Kevin Wilkins
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 7, 1998
- Messages
- 1,483
@ Jakster...
Did your friend David (who worked silkscreening for Warhol), did his last name start with an "M"? If it did, drop me an email – I bet we know the same guy! How funny would that be?
Back to Loveless...
Respectfully, I think you are confusing patent law, with copyright and trademark law.
There is no way anyone can get a patent on a Loveless knife design or stop any of the bazillion makers making versions of the designs he either created or made his own. If you look at old books and knife mags from even the 70s, tons of makers were doing similiar designs and Loveless was one of them. Who actually invented which design? Who knows. That's not what I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about are makers using the Loveless name to market and sell their version of the knife designs he created or which are associated with his name and work. There's another new thread in the custom knives area on this forum using Loveless' name in the title and showing a well known Loveless design made by the other maker! Threads like that are commonplace. That kind of use of the Loveless name could be stopped.
The estate could sell rights to a company or individual to produce an authorized, original version of a Loveless design and put the Loveless name on it. And their attorney could stop unauthorized use of the name. That's what I'm talking about.
Whoever owns the Loveless estate should indeed have a good trademark and copyright attorney. Those newly registered trademarks you found are exactly what I mean. If they don't belong to the Estate ... then the estate has a BIG problem. I hope the Loveless heirs have not waited too late, for you are indeed correct, at somepoint in time the train will have left the station and they will be out of luck and the Loveless name and his design legacy will be worthless.
Did your friend David (who worked silkscreening for Warhol), did his last name start with an "M"? If it did, drop me an email – I bet we know the same guy! How funny would that be?
Back to Loveless...
Respectfully, I think you are confusing patent law, with copyright and trademark law.
There is no way anyone can get a patent on a Loveless knife design or stop any of the bazillion makers making versions of the designs he either created or made his own. If you look at old books and knife mags from even the 70s, tons of makers were doing similiar designs and Loveless was one of them. Who actually invented which design? Who knows. That's not what I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about are makers using the Loveless name to market and sell their version of the knife designs he created or which are associated with his name and work. There's another new thread in the custom knives area on this forum using Loveless' name in the title and showing a well known Loveless design made by the other maker! Threads like that are commonplace. That kind of use of the Loveless name could be stopped.
The estate could sell rights to a company or individual to produce an authorized, original version of a Loveless design and put the Loveless name on it. And their attorney could stop unauthorized use of the name. That's what I'm talking about.
Whoever owns the Loveless estate should indeed have a good trademark and copyright attorney. Those newly registered trademarks you found are exactly what I mean. If they don't belong to the Estate ... then the estate has a BIG problem. I hope the Loveless heirs have not waited too late, for you are indeed correct, at somepoint in time the train will have left the station and they will be out of luck and the Loveless name and his design legacy will be worthless.
