Lava Lites vs. Lava Lamps

[Guy Macon]

A bit of history:

In 1963, Edward Craven Walker, inventor of the motion lamp we all love,
formed his UK company, Crestworth Ltd., to produce the Astro Light.

In 1965, Adolph Wertheimer and Hy Spector bought the non-UK rights
from Crestworth Ltd. and formed the Lava Manufacturing Corporation.
They called the US version the Lava Lite.

In 1973, Wertheimer and Spector sold Lava Manufacturing Corporation
to the Lava-Simplex Corporation, which then became owner of the Lava
Lite.

In 1976, Haggerty Enterprises purchased Lava-Simplex and became owner
of the Lava Lite, eventually creating the division Lava World
International.

In 1989 Cressida Granger bought Crestworth Ltd. which by then was a
shell of its former self and started selling Lava Lights. Haggerty
Enterprises sued on the grounds of "Lava Light" being confusingly
similar to "Lava Lite" and Granger decided to stop infringing rather
than fight.

In 1991, Granger renamed Crestworth Ltd. to Mathmos and registered
the trademark "Lava Lamp" in the UK and Germany but not in any other
countries.

So, the bottom line is that Haggerty owns the trademark Lava Lite
in all countries and claims ownershipip of Lava Light. Mathmos
owns the trademarks Astro Lamp in the UK, and the trademark Lava
Lamp in the UK and Germany. Niether company can really claim to
be the original company that made the first lava-style motion lamps.
Both are new companies that own the rights to use the respective
trademarks. Niether is the original company owned by Edward Craven
Walker. Both make good products. Anyone can, of course make a
lava-style lamp -- the patent expired long ago -- and there are
many cheap knockoffs, most of which don't work very well. Neither
sells Mathmos or Haggerty sells anything under the original Astro
Lamp name.

--
Guy Macon
<http://www.GuyMacon.com/>