Who owns the rights to the "Baldwin" name?

[lynbarn]

Hi all

I am new to this list and as I am based in England (GMT 0). I wonder if one or two of you guys may be able to help me out here.

The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in Devon, England, are planning to build a replica 2ft gauge Baldwin 2-4-2T.

What I would like to know is who if anyone would I have to contact if I wanted to use the name 'Baldwin' in building this replica 2ft gauge steam locomotive.

regards

Colin Rainsbury
Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust
Project 'LYN'
Devon
England

[Otto Vondrak]

Since you are a non-profit organization, and not representing yourself as a Baldwin company agent, you should be in the clear. Unless you are somehow planning to make profit for personal gain from the Baldwin name, you should be okay.

-otto-

[Tadman]

I believe Hank Renschtler, member of this forum and prior Baldwin Hamilton president, would know. He might even own it himself, but I don't know that for a fact.

However Otto is right, restoring a steam locomotive for a non-profit organization is not a misappropriation of intellectual property until you start building steam locomotives for profit.

[hankadam]

BALDWIN IS GONE! The Baldwin-Hamilton Company had the non-exclusive right to the name, along with others (Strain gauges, for example), although we had the exclusive right to the HAMILTON name. When Baldwin-Hamilton closed in 1991 these names, for a variety of products could no longer be protected. However, please note, the Trademark laws are complex, and require a "person" (manufacturer) to actually make the product listed in the basic document. We (B-H) had no problem because we were actually manufacturing BALDWIN and HAMILTON renewal parts to the original drawings, and they were furnished and used as originally intended. Therefore someone claiming to make a BALDWIN locomotive today, even if they used original drawings, would be fraudulent. It would NOT be a BALDWIN, but a replica. There is an outfit in California claiming to have a license from BLH allowing them to make locomotive parts under the BALDWIN and LIMA names; this claim cannot be substantiated, and, in my opinion, is a wild and fraudulent claim. BALDWIN only granted non-exclusive use of its name, at the end, when liquidating Eddystone and selling various product lines. LIMA was bought by CLARK Equipment, as we have discussed before. So everyone have fun rebuilding and restoring old BALDWIN steam and diesels, but please be careful about claiming to have the real thing when that is not the case.

[lynbarn]

Hi Henry

Thanks for clearing that up for me, we certainly intend to make sure people know that it is a replica when it come to the fundraising side of the project.

The amount of information we have put together so far is very small to compared to what you guys have stateside. But some us can't wait to get down to the metalwork bending side of the project.

We have a set of Baldwin Standards for the Engineering, Manufacture and Erection for steam locomotives dated 1949 which we shall be using as a basis of the new build/replica to get it as close as we can. Subject to current Health and Safety laws we have in the UK.

Out of interest Henry do you have any access to any old Baldwin patterns or anything else like that that may be of interest to us?

Thanks for now and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

regards

Colin Rainsbury
Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust

[hankadam]

God Bless Us, One and All - - - and good luck in constructing a live steamer. I believe all the patterns are long-gone. When Eddystone was closed in 1971 we were allowed to take only the "modern" patterns, and jigs and fixtures used for diesel renewal parts. However I took great pains to preserve all the drawings we had. They are at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA 17579 (They also have a huge photo collection). When BLH went out of the locomotive business in the mid 1950's much was scattered hither and yon. Some BALDWIN steam drawings are at the DeGolyer Museum at Southern Methodist University, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205. You may have difficulty in getting copies at either place. All the best, Hank.