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Krav Maga Controversy

Forum Post Dealing With The Krav Maga Controversy
I mean no offense, but there is MUCH controversy over MR. Levine's experience. I have trained with a number of his instructors, inlcuding some fresh from Israel. This link will be a good start for your research - http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=361603

Above Forum Post Continued...
Don't take it as gospel, but do as much digging into each organization as you can before locking in. David Kahn of www.IsraeliKravMaga.com pretty much spearheaded the legal battle with Mr. Levine who attempted to Trademark Krav Maga and the current logo.This happened AFTER the trademark had been granted to someone else in Israel. So it appeared as though he was just trying to lock others out of the US market.

Judging Motives ...from forum post above
Some say it was just a business move. Others say he was trying to block other org's from using what is common place in Israel here in the US, and I don't know much more about that. He did apparently seek a law suit against his primary instructor Eyal Yanilov for opening schools in the US, but that may just be more political stuff. Either an untrue rumor or the suit itself was politics.

More Politics ...from above forum post
There is a mess of politics involved, but my point is that there is MUCH debatable information re: his personal experience before starting KMWW. I suppose with people like Amir Perets and Sam Sade he could get great instruction inside his own group. That's what I would do. Again, this is assuming all the writings are true, which I don't really know. I suppose the bottom line is, go with what you can verify and train hard. I am not against Mr. Levine, I am just wary of anyone with that much controversy. But, that's just my way of doing things. Perhaps the controversy would be much smaller if he were not so well known?!? For all intents and purposes, he may very well be phenomenal!

Snippet taken from forum post at www.martialtalk.com

Another Forum Post About the Krav Maga Controversy
This is the main problem that everyone has with Krav Maga America. The guy running it is Darrin Levine he is an American guy who went to Israel with no martial art experience, it is said he did box a bit. Well he went to Israel and spend no more than 2 weeks during his visit in 3 visits to Israel with no more than 6 weeks of training he purchased his BB from the system founder.

He came back here to the US and proceeded to start KM America, but his company did not take off much until the founder of Km died, when the founder died he proceeded to trademark the name Krav Maga and exclude the same people that help create it and taught it in Israel, when they came to the USA they were threatened with lawsuits that if they taught KM here in the US they would be sued not unless they pay him 500 a month in fee's to allow then to teach and go through his certification program that costs 5000 dollars.he also claims that the system head Imi gave him the right to trademark it here in the US, but everyone's argument is why didn't you do it when he was alive, but instead waited for him to die to trademark it.

Snippet taken from forum post at www.sherdog.net

Darren Levine Defended in This Forum Post
Darren trained with Imi quite a bit. Imi even came to live with Darren in the U.S. the year after his first training in Israel. There's video of it. Darren did also train with Eli Avigzar. I met Eli in Israel before he died. He loved Darren, and considered him his "little brother."

Imi gave Darren a Founder's Diploma, one of only two that he gave out before he did. Imi asked Darren to lead Krav Maga in the U.S. and identified him as one of the few people in the world who can identify true Krav Maga. Don't take my word for it. You can see documents that prove it on our website at www.kravmaga.com. Click on history, then documents.

BTW, these documents were written for Darren in the last 80s and early 90s...well before Imi was in his last days, weak, and confused.

Snippet taken from forum post at www.sherdog.net

More Krav Maga Controversy ...from Wikipeidia
There are numerous organizations around the world teaching Krav Maga or variants. Since the death of its founder, differences have arisen, with competing claims to heirship. Some organizations and individuals claim to be the sole heir while others contend it is an "open" art which should not be owned by any person or group. Despite attempts to trademark Krav Maga, there is no official head-instructor or organization.

Krav Maga Is Not Alone Anymore
http://www.usadojo.com/articles/krav-maga-not-alone.htm

Trademarking Krav Maga: An Interview With Dan Levine
http://www.usadojo.com/take-action/petitions/darren-levine-interview.htm