Jerry, the Schwinn name and trademark, along with the Paramount name and trademark, were sold as part of the original bankruptcy sale (and subsequent sales as well, I assume).
That's why, as I understand it, Richard can't ever call his bikes Schwinns or Paramounts. Kinda stinks, but there you go.
IIRC, the only thing that the family got any money for was the Paramount name - $2 million, that got split a bunch of ways. They argued successfully in court that the Paramount name was separate from the Schwinn business/name, and owned collectively by the family. Family members, many of whom had nothing to do with the bike business on a day-to-day basis, but were Schwinns, went from getting annual checks in the '60s and '70s in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, to getting maybe $60,000 as a one-time buyout - ouch! E-ticket ride over.
Greg Parker
Ann Arbor, MI USA
> Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 11:45:40 -0600
> From: "Jerry & Liz Moos" <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> To: <stevens@veloworks.com>, "Garrison Hilliard" <garrison@efn.org>
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]Schwinn vs. Huffy - some perspective
>
> Anyone out there know trademark law? Could Richard Schwinn try to put his
> name on Waterfords, arguing that he is entitled to use his family name,
> regardless who bought the company name from his relatives? I think I saw
> recently that a member of the Gallo family established a cheese-making
> business and marked the product with the Gallo name and the rooster logo,
> that being the English translation of the Italian name. There was a
> lawsuit, but I don't know who won. Perhaps it makes a difference if it is a
> different product, cheese vs. wine, whereas Richard would be competing with
> the same products that bear his family name. If not simply Schwinn, could
> he mark them "R. Schwinn"?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steven L. Sheffield" <stevens@veloworks.com>
> To: "Garrison Hilliard" <garrison@efn.org>
> Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [CR]Schwinn vs. Huffy - some perspective
>
>
> >
> >
> > Actually, Scott bought the name when Ed Schwinn bankrupted the company
> > (1993 through the Zell-Chilmark fund, who in turn sold the company
> > to Questor Partners in 1997. Questor merged Schwinn with GT (1998),
> > where the management bankrupted both firms so that Pacific Cycles
> > could buy both brands cheap on the auction block (2001) after a fight
> > with Huffy in Bankruptcy court.
> >
> >
> >
> > At Wednesday, 12 February 2003, Garrison Hilliard <garrison@efn.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >On 11 Feb 2003 12:05:02 -0800, you wrote:
> > >
> > >>Uh, they didn't steal the family name, they bought it after Richard's
> > brother
> > >>and others ran a Century-old powerhouse Company into the ground IIRC.
> > >
> > >Actually, another company (Scott) bought the name after Ed Scwinn
> > bankrupted
> > >the
> > >family business by being a total dumbass, then that company went
> > bankrupt and
> > >Pacific (of crappy bike fame) aquired the name via auction.
> > >
> > >Garrison Hilliard
> > >Canto 4, Circle 5
> > >Purgatorio
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Steven L. Sheffield
> > stevens at veloworks dot com
> > veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> > bellum pax est libertas servitus est nescio robur est
> > ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch
> > aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> > double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash