OUR REQUESTS
Here are the requests we are making to Cédric Ringenbach (author of the game Climate Fresk and President of the Endowment Fund) and to the Endowment Fund "Climate Fresk Endowment Fund" :
We are asking for the irreversible and unlimited transfer of the intellectual property to the Endowment Fund, in accordance with what the author announced at the General Assembly in September 2023.
We are asking the author and the Endowment Fund to respect our investment and the collective intelligence of the community
at work since 2018, by allowing us to continue our activities in line with our purpose.
Concerning French intellectual property:
Our requests are aimed at enabling the Association to harmoniously restructure, plan and stabilise itself in the pursuit of its activities,
in line with its purpose.
We are asking that the rights to the French trademark 'La Fresque du Climat' be transferred definitely and irreversibly to the association of the same name.
We are asking the Endowment Fund to renew the contract for the transfer of copyright, licence and use of the 'La Fresque du Climat' tool to the association of the same name and for a minimum period of 3 years. (Renewal of the current contract in force since 2019)
Concerning the International deployment:
We are asking for the effective collegial governance of the Endowment Fund to be reflected in the articles of the association, as announced at the General Assembly in September 2023.
We are asking for the trademarks to be transferred to local entities where they exist, as is the case in France.
We are asking the Endowment Fund to evaluate in full transparency the association’s response to the set specifications for the international project.
Today, this is not possible, given that Cédric Ringenbach presides over both the structure that attributes the licences (EF) and the
one that has been mandated to draw up the international strategic plan (Global Climate Task Force, a new association created
by Cédric Ringenbach). This new conflict of interest situation endangers the entire project.
We are counting on the discernment of Cédric Ringenbach and the Endowment Fund in response to the voice of us, the
Freskers involved who are signing this letter, and for all those we represent.
We are asking for concrete action.
THE CONTEXT
The story of the Climate Fresk is unique and its success extraordinary. In just 6 years, this collective movement has reached nearly
2 million people around the world, inspired a supportive and united international community, and shown that it is possible to have
a strong impact with very little initial funding, based on affirmed shared values.
We are all proud to have contributed to this incredible movement and are determined to carry on with the same enthusiasm.
Today this fantastic story is facing a major challenge.
The intellectual property of the game, temporarily entrusted by Cédric Ringenbach to the association for a limited period, expires
at the end of 2024.
The transfer contract has not yet been renewed and threatens to throw the association into an unprecedented budgetary crisis and instability.
Reminder concerning the Intellectual Property (IP); it includes:
THE TRADEMARK: The visibility and use of the name "Fresque du Climat" and the possibility of exploiting its benefits (domain name, incoming enquiries, communication, events, representation).
COPYRIGHT (LICENCE): The right to collect the 10% and the €3 granted by the licence to use the tool decided by its author.
THE RISKS
The risks are great. From January 2025, if nothing is agreed quickly, all intellectual property rights (trademarks and user licences) will leave the association and revert to the Endowment Fund (which is chaired by Cédric Ringenbach), or to the author himself.
The Endowment Fund, which we welcomed, was created, according to the author' engagement, to hold and protect the Intellectual Property rights, indefinitely and irreversibly.
However, the latter is not the case at the time of writing, as the author has signed a 'contribution' (reversible) and not a 'transfer' (irreversible), however he said he did it in his email of 03/13/2024 sent to the community
In addition, the governance of the Endowment Fund seems quite unstable. Indeed, members of the board, although chosen by Cédric Ringenbach 6 months ago, resigned in July 2024, and he then took over as president.
The announced collegial leadership has not been achieved.
You can read the message of the treasurer of the Endowment Fund shared the 27th of august 2024 : read here.
All of this means that, at the end of the year, the association will potentially:
no longer have the right to benefit from its own brand and to collect the royalties for a tool that it had helped to create and promote to its current level of popularity and reputation
lose most of its income and its legal legitimacy
be forced to lay off all or part of its staff, who work every day to serve the Climate Fresk movement internationally. The proposal shared by Cédric Ringenbach to ‘take them over’ in his new structure does not seem realistic because it was made unilaterally, without taking into account the views of the employees.
no longer be able to properly support the international roll-out. The association would be forced to abandon its mission of supporting and accompanying local communities throughout the world. The time invested to date in building relationships of trust would be wasted and not respected.
We are very concerned about the ability of the association to withstand this shock, even by implementing an emergency transitional economic model. We would all be affected.
For Freskers, the impacts are multiple::
Strong decline in commitment: This situation is likely to seriously affect our commitment and enthusiasm for the Climate Fresk, our sense of belonging and pride in being part of it, in being Freskers. We're afraid that this flame is dying, and we're already seeing signs of it.
The Community as we know it: Without the staff as our glue and provider of a shared toolbox, our network of national and international communities might lose what holds and brings it together. A splintered, uncoordinated network could affect the experience for both us Freskers and our participants – and therefore the overall impact of the global project.
The staff and supporting services from the central association: In the medium term, this would disrupt the online space (our Fresker Journey, the facilitator space filled with training and communication materials, indicators), the management of incoming requests, the event tools, as well as the attention, guidance and daily support of motivated staff. The elements shared in the international project presented by Cédric Ringenbach do not reassure us because they depend on negotiations with the association which have not yet taken place and which seem uncertain to us.
Ultimately, there is a risk of harming the image and reputation of the game, the author, the association, the community and all the educational workshops in this ecosystem.
HOW WE FEEL
We are saddened, disappointed and angry when we look back at what has led us to the current situation. Over the last 5 years,
under the presidency of Cédric Ringenbach, the association has suffered successive instabilities that have not allowed it to develop
its full potential, but rather have held it back.
The resignation, exhaustion and dismissal of 4 successive directors since 2019.
The suffering of the permanent team due to the critical interferences of the author-president
The numerous efforts made by successive Boards to talk, listen, find compromises and initiate a professional mediation process with the author in order to protect and support this collective project as the end of the contract approaches, without success so far.
The commitments made verbally by the author at the General Assembly in September 2023 have not been honoured.
There's no doubt that if it weren't for the internal conflict that has existed for so many years, we would already be much
further ahead in spreading the movement and raising awareness on a large scale.
OUR NEEDS
A need to make our disagreement with the situation explicit.
A need for unity, for all of us to join forces to continue our collective commitment in the face of the climate and ecological crisis.
A need for visibility and security, in terms of our ability to continue this adventure together, while maintaining the conditions for success.
A need for appeasement, in order to rediscover the caring and attentive attitude that has inspired us so much within the network.
A need to realign what we stand for with our values,
A need to maintain the enthusiasm of being part of the Climate Fresk movement and spreading the message around the world.
A need to re-establish a constructive and horizontal dialogue between the community and the author so that he can once again support the movement in a healthy, sustainable way.
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Climate Fresk community members
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