Mitsubishi Pencils acquires Lamy

[Claes]

Faint memory says that Italian Omas forum also discusses this.

[Number99]

Is this company already known?

Commoc.

http://www.commoc.co/

Adding the information from LinkedIn, this is the Hong Kong company that supposedly started Narwhal. The managers are almost identical to the current managers of Nahvalur and Omas.

Is Narwhal, not Nahvalur, a Chinese pen? And does anyone know where Nahvalur pens are made?

From Weibo.

https://weibo.com/6555585249/4399362580679781

 

On a different note, the address on the map for Nahvalur and Omas that I have researched and found out is in the building next to Gold Spot Pens.

If you search that address on Google Maps, Unibrands Corporation also shows up in the same location.

On Google Maps, the Unibrands logo can be seen in the Unibrands Corporation information section.

But I will not publish other people's addresses or coordinates, as it is inappropriate to do so.

 

 

 

Edited June 23 by Number99

[RJS]

19 hours ago, mke said:

 

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

This is clearly The Pen Family (check their homepage for the brands) and they have nothing to do with Mitsubishi.

Could you elaborate on the links between say Conway Stewart and Nahvalur, please? Or are you saying the mystery "Unibrands" is perhaps part of The Pen Family?

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Apologies folks I have got the wrong Unibrands looking at the address. And back through the emails. It looks like I got confused with my googling as the only Unibrands corp I could find was the one that owns Mitsubishi pencil co. The Nahvalur one looks like it is at the back of a shop from Mail address. My sincere apologies again.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

 it is actually this one. Does anyone now anything about them?

[Mercian]

On 6/22/2024 at 12:15 PM, RJS said:

If your memory serves you correctly, it poses a bunch of questions as to why they'd be trying to obscure ownership, or why someone would pretend to be them.

Complex and penumbrageous Corporate structures are very useful if one wishes to facilitate tax-‘efficiency’ - especially in the UK, but also in many other jurisdictions.
It enables one e.g. to offset any profits made by one subsidiary against notional costs incurred by another, to take advantage of various countries’ laws concerning ‘overseas investments’ or ‘overseas losses’, and also to move the notional jurisdiction in which a company’s profits are registered for taxation purposes.

Once one’s companies’ income exceeds certain thresholds, and it therefore becomes worth one’s while to pay large Accountancy firms fees’, arranging the ‘ownership’ of one’s companies through a web of interconnected ‘holding companies’ in ‘offshore’ ‘tax havens’ becomes a particularly efficient way of organising one’s tax arrangements.

 

This is why ‘Tax Accountancy’ is such a lucrative business.

[arcfide]

2 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

 it is actually this one. Does anyone now anything about them?

 

This is the brand owner for OMAS, Nahvular and so forth being discussed above and which holds those copyrights. It's the one whose address is located near GoldSpot pens. 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Complex and penumbrageous Corporate structures are very useful if one wishes to facilitate tax-‘efficiency’ - especially in the UK, but also in many other jurisdictions.
It enables one e.g. to offset any profits made by one subsidiary against notional costs incurred by another, to take advantage of various countries’ laws concerning ‘overseas investments’ or ‘overseas losses’, and also to move the notional jurisdiction in which a company’s profits are registered for taxation purposes.

Once one’s companies’ income exceeds certain thresholds, and it therefore becomes worth one’s while to pay large Accountancy firms fees’, arranging the ‘ownership’ of one’s companies through a web of interconnected ‘holding companies’ in ‘offshore’ ‘tax havens’ becomes a particularly efficient way of organising one’s tax arrangements.

 

This is why ‘Tax Accountancy’ is such a lucrative business.

@Mercian it appears on checking I got my facts wrong for which I have apologised and set the record straight. It still begs the question how they are getting away with having the same name as a larger corporation. That and also how they have not been told to cease and desist and change their company name.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

42 minutes ago, arcfide said:

 

This is the brand owner for OMAS, Nahvular and so forth being discussed above and which holds those copyrights. It's the one whose address is located near GoldSpot pens. 

@arcfide thanks for your assistance. Do you have a url or link for them?

[arcfide]

1 hour ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

@arcfide thanks for your assistance. Do you have a url or link for them?

 

I think they are a holding company or otherwise some sort of legal entity, rather than something designed to have a public face. For that reason, I suspect, I don't think anyone has yet found a website for them. I suspect that they are simply the legal entity that allows the owners to manage things like intellectual property and trademarks for the various brands they manage, and then they have brand-specific sites. That also jives with their use of the name "unibrands." 

 

Other than various legal dealings (including a trademark adjudication, if you can call it that, between them and some version of OMAS), I haven't seen them pop up online at all. 

[arcfide]

1 hour ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

@Mercian it appears on checking I got my facts wrong for which I have apologised and set the record straight. It still begs the question how they are getting away with having the same name as a larger corporation. That and also how they have not been told to cease and desist and change their company name.

 

Technically, I don't think they *do* have the same name. "UNI" is a trademark, but not a company name. Unibrands isn't using that as their trademark or brand logo, and the Japanese company is named Mitsubishi Pencil Co, so there is no name conflict there. I haven't been able to find a confirmation on the actual US corporate name for the US arm of Mitsubishi Pencil Co, and there might not even be one. The only thing tying the names together is that the US website uses the name "unibrands" in the URL, but that is not the same as saying the company is named "unibrands." In fact, even if it was a name, I doubt that it would be "unibrands," but rather "UNI brands," which, by virtue of the space, might make it a separate corporate name (I don't know how persnickety the legal code is on this point in the US). Indeed, it might be that their use of the term "unibrands" is a deliberate move to ensure they are not conflicting with the "UNI" trademark, since those are different words. 

 

It's also worth noting that it's common for many companies to share the same name, provided that they operate in different markets, which is true for unibrands as well. In this case, since unibrands and Mitsubishi Pencil Co operate in the same domain, I'd expect there to be some trademark disputes if both companies claimed a trademark around the term "unibrands," but as far as I can tell, MP Co only has a trademark on "UNI" and not "unibrands". 

 

Of course, this is the same sort of issue that the term "mitsubishi" has in Japan, with the two long standard corporations sharing that word in their names. 

 

Now, this actually brings us full circle back to the original Lamy acquisition. One of the claimed reasons that Mitsubishi Pencil Co wanted Lamy was not just their fountain pen/writing technology and manufacturing capabilities, but they also specifically highlighted the better global distribution, name, and management network that Lamy has established. I think Mitsubishi is pretty smart to observe this, because there's a common issue with many of the Japanese brands in their exceptionally idiosyncratic and strange global distribution practices. Lamy is *much* better at their global network and distribution, and they appear to be more efficient as well. I say this mostly in terms of higher end models, as obviously Pilot and Mitsubishi have managed to make commodity level stationery products fairly effectively across the globe, but their high end products have a distinct lack of good channels globally (with Pilot being the poster child for weird and strange decisions that may or may not stem from a lack of efficient market signals). 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

@arcfide thank you for your logical and reasoned argument and also explanations. They are much appreciated and understood. Don’t get me started on Pilot. I just wish the Kankuno and metropolitan fountain pens had better availability in the UK. I will leave it at that. 

[RJS]

1 hour ago, arcfide said:

Now, this actually brings us full circle back to the original Lamy acquisition. One of the claimed reasons that Mitsubishi Pencil Co wanted Lamy was not just their fountain pen/writing technology and manufacturing capabilities, but they also specifically highlighted the better global distribution, name, and management network that Lamy has established. I think Mitsubishi is pretty smart to observe this, because there's a common issue with many of the Japanese brands in their exceptionally idiosyncratic and strange global distribution practices. Lamy is *much* better at their global network and distribution, and they appear to be more efficient as well. I say this mostly in terms of higher end models, as obviously Pilot and Mitsubishi have managed to make commodity level stationery products fairly effectively across the globe, but their high end products have a distinct lack of good channels globally (with Pilot being the poster child for weird and strange decisions that may or may not stem from a lack of efficient market signals). 

Assuming Mitsubishi are keen on cracking the Chinese "high end" market, Lamy is a great choice. Lamy have a presence in the high end malls, while most Japanese stationary is very low end. A German brand will likely be more warmly received than a Japanese name too.

 

Quite how they deal with the issue that Chinese Lamy store prices are extremely high, while genuine Lamy products on TaoBao go for Japanese prices- eg a fraction of the EU price- is anyone's guess. Maybe it won't matter to buyers that can afford prestige pricing?

[Number99]

ah...I woke up to find that the discussion on the Unibrands Corporation matter was over…

 

I don't think @Mark from Yorkshire needed to apologize because he was genuinely a victim of a confusing brand name user and only raised this issue.

 

It was an off-topic thing, but I was curious about the history of Commoc, Goldspot, Narwhal/Nahvalur, Omas, and Pen Family's unfamiliar companies in the wake of the Unibrands Corporation issue.

 

I think it is only natural that the confusing use of a brand or company name should be recognized as intentional negligence when the latecomer misleads consumers into believing that it is another well-known company.

I don't think whether it is legal or illegal is very important in maintaining a relationship of trust.

 

I am not replying to anyone. I am simply sharing my impressions and do not need a reply on this.

 

Please let me know if there is another opportunity to learn more about the matters I asked about in my previous post.

And please continue the discussion back to the subject of the topic.

 

 

Edited June 24 by Number99
Correcting double translations.

[inkstainedruth]

23 hours ago, arcfide said:

(with Pilot being the poster child for weird and strange decisions that may or may not stem from a lack of efficient market signals). 

That is certainly an understatement.

Five years after I contacted Pilot USA to ask why they sold all sorts of colors and finishes of Vanishing Points in the US -- but (at the time) only HALF the "standard" Decimo colors here, they Pilot FINALLY wised up and started selling the Light Grey Decimos here.  

Their loss.  I was able to get one on eBay from a seller in Japan and did NOT have to pay the US retail price (I saved money EVEN with paying $13 for Economy Air Mail shipping from Japan).  And because I was dealing with a good seller with 100% positive feedback ratings, I felt safe in buying from that seller.  I was able to track the package through Japan Post until it got stateside, then, once it got out of US Customs (a matter of hours) was able to track the package through the USPS till it was out for delivery -- and in the middle of the afternoon the mailman was knocking at my door because I had to sign for the package.  The seller had warned me that normally the shipping time was 10-14 days, but because of the time of year (I was ordering the pen the week of Thanksgiving) it might be longer.  And the delivery time from when I hit the buy button until I signing for the package?  Eleven days.  So, NOT late like the seller had warned me about....

And five years later?  Pilot USA FINALLY started carrying that color in the US....  Like I said before -- their loss.... [shrug]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Black Spot]

Japan bought 7/11. 

 

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, Black Spot said:

Japan bought 7/11. 

 

 

All of Japan? Or just the top left corner?

[Black Spot]

The top left corner is mostly broke. It was more the middle eastern part. 

Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. bought US 7/ 11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_%26_I_Holdings

They said they would like to make the 7/ 11 more like the ones in japan. I hope that means that the grease covered floor gets cleaned, they start to sell the rice balls and they install the 7-Eleven ATMs  with no bank fees.

 

 

 

 

 

[Black Spot]

The top left corner is mostly broke. It was more the middle eastern part. 

Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. bought US 7/ 11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_%26_I_Holdings

They said they would like to make the 7/ 11 more like the ones in japan. I hope that means that the grease covered floor gets cleaned, they start to sell the rice balls and they install the 7-Eleven ATMs  with no bank fees.

 

 

 

 

 

[Surlyprof]

 

The recent availability of both the matte and gloss red Lamy Studios on Endless Pens has me wondering if Mitsubishi is releasing some NOS pens from Lamy's past limited editions.  This one looked very similar to the Red Rubin from 2014(?).  I didn't see anything on the Lamy website or other pen sites about a new limited release red Studio.  Screaming deal right now.  This one with the gold nib is just $114 with their automatic discount and their discount code combined.  I guess I'll see what this is all about when the one I ordered arrives.