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Old 23rd May 2018, 1:33 pm   #1
electronicskip
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Default Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

A few years ago I did some research into who owned many of the old British motorcycle marques with some interesting results.
Now I'm wondering who owns the old British radio/tv/hi fi names?
So many on the list long gone and almost forgotten.
Maybe the forum members can shed some light into who owns these old names nowadays?
Id be very interested to know.
Any names you can shed light on would be very helpful to my research.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 2:00 pm   #2
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Bush and Alba are owned and used by Argos, now owned by Sainsbury’s.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 2:11 pm   #3
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Cossor (Radar, avionics etc) is owned by Raytheon

Cossor Radio was owned by Philps but they dropped the name in the 60's.

I presume Philips still hold the rights to the name Cossor Radio name.

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Last edited by Cobaltblue; 23rd May 2018 at 2:35 pm. Reason: Clarity and cant spell :(
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Old 23rd May 2018, 2:30 pm   #4
dazzlevision
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Raytheon is an American corporation. AC Cossor Ltd created Cossor Radio and Television Ltd as a separate entity, before it was sold to Philips circa 1958. Raytheon bought A C Cossor Ltd, circa 1961. The Cossor name (for their radar, etc.) was later dropped in favour of Raytheon, but not until the 1990s or maybe even later than that.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 2:39 pm   #5
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Yes I beleive Raytheon dropped the Cossor name in 1997 when the aquired Hughes Defence and Texas Instruments to become Raytheon Systems Ltd.

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Old 23rd May 2018, 3:30 pm   #6
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

A lot ended-up with Philips. Ekco and Ferranti merged and than the combined company with Pye. Pye themselves owned Pam and Invicta and then Philips completely absorbed the entire Pye group.

As has already been said, Bush is now owned by Argos but I've no idea what happened to the other Rank brands, like Murphy.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 3:32 pm   #7
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

RACAL became pat of the French Thales group a few years back.

Decca (or at least their radar division) were wholly bought-out by RACAL in 1979, having been part-owned by RACAL for the previous couple of decades.

Decca's TV-business was sold to Tatung in 1981; Tatung seemed to then disappear over the next decade or so.

Pye (or at least their mobile-radio bit) turned into Philips in the 1980s and then became Simoco - which is itself now owned by the chinese 'Hytera' company. Hytera also now own the radio side of Rohde&Schwarz.

Grundig is now owned by the Turkish "Arcelik AS", who are the people behind "Beko" domestic appliances as well as "Leisure" and "Flavel" gas-appliances.

Last edited by G6Tanuki; 23rd May 2018 at 3:39 pm.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 5:53 pm   #8
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Roberts acquired the Dynatron name, firstly to replace their short-lived Roberts Video range of TVs, but they last used it on a bargain range of portable radios, Morphy-Richards clones. I've had it on good authority that they also bought the Hacker trade mark, in order to make sure it wouldn't be used by anyone else. And Roberts itself has for quite some time been part of the Glen Dimplex group.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 6:20 pm   #9
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post

Pye (or at least their mobile-radio bit) turned into Philips in the 1980s and then became Simoco - which is itself now owned by the chinese 'Hytera' company. Hytera also now own the radio side of Rohde&Schwarz.
Wrong!

When SIMOCO crashed the TETRA terminal part became Sepura who recently were acquired by Hytera

Other parts became Simoco Wireless which joined with or was acquired by Mobicom and is based in Derby. (and has the bad choice of a Finance Director - David CROOK!). AFAIK it is still UK owned

Fred
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Old 23rd May 2018, 7:25 pm   #10
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_RK View Post
Roberts acquired the Dynatron name, firstly to replace their short-lived Roberts Video range of TVs, but they last used it on a bargain range of portable radios, Morphy-Richards clones. I've had it on good authority that they also bought the Hacker trade mark, in order to make sure it wouldn't be used by anyone else. And Roberts itself has for quite some time been part of the Glen Dimplex group.
I'm pretty sure that both Morphy-Richards and Roberts Radio are part of the same group (Glen Dimplex, the electric heating business). That would explain why some of their radios were almost identical.

Some old names occasionally reappear, sometimes on different products. For example I've seen Polaroid branded TVs in Asda supermarkets, and GPO record players as well as telephones. In these cases there's no connection with the original company, unlike for example when Philips bought Pye, the two brands co-existed for many years, and were both produced in the same factories.

There's a little-known part of trade mark legislation which says that a registered trade mark can be cancelled if it hasn't been used for a long period of time (more than 10 years, I think). Once cancelled, the same trade mark can be registered again by someone else. I suspect this is how the GPO name recently came back from the dead.

This law was introduced to stop companies from holding on to trade marks that are not being used. It's possible that an old name like Hacker could be re-registered and revived if a competitor thought it was worthwhile.

I'm sure a lot of the old radio and television brand names are potentially up for grabs in that way, since they haven't been used for so long. Some names like Bush and Grundig have found new owners and are still very much in use, even though the country of manufacture and the quality may be very different from the past.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 7:51 pm   #11
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1 View Post
Some old names occasionally reappear, sometimes on different products. For example I've seen Polaroid branded TVs in Asda supermarkets, and GPO record players as well as telephones..
Same goes for Internet routers branded "Technicolor" and 'Kodak'-branded batteries. When a company fails or is about to fail selling off the brandnames is one way to realise some value for the shareholders.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 7:52 pm   #12
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

One lesson learned don't try to quickly respond to posts between meetings

I have been in contact with Raytheon and indeed have redirected Cossor Avionics support issues to them they are totally un-interested in my activities it seems but seem approachable enough.

Their customer support seems pretty good.

A lot of these old names are supported by enthusiasts ( Bush, Murphy and RGD to name a few) and it's surprising how often the domain names are available.

It's a question how much you want to pay.

I didn't want to pay for the .com name some 10 years ago and someone else has it.

So far I have had no useful communication with Philips who have not used the Cossor Radio name for best part of 50 years

One thing to bear in mind if you take on one of these old names searchers will expect you to be able to supply specific spare parts not available for 70 years

Some people really believe that everything is available (for free) on the internet.

Cheers

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Old 23rd May 2018, 10:07 pm   #13
emeritus
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

You can search for UK and European trade marks for free on the UK Patent Office Web Site (they call them,selves the IPO these days), here:

https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext

The only ones for "Cossor" that are still in force are indeed owned by Raytheon and only cover the following classes of goods :

Class 9
Electrical and electronic apparatus, all for use in air traffic control; radar installations and apparatus; radio apparatus and installations; apparatus for checking and monitoring aircraft movements; apparatus for the transmission, reproduction or reception of sound or data; transmitters, antennas and transponders, all for use with radio and/or radar signals; telecommunications apparatus and installations; modems; printers; aircraft simulators and trainers; navigational apparatus and instruments; apparatus for checking and monitoring movement and position of land vehicles and water craft; electrical and electronic navigational aids; computers, computer apparatus and computer programs.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 10:13 pm   #14
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Not Cossor Radio then

No wonder they have left me alone

Cheers

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Old 23rd May 2018, 11:24 pm   #15
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Ferguson has been passed around a few companies, the last user was Currys 10-15 years ago.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 11:25 pm   #16
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
RACAL became pat of the French Thales group a few years back.
Yes - I think at least a bit of it (next to the main line railway at Harrow - might be Racal Acoustics) came back out of Thales and is called Racal again. At least they were when I did some work for them a few years back.

Thales did also end up owning what was left of Ferranti at Cheadle Heath, which in the intervening period had also been called Marconi Thompson Sonar Systems. Still going strong making sonar systems for submarines.
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Old 24th May 2018, 12:22 am   #17
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Ekco is owned by chinese hifi and speedboat manufacturer IAG.

The original company AC Cossor, who got into valves through their scientific glassware factories, is still going as a glassware/lab equipment maker under the brand name 'Accosson'. The company is registered as 'AC Cossor and Son Surgical Limited'

http://www.accoson.com/
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Old 24th May 2018, 1:23 am   #18
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

Last I saw of Murphy was on a cheap personal stereo I had in the mid 1980s.
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Old 24th May 2018, 4:03 am   #19
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

A friend of mine owns the Rola name here in Australia after Plessey failed to pay for it for a few years.
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Old 24th May 2018, 9:10 am   #20
mark_in_manc
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Default Re: Who owns the rights to all the old radio names?

I seem to remember Celestion being 'Rola Celestion' here (some time before Gold Peak (China?) bought them and KEF and made more-or-less one company with two premises out of them) - so I don't think Rola was part of the Plessey stable here.
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