Private Reserve Ink - Status?

[Intensity]

Honestly it's kind of amazing to me how little information there is about the PR situation, especially in this day and age of quick information exchange. It's a well-known brand with years of history. The brand's site and contacts were taken down before the latest owner passed. There have been no official statements about the latest owner passing or what was going on before that--only some rare social media posts here and there. I did look for an obituary, including looking through the obituaries at a funeral home in the owner's hometown, but have not been able to find one, even though it's been more than a week since the latest owner's passing.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Intensity

[corniche]

 

The concept of 'business continuity' is complicated - wife and I have been watching the HBO series 'Succession' that deals with that subject in the context of a large corporation. But it's even more complicated, and the options are far fewer, when the business is small.

 

Yes, I know.

 

 

- Sean

[corniche]

Honestly it's kind of amazing to me how little information there is about the PR situation, especially in this day and age of quick information exchange. It's a well-known brand with years of history. The brand's site and contacts were taken down before the latest owner passed. There have been no official statements about the latest owner passing or what was going on before that--only some rare social media posts here and there. I did look for an obituary, including looking through the obituaries at a funeral home in the owner's hometown, but have not been able to find one, even though it's been more than a week since the latest owner's passing.

Hi Intensity,

 

Sometimes the deceased (or their family) chooses not to have an obituary published. I lost a great friend of mine about a year ago, (who I went to high school with); who didn't want an obituary.

 

 

- Sean

[corniche]

My suggestion is if you are interested in perhaps buying the brand and its intelectual property you look for her obituary and see if it identifies any possible heirs.

Hi all,

 

My advice is to hand the matter over to your attorney or financial advisor and have them research the situation and tender an offer. In the case of a recent death, you do not want to come across like a ghoul or a vulture trying to snap up a rent-controlled apartment in NYC.

 

The family will be in disarray and emotions are probably running high. So, it's best to make contact and negotiate the purchase through an objective third party. If the purchase goes through; it will make the relationship between you and the heirs much more pleasant.

 

 

- Sean

[A Smug Dill]

Honestly it's kind of amazing to me how little information there is about the PR situation, especially in this day and age of quick information exchange.

It's only amazing in terms of what has become presumably the default, and how much deliberate effort one has to put into something to combat that and defend against unintended disclosure and uncontrolled proliferation.

 

It's a well-known brand with years of history.

Nobody who has personal acquaintance with the respective owners, outside of commercial dealings, seems to know what exactly happened to Blackstone — as a brand and/or for-profit enterprise, as opposed to an entity in the "fountain pen community" and "one of our own" — or Standard Bindery either.

 

I sent an unsolicited private message on the FPN system to Kevin of Blackstone's 'JustWrite Pen Company' account on back in May, to ask whether the company is still trading. As far as the forum platform software tells me, the message has never been read. No problem, but I'm "none the wiser" and have no entitlement to be informed, much less any reason or authoritative information to share what happened to the company or the brand.

 

I asked La Couronne du Comte, which sells (or sold) Standard Bindery inks, and was told they couldn't get in contact with the company or its staff. So who's going to release and publish authentic or reliable information just so "the community" would know what's happening with those ink manufacturers whose odd product they may be sufficiently interested to buy from time to time?

 

So, if nobody has been directly and/or positively informed about Private Reserve's status as a privately held business entity, what is there to disclose or share, irrespective of the day and age?

[Monophoto]

Honestly it's kind of amazing to me how little information there is about the PR situation, especially in this day and age of quick information exchange. It's a well-known brand with years of history. The brand's site and contacts were taken down before the latest owner passed. There have been no official statements about the latest owner passing or what was going on before that--only some rare social media posts here and there. I did look for an obituary, including looking through the obituaries at a funeral home in the owner's hometown, but have not been able to find one, even though it's been more than a week since the latest owner's passing.

I the course of a web search for information, I came across a Facebook post by Darla Aniline from this past Spring in which she said two substantive things about the business - first, that the retail new/used pen portion of the business had proved to be unsustainable, so she had closed it to focus on inks, and second that she was outsourcing the actual ink production. That second point means that there are written formulas and someone could carry the business forward.

[XYZZY]

Actually Darla answered part of the production question in the past, right here on FPN:

Thank you. We have always had our vendors make products from OUR formulas in the 18+ year history of the company. That has not changed.

She is obviously is not around to clarify what she meant be that. Normally I would assume "vendor" to mean the retailer, but I find it hard to believe Brian Goulet or Lisa Vanness or... is actually mixing ink. So I assume in this case she meant the ink was always outsourced: it's her vendor, not my vendor.

Edited September 23, 2020 by XYZZY

[XYZZY]

USPTO shows a trademark for "PRIVATE RESERVE INK" was filed on Sep 17, 2020, by Yafa Pen Company. I'm just an individual searching the USPTO website...I have no idea of their relationship or intentions.

[corniche]

Actually Darla answered part of the production question in the past, right here on FPN:

 

 

She is obviously is not around to clarify what she meant be that. Normally I would assume "vendor" to mean the retailer, but I find it hard to believe Brian Goulet or Lisa Vanness or... is actually mixing ink. So I assume in this case she meant the ink was always outsourced: it's her vendor, not my vendor.

 

USPTO shows a trademark for "PRIVATE RESERVE INK" was filed on Sep 17, 2020, by Yafa Pen Company. I'm just an individual searching the USPTO website...I have no idea of their relationship or intentions.

Hi XYZZY,

 

Yes, I've mixed inks from scratch- I can guarantee Brian and the rest aren't mixing them themselves.

 

 

Excellent info, thank you much. 👍

 

 

- Sean

[MKeith]

So sad to hear of Darla's passing. I have a love for PR Tropical Blue and Lake Placid Blue. I'm curious if some rights were sold as I noticed Monteverde is selling an ink named D.C. Supershow Blue.

[MHBru]

I read that Yafa purchased the Private Reserve trademark and since they own Monteverde It's starting to make more sense. Will Lake Placid Blue be next?? (Still grumbling that I no longer have my empty bottle of LPB from over 20 years ago... my very first bottle of ink)

[langere]

One of my favorites has always been Blue Suede. One of the first colors I bought, in this case at Pen Haven, in Kensington, MD when that was still around (I still miss Pen Haven and hanging around for a bit with Bert and the gang on a Saturday afternoon).

 

I fortunately bought a big bottle of that ink just last year and still have most left over.

 

Erick

[Intensity]

I'm very glad I have my 110ml bottles of Avocado and Ebony Blue. Both top notch inks.

[max dog]

That's too bad to hear about the owner. Private Reserve was my very first boutique iks. I still have a bottle of Tanzanite and DC Supershow Blue I bought 10 years ago, along with Tropical Blue, Shoreline Gold and Rose Rage. Just filled my 149 with one of my fave inks, PR Arabian Rose a couple of days ago. Will have to use that ink sparingly. I hope the line will continue under new ownership like Yafa.

[Parker51]

So, we now know what Private Reserve Ink's status is, it has been purchased by Yaffa.

This is good news, especially with the demise of the former owner as it means the transfer of the formulas and any "trade secrets" related to its production will not be lost.

I hope the new owners are able to provide going forward one of the features of the Original Private Reserve Ink, mix-ability. I still have a Private Reserve mixing kit and I liked being able to mix inks, something I don't feel comfortable doing with some other brands.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Parker51

[XYZZY]

How do we know it has been purchased by Yafa?

[BaronWulfraed]

How do we know it has been purchased by Yafa?

If not purchased, they are sure trying to snag the name

 

https://uspto.report/TM/90189263

 

Even if they purchased the name, they may not have obtained the formulations of the inks themselves.

[Monophoto]

If not purchased, they are sure trying to snag the name

 

https://uspto.report/TM/90189263

 

Even if they purchased the name, they may not have obtained the formulations of the inks themselves.

In essence, what we know is that inks will continue to be available under the Private Reserve label. Whether they are the same inks that were available six months ago - or six years ago - is uncertain, and probably irrelevant.

 

Years ago, there was a boutique chocolate manufacturer in California called Scharffenberger - they made fabulous chocolate, even better than Ghiradelli. They operated out of a building in Berkeley that was originally built by Heinz as a catsup factory, and that still had the Heinz logo over the front door. They were bought out by Hershey, and it is still possible to buy Scharffenberger chocolate. It's the 'top of the line' label in the Hershey product lineup - and its ok, but its not the original Scharffenberger.

 

The point is that the trademark is probably worth more than the formulas - ink really isn't rocket science, and formulations probably change frequently. There have been many instances of complaints about subtle (and some times not so subtle) changes in Noodlers inks that Nathan has explained as driven by availability of the raw materials he uses.

[XYZZY]

If not purchased, they are sure trying to snag the name

 

https://uspto.report/TM/90189263

 

Even if they purchased the name, they may not have obtained the formulations of the inks themselves.

 

Exactly. There's all kinds of reasons one could file.

 

And if you search a little more, you'll see that the previous TM on Private Reserve Ink was held by Terry, and expired before he died and control went to Darla. It seems that Darla never had a registered TM for the name.

 

And to be clear, the USPTO shows that Yafa has filed for the name. They haven't been granted the name. IANAL but my understanding is that it is now open for others to contest it.

 

There's nothing on this thread that makes me think that we KNOW inks will be sold under that name, or that the same recipes will be sold under any name. It appears to be moving in that direction, though.

[corniche]

Hi all,

 

What makes the ink is the dye... everything else is basically the same. The critical thing here is that whoever buys the brand, that they source the dyes from the same place; otherwise, expect some changes to the original PR color palette.

 

When it comes to aniline dyes, Pantone and ISO protocols are more of a goal than a certainty.

 

 

- Sean