to this whole business which we
will not get into at this time. Suffice it to say that this is the
last step in a very long process which many people have strong views
on. Some see that this frees up the Course to be all that it was
meant to be and reach many more people. Still, others see this as
diluting the Course by making the use of it's title a meaningless,
non-standardized thing. The Community Miracles Center has tried to
remain actively neutral through the whole legal battle and has
presented cogent arguments from both sides as well as keeping
students updated on the latest legal happenings and ramification.