Mitsubishi Pencils acquires Lamy

[mke]

On 6/15/2024 at 6:35 PM, txomsy said:

And there is no way to fix them

Perhaps there are many people who are not interested in keeping a pen for a longer time. I know people who use a pen for a year and then get rid of it (throwing away or selling them).

 

I don't know why you rant so much about Chinese pens. You get what you pay for. Do you really expect a pen like Jinhao 9019 for 5 USD to last like a Montblanc for 1000? Nobody who buys such a pen expects this. 

 

 

 

[txomsy]

1 hour ago, mke said:

I don't know why you rant so much about Chinese pens. You get what you pay for.

That is exactly my point.

 

I do not have any issue with people who wants to keep their pens for limited time (other than noting that that strategy leads to increased pollution of an already over-polluted planet, and even then, it is their choice). Much like other people update their garderobe yearly or each season.

 

In a word, I am not against Chinese pens. Some of them are fairly good and some brands try their best. Nor am I against Chinese producers of low priced, low quality goods that are candid about their product. What I am against is scammers.

 

Total lack of support and quality control may still produce some good looking, working pens. Mixing all, good and bad, together, adding misleading advertisement, using evanescent or anonymous brands, giving no support, to grab money and run, does not match my personal preferences.

 

When someone puts those on pair with legit, hard-working brands and products, I think it is a mismatch that needs clarification. That's all.

[Black Spot]

I am going to agree with with what txomsy said there.

"other than noting that that strategy leads to increased pollution of an already over-polluted planet,"

 

But then I keep my Bic crystal pens and buy refills for them. 

Working on that reduced waste.

[RJS]

One clear benefit of cheap Chinese pens- in a country with hundreds of millions of people that are struggling financially, it allows every child to write with fountain pens, which is a good thing. In the cities in China I have lived in, it was actually mandatory for children to use fountain pens during a good chuck of their school life.
 

In my first home in China there was a little stationary shop on the corner of the road, with an array of cheap pens and inks. They also had the 'up market' basic Pilot inks for sale, if memory serves for only about 22rmb/~$3. Penmanship was much more significant there than in Europe, from my experience.

[sketchstack]

On 6/11/2024 at 12:13 PM, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Yes their parent co. Uni corporation also own Nahvalur. I know because I have been having dealings with them lately.

 

I believe you're conflating distinct corporate entities. 

 

• There is a company (holding?) with "Unibrands" in their name that has something to do with Nahvular/Narwhal. (This Unibrands is also assocated with the recent Omas revival.)
• The Mitsubishi Pencil Company Limited, which recently bought Lamy, is an unrelated Japanese corporation with well known sub-brands called "Uni" and "Uni-ball".

 

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

17 minutes ago, sketchstack said:

 

I believe you're conflating distinct corporate entities. 

 

• There is a company (holding?) with "Unibrands" in their name that has something to do with Nahvular/Narwhal. (This Unibrands is also assocated with the recent Omas revival.)
• The Mitsubishi Pencil Company Limited, which recently bought Lamy, is an unrelated Japanese corporation with well known sub-brands called "Uni" and "Uni-ball".

 

 

Uni and Uni-ball are also under the Uni corporation and own uni-posca markers which is the same holding company 

[Karmachanic]

Uni Corporation: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11455500

 

Uni Mitsubishi: https://www.uniball.com/home/index.html

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting direction this thread has gone.  I really like my Uniball rollerball pens for certain types of artwork -- to the point that I've weaned people off the cheapie Pilot (?) ones that I found to be smudgy, especially on cheap printer paper in hot humid conditions.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Cheers @Karmachanic I’ve been dealing with the US arm that has same markings as uni Mitsubishi on their mailings etc. I also wish companies had more general transparency. That way we the consumer could see who we are dealing with. 
 

As far as I could see from Mail labels to corporate email signature I was dealing with Lamy / Mitsubishi pencil co. Parent company. That and the same people who make Mitsubishi marker pens. I wish I had the proof and had not deleted the emails and mailing labels. Suffice to say I won’t be buying anymore Nahvalur products again anytime soon. I will however still buy the excellent uniball pens and uniposcur markers. That and Lamy branded products. I don’t own any Omas products or intend on doing. At least not for the time being my next product may be a Conway Stuart and/ or an onato.

 

best regards all

 

mark

[sketchstack]

2 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Uni Corporation: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11455500

 

Uni Mitsubishi: https://www.uniball.com/home/index.html

 

2 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Uni and Uni-ball are also under the Uni corporation and own uni-posca markers which is the same holding company 

 

Incorrect x2. 

 

Again: 

 

Unibrands is a holding company that is related to Navular/Narhwal and apparently Omas. 

 

An unrelated company is known as Mitsubishi Pencil Company Limited which sells various products with “Uni” in the name. This is Japan-based multifunctional corporation founded over 100 years ago. (It’s important not to assume just because “Uni” is part of a company or product’s name that they are connected.) This is the company that recently acquired Lamy. 

 

I am not trying to belabor the point but I believe clarity is importantly especially when the recent change of ownership of another brand, Lamy, is incorrectly attributed to one and not the other. 

[RJS]

56 minutes ago, sketchstack said:

Navular/Narhwal

When renaming themselves they really should  have thought of better name that wasn't so hard for everyone to remember how to spell.

 

[Karmachanic]

 

 

13 hours ago, sketchstack said:

(It’s important not to assume just because “Uni” is part of a company or product’s name that they are connected.)

 

Just searching for clarity.  Looks connected to me, but happy to be proven wrong.

 

I typed Mitsubishi Pencil into my browsers search engine.  Click on the above link, and at the top left side of the page you'll find:

Uni Mitsubishi Pencil

Which is also at the top left of the Company Information Site as well as being on the facade

of the corporate offices.   UNI is the Corporate Brand for a New Era (botom of the page).

 

 

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

 

 

 

Just searching for clarity.  Looks connected to me, but happy to be proven wrong.

 

I typed Mitsubishi Pencil into my browsers search engine.  Click on the above link, and at the top left side of the page you'll find:

Uni Mitsubishi Pencil

Which is also at the top left of the Company Information Site as well as being on the facade

of the corporate offices.   UNI is the Corporate Brand for a New Era (botom of the page).

 

 

 

 

 

Please can companies be more transparent and direct with their ownership details. This is all as clear as mud. 

[arcfide]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Just searching for clarity.  Looks connected to me, but happy to be proven wrong.

 

I typed Mitsubishi Pencil into my browsers search engine.  Click on the above link, and at the top left side of the page you'll find:

Uni Mitsubishi Pencil

Which is also at the top left of the Company Information Site as well as being on the facade

of the corporate offices.   UNI is the Corporate Brand for a New Era (botom of the page).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The official company name appears to be Mitsubishi Pencil Co, Ltd. The logo of said company is "UNI" and that is their corporate brand identity, but not their company name. Thus, in their global brand, they are "uni" and so they have a global structure around the "uni Brands," with unibrands.co seeming to be the US corporate website for their US distribution arm, I would guess (much like Pilot has PIlot USA). 

 

The Resurrection of OMAS: A Message from Our President (omasofficial.com)

 

You can see here that there is a collaboration with ASC for OMAS, which is related to Navhular brand because the same person runs/ran both. However, I can find no connection between UNI Brands and moreover, the UNI Corporation listing linked above is for what appears to be a "dormant" company and I don't think they are connected in any way, especially given that UNI Brands is a US Uni-ball page, while UNI Corporation is a UK registered company. 

 

I don't see the "unibrands" company which has a connection to Navhular or OMAS, though. 

 

ETA: Okay, I found unibrands corporation (not UNI Corporation, and not UNI Brands), which does appear to have a number of connections to the brands of OMAS and maybe Navhular. At the very least, unibrands corporation appears to hold trademarks on a lot of these names. However, they are not the same as unibrands.co, or the Mitsubishi Pencil Co, and so they are not the same company as is buying Lamy. 

[arcfide]

You can see how Mitsubishi Pencil Co handles their global arrangement by looking at their global site: uni Mitsubishi Pencil Official Global Website (uniball.com)

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Screen grabs from UK site and global site

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

If mum still has them I will upload photos later from our dealings with Uni / Nahvalur whe I returned a pen to them recently inc the shipping label.

[arcfide]

Since I don't know if the above is clear enough: UNI brands, Unibrands Corporation, and UNI Corporation are three entirely different things. A quick search reveals many other companies that use the unibrand name. 

 

Bottom line, the parent company here involved in the Lamy dealings is Mitsubishi Pencil Co, which is not, to my knowledge, under any other holding company, and UNI is the corporate brand identity and logo of Mitsubishi Pencil Co, which then has a US site/distributor using the website name unibrands.co, none of which are related to Unibrands corporation which has trademark ownership of Navhular, OMAS, and ARCOS. 

[Number99]

I do not know this site. It was found through a search. Please let me know if I am wrong about the reliability of the citations.

I believe it shows the existence of a company that corroborates most of @arcfide's claims and some of @Mark from Yorkshire and @sketchstack's claims.

https://trademarks.justia.com/904/17/nahvalur-90417645.html

 

https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/unibrands-corporation-5086709/

 

*I agree with @arcfide opinion that there is no relationship between this company and the next.

 

MPCUK mitsubishi pencil co.uk ltd. 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01853477

 

Its parent company (which acquired Lamy).

The English name of the company is MITSUBISHI PENCIL COMPANY, LIMITED. And this company has no Parent Company.

https://www.mpuni.co.jp/company/outline.html

 

I also agree with @Karmachanic and @arcfide that Uni is the brand logo representing MITSUBISHI PENCIL COMPANY, LIMITED. 

 

P.S.

This is a different story, but I would like to reiterate that the Mitsubishi Group, which originated from the former Mitsubishi Conglomerate that uses the same logo as MITSUBISHI PENCIL COMPANY, LIMITED. as I explained in my previous post, is unrelated.

 

 

*I would like to add that there is no UNIBRANDS CORPORATION in the list of affiliated companies on the website of MITSUBISHI PENCIL COMPANY, LIMITED. as a basis.

https://www.mpuni.co.jp/company/list_company.html

Note that the title of this page is Major Affiliated Companies.

My assumptions are incomplete.

 

Edited June 20 by Number99

[Number99]

4 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

Screen grabs from UK site and global site

 

@Mark from Yorkshire I am interested in this so please let me know.

Did UNIBRANDS CORPORATION/NAHVALUR use the Mitsubishi Uni logo or the Three Diamond logo?

 

*The image is taken from Wikipedia.

*The image is taken from Wikipedia.

 

 

Edited June 20 by Number99