Lucky Louie Plugs..

[Seafever]

The originals were made years ago in the last century.

People still use them with great success at certain times.

Got to thinking......the patent must have expired on these a long time ago.

Even back in the day there were other companies making similar "shovel nose " plugs.......but they are long gone too it seems.

Funny that no one or no other plug company has ever brought one out since to my knowledge.. I'm sure they would sell.

Even a "limited run" commemorative series would probably sell too....

Is it because there's no money in them now to warrant production?........or is there some other reason?

I'm sure Tomic could make them for example........

How long do patents go for?

 

[SpringVelocity]

It's a long process. I steer most of my clients away from it unless they have something worth protected. Fishing lures I wouldn't bother myself. I see a lot of guys spend tons of money, and in the end it offers little protection. But for some it's better than nothing. And so you know once your said in done plan 10-20k or more to get that done.

The only thing you can get is patent pending status which upfront filing.lawyer, proper drawings your looking in 2k-3k mark. You can do it less trying to do it yourself but many find it too much to do. Most designers can totally get around patents it is done all the time (been there and have done that for many companies). There is a certain percentage if a design is changes then your patent doesn't apply. And if you send it too China I don't know why people bother.... They don't respect patent laws.

Just go and make them and do it on your own... Sorry not trying to sound negative just passing this info along its more money for you to start making them from my experience since I am in the field.

If you really are serious about doing it the first step always is to review your product against existing patents to see that you are not infringing on anything...Google patents is a good one...

To your original question I believe Canada is 20 years and USA is 14 years. And it costs every year to keep it maintained. I patent lawyer could also give you this info. Good luck.

Her is a link to Canada site:http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr03652.html

 

[Theb55]

While at it, how about a limited run of Alaskan chrome plugs. Those were great but their great success disappeared when they stopped using wood.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Yah I saw those on a thread a while back... There probably expensive to make...

 

[Seafever]

Theb55:-


On the subject of chrome Alaskans........maybe I interpreted your post wrong...but....as far as I know they never made the Alaskans out of wood...
they were always metal........

 

[Dave H]

There is quite a little market in old Lucky Louies that have been re-painted by certain people who have developed a reputation for quality work and one of my fishing pals just paid $100.00 each for two Brian Isfeld re-paints and seemed quite happy to do so. They were Minser Luckys originally.

I know guys here who have 100's of plugs in their collections, many quite old and interesting and not all Lucky Louies of course.

They'll spend some time and effort testing any number before picking one to have done so it seems a serious thing to have done, given the time and effort.

Lots of interesting history about plugs can be found in a book but I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it.

It'll be along the lines of "A History Of Plugs Northwest etc etc etc" and is a great read.

I can't find my copy right now or I'd post the proper title and author..............rats................sorry.

Oldtimers setting in.


Take care.

 

[tmfitz]

I have a couple of old wooden Lucky Louie plugs and a chrome metal Alaskan plug , if anyone interested in having a look , PM me.