[Milsurplus] wwII walkey talteys

Hue Miller [email protected]
Fri, 28 Mar 2003 00:10:31 -0800


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "aGEnuine ham" <[email protected]>

> Group:
> 
> The names Handie-TalkieT and Walkie-TalkieT as spelled are both
> trademarks of the Galvin Manufacturing Company, now masquerading as
> Motorola, and I believe are currently still registered. Use of y instead
> of ie by a competitor was tested in court, and Motorola won.   Handy or
> Walky is OK but the combinations Handy-( or Handey- or Walky- or
> Walkey-)Talky (or Talkie or Talkey) was ruled to violate the trademark. 
> Somewhere I have read the story of the genesis and litigation of these
> names, perhaps in a Motorola historical retrospective, and my fading
> memory puts the first Walkie-Talkie trademark name on the BC-611, but I
> could easily be wrong.  

The BC-611 was clearly called "Handie Talkie" as soon as it
appeared, as against the "Walkie Talkie" ( really Backie Breakie) which 
applied to all what are now called "manpack radios". If Motorola has
any legal power over the name "Walkie Talkie" that would be a travesty,
as the term appeared definitely as early as 1938, when it was commonly
applied to the Army's SCR-194/ 195,  2 tube vhf set. I can't recall seeing
the term earlier, altho the same kind of circuit as in the SCR's was seen
in the 1930s 5-meter transceivers. I am thinking this term actually arose
from the military. Seems like it should be about as enforceable a proprietary
name as "television" or "phone".
Hue Miller