Originally Posted by
Barry
AFAIK, patents (in the UK) are granted for an initial period of seven years and can be renewed, if applied for twice. So a maximum of 21 years.
It was the expiry of Ortofon's patent on the stereo moving coil cartridge in the late '80s, that saw the explosion of Japanese made MC designs.
I don't believe there is a lifetime for registered trademarks, so if Loricraft own rights to the the name, then SME would have to buy it of them. But there would no problem in copying (and presumably improving) a '301'. The model designation '401' and '501' have already be assigned, and I believe there was a '601' in development. So the new deck will either be a '601' or a '701'. If SME want to do the job properly, they will buy the trademark and call the new deck the 'SME "Garrard"'.