Hi All, Almost all machines that I look at are either missing the albums, or they are coming apart. It would seem to me that the market is there but I am pretty new to the hobby. While viewing that issue I can tell you that in being involved in the vintage car hobby that almost all parts suppliers meet with great success when they repro a part. I guess it all comes down to 3 things. What will the investment be, what is the min order and will people pay the price for the items. Viewing eBay I find that even a crummy set of albums for a XVI have sold in many cases for $125-150 more when you add shipping. There seems to be a great number of different models that can use the same album style. I would think that you would do the style that would have the widest use factor. Just my thoughts Abe Feder
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 6:40 PM, Jim Nichol <jnic...@fuse.net> wrote: > On Sep 1, 2010, at 7:11 PM, Andrew Baron wrote: > > > Which brings me to the point: Does anyone here know the current ownership > status of the famous trademark? > > > **************************** > I'm reposting the Rolfs' email on the Nipper Trademark: > > Jim Nichol > > **************************** > From: Robin Rolfs <nip...@dataex.com> > Subject: [Phono-L] Rights to HMV > Date: September 25, 2008 3:28:38 PM EDT > To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l@oldcrank.org> > Reply-To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l@oldcrank.org> > > Greetings, > > We recently wrote a book on Nipper Collectibles and the history of the > Nipper Trademark, which we hope every collector has added to their library. > In short, Nipper and the "His Master's Voice" along with RCA, once the most > powerful trademarks in the world have dissipated into the foreign graveyard > of cast-off and near forgotten trademarks. Here are our summarized > findings: > > "RCA" is nothing more than a trademark. Once acquired by General Electric > in 1986, it RCA Records to Bertelsmann A.G. A year later, both RCA and GE > Consumer Electronics businesses were sold to the French firm, Thomson SA, > while GE retained RCA's NBC broadcasting interests. In 1988, Thomson > Consumer Electronics was formed and later renamed Thomson Multimedia in > 1995, and in 2002 was again renamed Thomson SA. Thomson bought the "His > Master's Voice" trademark from GE in 2003 and transferred it to RCA > Trademark Management SA in France. One year later, Thomson entered into a > joint venture with TCL Corporation, a large electronics manufacturing > company in southern China. TCL has acquired all the manufacturing rights > to > RCA brand televisions. The last of the Thomson line of RCA consumer > electronics was recently purchased by Audiovox. Meanwhile, RCA Records is > now part of Sony BMG Music Group. RCA Laboratories has been transferred to > SRI International and renamed Sarnoff Corporation. RCA Aerospace & Defense > combined with GE Aerospace, only to be sold to Martin Marietta in 1993 > which > soon merged with Lockheed Corporation. In the spring of 1997, Lockheed > Martin Communications Systems, Camden, NJ was renamed L-3 Communication > Corp. > > England still retains the rights to use the trademark logo and name for > their "HMV" stores. China, who indirectly obtained the logo from the U.S. > through Thomson can only use it on products sold in China. Likewise, in > Japan, JVC founded in 1927 as "The Victor Company of Japan," now owned by > Matsushita, can use the HMV logo only on products sold in Japan. Because > of > territorial licensing, Nipper can no longer be used as a tool in the global > marketing and identification of a product. Since the trademark can > legitimately only be used only for products sold in the country of origin, > it is doubtful that it will ever show up on products intended to be sold > internationally. Since no single entity "owns" the trademark, its use for > other purposes (collectibles, nick-knacks, T-shirts, crap-o-phones) goes > unchallenged. > > Robin & Joan Rolfs > Visit us at: > www.audioantique.com > > On Sep 1, 2010, at 7:11 PM, Andrew Baron wrote: > > > Which brings me to the point: Does anyone here know the current ownership > status of the famous trademark? > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
