BAYKO Trademark and Copyright

This is another page which emerged from my visit to the Liverpool Maritime Museum, before that, I'd given no thought at all to either of these subjects.

This is one area where I am marginally less ignorant.

Registering a Trademark allows a company to protect its logo and / or other features which are uniquely associated with a particular product, from abuse by competitors.

As a general rule, I believe that the trademark has to be registered in each market where such protection is required by the company.

An announcement was made in the 'Toy Trader' in October, 1934 that, on September 12th, 1934, Charles Bird Plimpton had been granted Trademark #552,209 to protect the BAYKO name...

Plimpton was granted an Australian Trademark registration, as can be seen from the letter [right] shown here courtesy of the Liverpool Maritime Museum.

The dates on the letter are interesting.

The covering letter here is dated January 7th, 1953.

The Trademark Registration, #104,460, dated November 3rd, 1950, was effective for 14 years.

Does this mean there was a previous registration on November 3rd, 1936?

Why is the covering letter and, presumably, the re-registration process two and a half years late?

I'll try and find out more and update this if I can.

I have no difficulty with the concept of copyright, which is aimed at the protection of an author's work against unauthorised copying...

...but I was surprised to see the concept extended to the ultimate literary works...

...BAYKO Instruction Manuals!!!

In the U.K., Copyright is automatic, based on proof of publication, but elsewhere...

...I have information on copyright having been registered on BAYKO documents, in four countries : -

The Canadian Copyright document, #92,460, [right] is dated April 9th, 1951.

It is for a "Manual of Toy Building Instructions"...

..."by Robert John Cowell and R Williams".

I can't prove it, but I suspect the manual involved was the [then] new set #4 manual.

The letter [left, above], is from A. J. Davies of Liverpool, who Plimpton appointed as BAYKO's patent agent, and it confirms the copyright registration.

The communications shown to both sides both date from May, 1951.

Unfortunately there is nothing to specify the official irish copyright registration number...

...but the supporting correspondence is clearly in respect of "BAYKO Instruction Manual No. 4"...

...that, in itself, is an interesting indicator that Set #4 was launched in Ireland simultaneously with the domestic launch.

H. D. Fitzpatrick, of Dublin, acted as copyright agents for Plimpton in this case...

...enjoy the slide show!

The Belgian Copyright document, #10,870, [right] is timed (!) at 18:20 on May 21st, 1951.

It is for...

...' un album pour l'utilisation des pieces de construction en miniature se rapportant aux constructions dites "BAYKO" '

I suspect this was also for the [then] new set #4 manual.

The letter [left], is, again, from BAYKO's patent agent, A. J. Davies of Liverpool, and confirms this.

Australian Copyright #50,872 was granted on March, 26th, 1952.

The modest document [left] specifies that it's for a "Manual of Toy Building Instructions".

The document itself is dated June 26th, 1952...

...Australian bureaucracy is as bad as ours!!!

The BAYKO trademark, #2,278,530, was re-registered to 'Transport of Delight', Brian Salter's company, on May 31st, 2002, the application having been filed on August 20th the previous year.

Return to the Top

BACK to Previous Page

Return to the Patents Navigation Page

Return to the Main Navigation Page

Add me to your favourites