I won't claim to be an expert on the Nipper logo. The subject of the details of GE's ownership of RCA's logos have been discussed here before. My impression was that RCA owned the use of the Nipper logo in the US, but not in England, since the British company HMV also used the Nipper logo.
I'll give the story from memory, though it's possible I'm not entirely correct. GE bought RCA in the 1980's to get NBC and the RCA aerospace division. GE then rapidly worked to combine the television divisions of GE and RCA into a single plant in Indiana. They then traded the TV division to French company Thomson Consumer Electronics for Thomson's medical imaging division. (I think Thomson still uses the Indiana plant for TV's, VCR's, etc). This trade gave GE a foothold in the European market for GE's magnetic resonance medical scanners. GE (or it may have originally been RCA) licensed the use of RCA's logos to Bertlesman for selling records under the RCA label. Your comment about only selling these records in the USA makes some sense, since I don't think Bertlesman could have used the Nipper logo in England (although they probably could use the three letter "RCA" logo). That would have conflicted with the rights of the HMV company's successor (I forget what it's called... maybe EMI?). GE didn't keep any other division that was originally RCA, so essentially RCA no longer exists. But GE did begin using the RCA logo on GE major appliances. So you could buy not only GE and Hotpoint stoves and refrigerators, but you could by RCA ones, too. (I don't know if they're still doing that). It's very ironic that GE and Westinghouse created RCA, and then GE "uncreated" RCA. And of course, Westinghouse no longer exists either, except that the Westinghouse logo is still used by some companies that have rights to it's trademark (sounds like RCA!). After hearing Oliver's letter, then apparently GE did eventually give the Nipper logo to Thomson, but surely not the RCA logo (the stylized letters "RCA"). Matter of fact, since GE licensed both the RCA and GE logos to Thomson (who continued to make GE and RCA TV's for some time), that gives credence to the idea that the ownership of the RCA logo (like the GE logo) was retained by GE. So perhaps only the Nipper logo is gone. But it still seems strange that GE would give away the Nipper logo. As a GE employee myself, I've noticed that GE very, very rarely gives up the rights to their trademarks, even when they have sold off the product that used it. But that's not to say that I don't believe Oliver. If anyone would know about the Nipper logo it would be him. There are one or two former employees of RCA on the Phonolist, so they'll probably have comments or corrections. Jim
