why is it impossible to find yoyos in stores in canada? this week was the first time i saw a duncan product in the wild ( it was an imperial ). is it that there is no market here? (if there is no product…) or someone is blocking them from coming in?
i know there is always online but being able to impulse buy would be nice.
Toys r us has a bit of stuff, and if you live in a big city, you can find some stuff in juggling shops and the likes, but I generally buy my gear online.
I guess this does not help:
Duncan may have ruined themselves in their own effective marketing. Their success with promoting the toy over four decades made the word “yo-yo” a household name. Challenges to Duncan’s sole right to use the name “Yo-Yo” were made by Joe Radovan of the Royal Yo-Yo company. Joe Radovan was one of Duncan’s early original Filipino demonstrators. In 1937 he left Duncan and formed his own yo-yo company. In 1965, after a long court battle, Duncan was stripped of the yo-yo trademark protection by the courts which determined that the word “yo-yo” had become the generic name for the toy. Although the word “yo-yo” is no longer a registered trademark in the United States, in other countries such as Canada, the word “yo-yo” is still trademark protected.
i am in toroto fairly frequently… never thought of checking juggling shops
Is the U.S. any better?
Nothing around me… There are some manufacturers in Canada.
Because the word yoyo is trademarked here and the people who own the trademark just care about money instead of the community. They do nothing for the community at all here. It’s sad.
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What is the company that owns the trademark? Do they actually sell yoyos?
I think it was Royal tops/yo-yo company. They won a court dispute over Duncan. The guy actually wofked for Duncan, but left and made his own company. The word is obviously isn’t trademarked In the U.S. anymore. Some other companies aren’t so lucky. I don’t think it’s in business anymore, but I am not sure.
Papa’s Toy Company. Still in business.
They sell the license for the “Yo-Yo” brand and trademarked logo to Yomega as well. I took a photo last time I was in a Toys-R-Us, but I can’t seem to find it. In Canada, Yomega makes a “genuine” Yo-Yo and they have the seal to prove it!
It’s hard to blame someone who owns intellectual property from wanting to make money from it, but it’s a crying shame that they do NOTHING to grow the hobby/sport.
I miss when CLYW went from Caribou Lodge Yoyo Works to just CLYW and Chris made the blog posts describing the yoyos as “canuck twirlers” and such. Is that where the phrase “return top” originated or did that already exist pre-CLYW?
Very much so.
Here, this sums it up perfectly.
It costs 10,000 in legal fees to overturn a trademark if it’s undefended. If it’s defended, that starts climbing fast. I’ve talked to a trademark lawyer. It’s completely indefensible, it’s just too expensive to be worth challenging due to legal costs.
having said that, if I can get $10 each out of 1000 people…
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