From the  Year Book, p16.

highlights in violet, my comments in green

Formal Registration of Academic Centres

Any formal (Parliamentary Act, Royal Decree, Foundation Trust) registration of this Academy by Permaculture Academy members or Academicians in any country should be notified to the Librarian, and such registrations should be actively sought.

We are actively seeking the formal registration of "Nodo Espiral España" of the Permaculture Academy, www.nodoespiral.net and are hereby notifying the Librarian

No matter where such formal or legal systems are established, they can act for all field centres or all regions with a Vice Chancellor.

We certainly do not lack integrity or credibility as an organisation, and this is the last step to our status as a professional organisation, open to all of us and operated by ourselves, under our own academic umbrella. 

Like the extant system  of  itinerant  teachers,  we  will maintain a power-free, multinodal, non-hierachical structure, based on the ancient ideas of free people pursuing free enquiry, in line with our accepted ethics.

P.17

The writer is currently investigating formal status in a few countries, and will notify as results come in, but all members should pursue these goals.

It would be very useful to know what results this investigation has achieved.

Any academic with a Permaculture training and a postgraduate degree can register the words ‘Permaculture Academy’ locally, and set up regional services.

I have set up this node of the Academy together with Spanish colleagues, am currently the only PC Diplomat amongst the teachers (others are working towards their PC Diploma) but as far as I know none of us have a post-graduate degree.

Any future contributions to this year-book would be appreciated by the editor.

It will eventually contain a guide to regional Vice-Chancellors and to residential courses.

We have one long residential course (3 to 5 months) in La Palma, Canaries, the Action Learning Programme (includes PDC + 2 to 4 months of putting into practice)

P.18

Ownership of the Copyright of the Word "Permaculture" (P.C.)

The word Permaculture was defined and copyrighted by publications in the Organic Gardening and Farming Society’s newsletter in Hobart, Tasmania in 1975.

The word itself was coined by Bill Mollison, as no succinct word or publication had previously been applied to whole system design. 

In 1978, the publication of Permaculture One established the first book on conscious design of whole landscapes, and again established the word Permaculture as unique. 

Ownership of the copyright is equally invested (by Bill Mollison) in the Permaculture Institutes and its graduates from a Certificated Permaculture Course. 

It cannot be given away except to graduates.

Copyright was deliberately sought, and the unique name coined so that this system of education could not be pre-empted by existing institutions or government agencies, but belongs to certificated individuals and Permaculture Institutes (as corporate bodies). 

The intention of the copyright is to keep the educational area (with its considerable goodwill) to those who know what a Permaculture course consists of! 

No person who is not a course graduate can use this name for profit; all normal uses for purposes of reviews, discussion, news items and so on is permitted, and graduates (but only graduates) of courses can register for-profit enterprises or corporations using this name.

Likewise, Permaculture graduates who are appointed to or who belong to other teaching institutions can teach courses; that institution itself, however, cannot use the name for profit, or for raising funds, if its directors are not graduates, nor should any such directors be appointed to Permaculture Institutes or their boards.

Non profit Permaculture associations freely use the name, as can any association of people with a common interest in Permaculture, but not for paid or certificated courses.

Where non certificated teachers offer paid courses on Permaculture they have been successfully challenged by several graduates, but also invited to attend a full course and to later continue their teaching.

Such pirate courses have been found to be more akin to organic farming or ‘new age’ mysticism than applied design, so that the necessity for copyright has been validated. 

This publication also clearly delineates the controls we must demand for higher degrees, and gives additional facilitation to our graduates by the establishment of a College of Graduates; in effect, a professional association of experienced people.