Re: PC: "Flex-Van" trademark

[Jerry Jordak <jer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

zootowerprr -AT- webtv.net wrote:

>       How did the "Flexi Van" name survive after all these years? Did
> Penn Central sell the trademark? I still see "Flexi Van" almost everyday
> on trailer chassis and containers. Anyone have any info? 

I've wondered about that myself. I think there's two possible scenarios:

* Assuming Penn Central trademarked the name, they held onto it long enough 
to sell it to someone else after they got out of the railroad business, or

* PC either never had it trademarked (or if they did, they let it lapse) 
and someone else came up with the name, saw it wasn't in use, and used it.

Both are pure speculation on my part. These are the people using the name 
today on trailers: http://www.flexi-van.com/

I also found other uses of the name while doing a Google search, including 
a law firm in NJ(!), a supply chain management company in Asia, to the 
model name of a Citroen (some European car make), and I could go on but I 
won't...

What I really found interesting was this page about a Flexi-Van on the 
former Victorian Railways (that's in Australia):

http://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/fvf.html

What's even more interesting is that while looking around that site, at 
first glance, I thought VR was running Erie F-units:

http://www.victorianrailways.net/motive%20power/bdie.html

-JWJ