Protecting trade mark rights by bike makers large and small in done all the time. Even a small frame maker can sue if someone uses their name, it just costs money to do this. I think Specialized Bicycle gets royalty for the names Expedition and Sequoia from Ford and Toyota. It is hard to come up with good names for products and it's very important to protect the good names one has.
I know for a fact small makers can cause big problems for someone that wrongly takes their name, even though this name is not registered.
I don't know where you get the impression bike makers don't care about their heritage. One of the best things about building nice bikes in my mind was being able to see my bikes going down the road with the customer having a big smile. Mike Sinyard has quietly bought many of the important old bikes for his company. Many of these are in his nice little museum at Specialized. If you get to Morgan Hill check it out.
Jim Merz Big Sur CA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of gholl@optonline.net Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 10:36 AM To: bgcycles@svn.net; Classic Rendezvous Cc: Classic Rendezvous Subject: [SPAM]Re: [CR]Most Pleasant Surprise in my Email-Now Trademark and Heritage
This is an interesting post.
Since Bruce didn't sell licenses to use his bikes, as far as I know, he's
not entitled to any royalties, although it's certainly very nice that
someone would want to pay him for his frame's "appreciation."
Thank goodness the frame didn't decrease in value-perhaps the buyer would
have asked Bruce for depreciation to be paid.
What is more interesting, however, and not addressed in Bruce's post, is
that, it seems that both major and minor framemakers and bicycle
manufacturers do little or nothing to protect their legitimate trademark
rights.
Is any member aware of a frame or bicycle maker having taken legal action to
protect his/her trademark?
Do many framemakers or bike makers even take the steps necessary to obtain
trademark or other legal protection?
Moreover, I have the impression that even the greatest frame/bike makers
(unlike watch makers, for example) have little interest in their previous
production and heritage. Do other members share this impression?
George
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA