Ferguson Electronics

Last updated

Ferguson Electronics (formerly known as Ferguson Radio Corporation) is an electronics company specializing in small electronics items such as radios and set top boxes.

Contents

History

Ferguson is one of the older electronics companies, alongside Ultra, Dynatron, Pye and Bush in the United Kingdom. It was originally an American–Canadian pre-War company making radio sets for the U.K. market based upon contemporary American models. After World War II, it became Ferguson Radio Corporation, making radio receivers and, later, televisions. Later still, it became part of the British Radio Corporation. It was taken over by Thorn Electrical Industries in the late 1950s, but the Ferguson name continued to be used by Thorn, and its successor Thorn EMI.

Throughout the company's early history, Ferguson products were very popular across its wide customer base. By the early 1960s its wide product range included a most comprehensive range of audio and TV equipment. Small, battery-operated portable transistor radios to solid oak 6 ft wide hydraulic lid radiograms sporting fully automatic stackable Garrard turntables, multi-channel radios and 2-foot-wide stereo speakers were commonplace in many UK households. Open reel tape recorders and hi-fis followed.

Sales held well, with 1980s new introductions including personal cassette players, CD players and video recorders.

The 1980s saw much competition from foreign brands such as JVC, Tandy, Hitachi and Sanyo. This took its toll on the Ferguson brand and in 1987 it was sold off to the French electronics company Thomson. [1] Thomson group itself subsequently withdrew from the competitive European consumer electronics market. In the UK, the Ferguson brand was licensed initially to DSI (Dixons and Currys). DSI ceased using it in 2006 and competitor Comet took up the licence and used it until 2012. Comet used the brand on Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes, DVD players and DAB radios. Although Comet went into administration in November 2012, it had discontinued using the Ferguson brand earlier in the year.

Today

In 2017 Ferguson in the UK was relaunched by a British television manufacturer Cello Electronics. Cello has licensed the name from Technicolor (Thomson) to be used for a new range of televisions manufactured in County Durham.

UK Trademarks

There are currently several Ferguson trademarks registered for class 09, audio visual equipment, in the UK: [2] EU010787471 Registered by Ferguson Sp. z.o.o. 04/04/2012 but opposed and UKUK00000652009 EU003131927 Registered by Thomson Multimedia now Technicolor, dates back to 26/09/1946.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JVC</span> Japanese international electronics corporation

JVC is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as Victor Company of Japan, Ltd., the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developing the Video Home System (VHS) video recorder.

Aiwa is a Japanese consumer electronics brand of Aiwa Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Towada Audio holdings. The current company was established in 2017 and creates mainly audio products; the brand is also licensed to or owned by other companies in different regions of the world, producing various electronics.

Vantiva SA, formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia, is a French multinational corporation that provides creative services and technology products for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Vantiva is headquartered in Paris, with offices in Rennes, Beijing, Seoul, Chennai, Edegem, Norcross, Georgia (U.S), and Memphis, Tennessee.

Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Corporation</span> Japanese audiovisual equipment company

Pioneer Corporation, commonly referred to as Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto on January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop. Its current president is Shiro Yahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenwood Corporation</span> Japanese electronics company

Kenwood is a Japanese brand of consumer electronics. It has been owned by JVCKenwood since October 2011, when Kenwood Corporation merged with JVC. Kenwood manufactures audio equipment such as AM/FM stereo receivers, cassette tape decks/recorders, amateur radio (ham) equipment, radios, cellular phones, speakers, and other consumer electronics.

Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company designs, markets, and licenses many product lines worldwide, including products sold, and sometimes licensed, under the brand name G Clef, an homage to Emerson's logo.

TEAC Corporation is a Japanese electronics manufacturer. TEAC was created by the merger of the Tokyo Television Acoustic Company, founded in 1953, and the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, founded in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thorn EMI</span> British company, 1979–1996

Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created in October 1979, when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It demerged back to separate companies in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thorn Electrical Industries</span> Former British electrical engineering company

Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It was de-merged in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but was acquired by the Japanese Nomura Group only two years later. It is now owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orion Electric</span> Japanese consumer electronics company

Orion Co., Ltd. was a Japanese consumer electronics company that was established in 1958 in Osaka, Japan. Their devices were branded as "Orion".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AWA Technology Services</span> Australian telecommunications manufacturer

AWA Technology Services, name based on former name Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, is an Australian provider for technology related services. Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's largest and most prominent electronics organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment as well as broadcasting services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarion (company)</span> Japanese manufacturer

The Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of car audio, automotive navigation systems, AutoPCs, visual equipment, bus equipment, and communication equipment. It is since 2019 fully owned by Faurecia Clarion Electronics.

ProScan is a consumer electronics manufacturer and has a trademark in continuous use since 1990. It is one brand of the French company Technicolor SA with products competing with higher-end electronics. The ProScan name is owned by Technicolor USA, Inc. The company created television and video products to compete with Sony's Trinitron XBR, Pioneer's Elite, and other electronics brand lines. Competition is focused mainly on price to size ratio. The tagline for ProScan is "So advanced, yet so simple."

SABA is a German electronics company founded in 1923 at Triberg im Schwarzwald, present-day Baden-Württemberg. SABA started as a clock-making company, then became a radio manufacturer, and a few years later a record label. In 1968, SABA sold the majority of the company to GTE, an American telephone company. In 1980, the company was purchased by Thomson SA and integrated as a separate business unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordmende</span>

Nordmende, originally from Bremen, Germany, is a trademark owned by Technicolor SA. Nordmende was historically renowned as a major consumer electronics brand for high quality televisions and domestic appliances. The brand is now manufactured and distributed under licence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey and Italy.

Carad was a brand of the Ets. G.L. Carpentier, a small Belgian electronics manufacturer located in Kuurne, near Kortrijk. It existed from 1925 to 1975. At the height of its activities around 1970, the company employed about 400 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RCA (trademark)</span> American multinational trademark brand

RCA is an American multinational trademark brand owned by Talisman Brands, Inc. which is used on products made by that company as well as Sony Music Entertainment, Voxx International and ON Corporation. RCA is an abbreviation for the Radio Corporation of America, founded in 1919. The company became known as the RCA Corporation in 1969. In late 1986, RCA was purchased by General Electric and over the next few years, GE sold or liquidated most of the corporation's various divisions and assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funai</span> Japanese consumer electronics company

Funai Electric Co., Ltd. is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as Sharp, Toshiba, Denon, and others. Funai supplies inkjet printer hardware technology to Dell and Lexmark, and produces printers under the Kodak name.

References

  1. Strange, R. (2002). Japanese Manufacturing Investment in Europe: Its Impact on the UK Economy. Taylor & Francis. p. 303. ISBN   9780203036976 . Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  2. "Intellectual Property Office - GOV.UK". ipo.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2015.