Martin,
Has anyone ever told you that you are the "Kevin Cameron" of this RAT club?!!
Why are a bunch of motorcyclists having such an in depth discussion about the legal ramifications of a trademarked logo?Here is some fun back in this thread.
From: 'Martin Albright' via EMRAT <emrat@googlegroups.com>
To: "emrat@googlegroups.com" <emrat@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 9:31 AM
Subject: Re: [emrat:5184] Another t shirt idea
Elaborating a bit on my previous post: It may also be that Triumph, in contrast with BMW, knows the importance of "brand loyalty" and figures that suing your biggest supporters is not a way to build that loyalty. I know HD is pretty careful about preventing non-licensed repair facilities from using the HD name but I don't really think that every one of those HD patches and t-shirts you see selling in the booths at Sturgis was actually licensed by The Motor Company. In fact, I'd bet that none of them are, and that HD is content to look the other way that because the brand loyalty they get benefits them a lot more than the paltry few pennies they could make off of royalties, and that same loyalty might be threatened if HD sic'd it's lawyers on every mom-and-pop patch seller just trying to earn a living.MartinFrom: 'Martin Albright' via EMRAT <emrat@googlegroups.com>
To: "emrat@googlegroups.com" <emrat@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 9:24 AM
Subject: Re: [emrat:5183] Another t shirt idea
Well, the thing with the Triumph logo is - which one is actually trademarked?As many of us (most of us?) know, the "old" or "classic" Meriden Triumph logo which dates back to the 1960's (I believe - I'm sure someone here knows Triumph History better than me [paging Bonneville Bob.]) On that logo, the lower leg of the "R" in Triumph swings under the remaining letters and loops back around to make the cross-bar in the "H" at the end of the name.When Bloor debuted the "New" Hinckley Triumph (1990 I think?) he had slightly changed the logo from the Meriden logo, and now the lower leg of the R merely hangs under the rest of the letters - no looping around.It's unquestionable that Triumph owns the NEW (i.e. Hinckley) logo. But does Triumph still own the old (Meriden) logo?A sharp lawyer could say that Triumph owns both of them, or, in the alternative, could argue that anyone using the Meriden logo without Triumph's permission is violating Triumph's trademark in any case, even if Triumph doesn't own the Meriden logo, because the Meriden logo is so similar to the Hinckley logo that the public is likely to be confused about which one is the "real" Triumph.However, a defense to a trademark suit is that the trademark owner has not aggressively defended the trademark. I see lots of people selling shirts and other gear using both Triumph logos. Particularly in the case of the Meriden logo, I think an argument can be made that Triumph has more or less abandoned the trademark since they don't seem to be going after other people who are using it.Martin
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