BAYKO Registered Designs

Until I visited the Liverpool Maritime Museum recently, I'd no idea that the "Registered Design" process even existed.

As far as I understand it, without going into the same sort of detail and level of innovation that is required to justify a patent, you can register a design, focusing on the appearance of the item, as an aid to prevent competitors copying your product...

...it's effectively a form of copyright.

Detailed below is a batch of BAYKO design registrations, all dated May 5th, 1949, which were granted to Plimpton to protect parts [not previously featured in either of the patents' documentation] from being copied.

The date is a little strange, as some of the parts concerned were actually launched onto the market some 11 years earlier, non-the-less, Plimpton clearly took the question of 'copy cat' products seriously at this time.

The images below, shown against a pale yellow background, show photographs of the "Registered Designs", complete with their seals, held in the Liverpool Maritime Museum.

The museum also has other documents which refer to a further 3 registered designs for which they hold no documentation...

...the 3 images shown against a pale green background are all shown courtesy of the Public Records Office, Kew and are the 3 documents referred to above.

The document shown against a pale blue background [courtesy of the Public Records Office] was processed as a "Registered Design" at the same time as the other 9 items, but for some reason the Balustrade didn't even rate a mention in the correspondence held by the Liverpool Maritime Museum.

The individual documents below need no further introduction, so will get none...

This is the first of 4 pages, more accurately 2 pairs of pages, which have 'mutual disclaimers' printed on their reverse sides : -

"The registration of this design shall not interfere with the use by any person of the design No. 858351 when copyright in that design has ceased."

...858351 is the Balustrade.

This is the second of 4 pages, more accurately 2 pairs of pages, which have 'mutual disclaimers' printed on their reverse sides : -

"The registration of this design shall not interfere with the use by any person of the design No. 858352 when copyright in that design has ceased."

...858352 is the Pinnacle Platform.

This is the third of 4 pages, more accurately 2 pairs of pages, which have 'mutual disclaimers' printed on their reverse sides : -

"The registration of this design shall not interfere with the use by any person of the design No. 858348 when copyright in that design has ceased."

...858348 is the Wall Brick.

I don't know why, but this is the one which was not mentioned in the documentation in the Liverpool Maritime Museum.

This is the last of 4 pages, more accurately 2 pairs of pages, which have 'mutual disclaimers' printed on their reverse sides : -

"The registration of this design shall not interfere with the use by any person of the design No. 858350 when copyright in that design has ceased."

...858350 is the Bay Window Cover.

One last piece of information on BAYKO's Registered Designs...

...they each had to be renewed annually to maintain the protection...

...for the princely sum of £10 each.

On March 3rd, 1959, A. J. Davies of Liverpool, the patent agents that Plimpton used, wrote to remind them of the need to renew this protection [left].

The hand written note in the lower left corner makes clear Plimpton Director, R. J. Cowell's instructions not to renew...

...the resultant letter [right] shows the intended rejection of the renewal and the necessary instructions to A. J. Davies.

Given the date this correspondence took place, it adds to the evidence of decline and retrenchment leading up to the MECCANO takeover.

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