Attn: Mike Brewer

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Mike,
I've been reading up on what's going on in the Nucleus. It does seem a lot more serious than I first suspected. Do you have any other links, info sources, I might be able to read through?

Thanks,

[Aikia]

Sekendo,
Not Mike, but I may have some useful info to add to whatever Miks offers.. I haven't kept up with the JKD happenings the last few years but was somewhat involved back in the 90's. Several of us that wrote about JKD were able to sell articles based on a "Call for the original JKD". I termed it "Original" JKD because the situation somewhat paralled the "Original" Coke promotion of the 80's. You may remember that the Coca-Cola company changed the formula for Coke and came out with a New Coke. The consumers balked at the idea and called for a return of the Original Coke. End result was that the company could sell two flavors of Coke instead of one.
Here's the tie-in. The JKD concepts that became popular in the early 1980's was a different "flavor" then the "Original" JKD as taught and practiced by Bruce Lee. Some said that JKDC and OJKD were the same. Certainly JKDC is an "evolved" JKD.
I even wrote an article saying that they were the same. No one beleived it. They look well, not the same. There was a ground swell of interest in practicing the Original JKD even though the JKD concept was always more popular. As a JKD promoter I offered the first Original JKD camp in 1993. It was called RUJKD'93 ( it was held at Radford University). Stay with me because I am going to make a point. Ted Wong and Joe Lewis were two of the teachers. Joe and Ted had trained together as private students of Bruce so they were old friends. Ted approached us with the idea of a JKD Network. We countered with a JKD Council. We toyed with the idea for a year or two. Meanwhile Linda got involved and developed the JKD Nucleus with Ted Wong and most of Bruce's other students. Anyone that ever had an interest in JKD was invited. This took place in San Francisco ( I think) in about 96/97. The Nucleus operated for about three years and evolved into the Bruce Lee Foundation.
Because the JKDC is different fron OJKD I don't think that the Nucleus or the BLF can stop JKDC people from practicing,teaching, promoting or advertising their expression of JKDC. Only if a group claims to teach the OJKD offered by the BLF should there be any controversy or litigation. Since having an affiliation with Dan Inosanto is the same as having an affiliation with Bruce Lee I don't see where any JKDC person needs a connection to BL. It is obvious. And if using the name Bruce Lee or JKD is really the sought after desire, or as we say, "hidden agenda" just join the BLF as an expression of support for Bruce Lee.
By the way I represent or support no particular "way" or expression of JKD.

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Hey Mike, thanks for the response.
And Mr. Beasely, I appreciate your response too.

I suppose I will perhaps write a few letters of inquiry. I'd actually like to hear Sifu Dan's side of it if he doesn't mind discussing it. And I think a respectful inquiry to the Lee Estate is a good idea as well. Have you written already?
Send me a PM if you have the time. I'll let you know if anything interesting comes up.

[Aikia]

I agree that there may be thousands of Bruce Lees around.Trademark infringement would only be an issue if a person used the name Bruce Lee(TM) to identify a specific form of martial art practice. In fact a person whose name is legally Bruce Lee could be stopped from attatching his own name to a martial arts school. Just like someone whose legal name is Elvis Presley cannot put out a CD by Elvis Presley. That is no doubt why the Inosanto Academy has decided to avoid any future potential litigation should the BLF be sold, under new management etc. Who knows Hollywood may decide to make a new Bruce Lee movie. You have to plan for the future. BL would then become popular again. The copyright/trademark owners would need to be ready to market BL toys, action figures, fitness videos (JKD could become a fitness routine like Tae Bo (TM).
Typically anything on the market that was being sold as BL related would at the trademark owners request be stopped and damages could be acessed. In the case of the Inosanto Academy the monetary acessment could be huge since they have used the BL/JKD name for many years and their reputation is tied with the BL name. The situation is in someways similar to treasure hunters who invest money in locating and securing a sunken treasure. The country in which the treasure is found can claim ownership even though the founders have done all the work. The country would say the hunters have stolen the treasure even if the country did not know it existed.

Perhaps Shannon did not realize the importance of her father's legacy when she was young and only recently has she, or the attorney for the estate acesses a value on "identification with Bruce Lee". Just as one side may see Shannon as the opportunist for trademarking her father's legacy another side may fault those who have used the BL/JKD name for personal gain ( that includes me because I have profited from JKD books, the promotion of JKD camps and a JKD video series which I no longer own). And it includes all the popular teachers of JKD.
I personally do not think that the BL estate is interested in halting the instruction of JKD. JKD instructors typically make nothing compared to the sucessful TKD or karate school. It is only when you add the MMA/FMA format to a JKD school that the student numbers grow. I think that, from what I have heard on this forum, that the Inosanto Academy has received some sound legal advice. It was Dan that hit upon the idea of adding/evolving the JKD with FMA/MMA. I think the name Dan Inosanto is synonymous with the BL art of JKD. Dan should take a lesson and trademark his own name then he would have some degree of corporate protection from litigation.
Let me again point out that I am on no one's side. Just a writer who apparently has learned something about JKD and felt the sting of paying an attorney for legal advice/work..

[fenwick99]

moot point?

I think, as an aside, that the empty-handed boxing system and the Lewis karate system are great examples of the type of research and innovations Bruce would have wanted in the arts. However, looking at the JKD world now,
students of students of students of Bruce Lee are producing thier own instructional videos. At least 1/2 of the well-known JKD people are training with the Gracies, the Machados, or Mean Gene Le Bell. All over the country so-called JKDC or Junfan schools ALSO offer FMA, BJJ, Shoot, and MMA. SBG is a prime example. Vu was the first IKA student to work with the Brazilians, and Norris trained with the Machados long before the general martial arts community gave a ratsass about grappling.
So in real terms, jfjkdojdkcjkd is a subset of the "cross-training concensus of MMA" while pure Jun Fan is an offshoot of classical Wing Chun, or maybe a blend of wing chun, boxing, and wrestling. Guys like Clugston, Davis, Cowles,
Fong, and the Dog Bros. have all contributed to the mix, and of course, one cannot thank Judo Gene enuff for teaching everyone how to choke and lock long b4 it became fashionable. Maybe Bruce would be pleased, after all.

[Aikia]

In a way MMA is an extension of JKD. Bruce called for an "artless" art. Modern MMA stresses individual expression over maintaining a style. The early UFC's were about art versus art. To that extent early UFC's do not express JKD. At some point the UFC converted to actual MMA and dropped the art versus art. I remember having the conversation with Art Davies in the mid-'90's about dropping the art versus art formula. He was opposed to the idea.
Modern MMA has come full circle JKD. From the limitations of art versus art to original freedom found in NHB all out fighting, to the concept of expressing any non-art under limitations of rules. Use what works.
Take the technology/tactics acquired by the modern MMA fighters who operate under the rules/limitations of sport and apply it to self defense and you have JKD in a form that Bruce Lee would no doubt envy. The knowledge that modern MMA fighters have acquired was not available to Bruce Lee in the 1960's/ '70's. MMA is potentialy the next level of JKD.

[fenwick99]

Bl's theories

Thank you for the excellent comments. If one takes the intellectual underpinnings of Bruce Lee seriously, namely, Taoism, Buddhism, Zen, and Krishnamurti, then one would have to say that JKD is a success if it influences everything but passes out of existence. JKD influences everything in the martial arts world today, and yet in a very real sense,it does not exist.
One of the reasons why some of the Seattle and Oakland students call their own stuff Wing Chun Do, Nonclassical Gung-fu, Wu Wei Gung-fu, Wu Kune Do, or no particular name at all, is because there is no such thing as Jeet Kune Do post 1973. LIke the WU,it permeates everything but has no independent exixtence. Bruce would like that.