Bluebird Project loses trademark battle after tribunal

The Bluebird Project, under Bill Smith, has used the name informally for over two decades but applied to register it as a trademark on 25 October 2021 for use on vehicles and clothing. 

Donald Wales opposed the application on 21 February 2022 as the Campbell family had trademarked the Bluebird name since 2009 to be used on racing vehicles for use on land and water, clothing and exhibitions related to land and water speed records and record attempts. 

Bluebird during its return to Coniston earlier this year Mr Wales took the matter to the Intellectual Property Office, claiming that the use of The Bluebird Project name would suggest that the applicant is connected with the Campbell family or had been authorised to use the Bluebird mark. 

According to the tribunal documents, Mr Wales claimed that the reputation of the earlier mark would be damaged "due to the negative connotations associated with the applicant and its ongoing dispute with The Ruskin Museum regarding ownership of the Bluebird K7 water speed vehicle in which Donald Campbell lost his life." 

READ MORE: Bluebird to return to ‘spiritual home’ of Donald Campbell, say museum bosses

Mr Smith claimed that the applicant "had forged its own reputation for engineering excellence and problem solving far beyond our work on the Bluebird boat and it is this we wish to build upon," the documents state. 

Evidence given to support Mr Smith's claim included his team restoring and repainting an Avro Vulcan bomber, constructing a replica of the Crusader jet boat for Leeds University students to run and a BBC article crediting the Bluebird Project for its involvement in a head-controlled wheelchair which set a Guinness World Record in 2022.

Donald Campbell broke eight world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s (Image: PA)

But the tribunal found that in the photographs supporting the evidence the Bluebird name was not used and the BBC article actually referred to them as 'the team who helped restore Donald Campbell's Bluebird boat.' 

The tribunal concludes: "On the basis of the evidence before me, I am unable to find that the applicant has established its own reputation separate from that of Donald Campbell's boat."

Clare Boucher, who made the decision on August 8, ordered The Bluebird Project to pay Donald Wales £1,026.50. 

Donald Campbell died on January 4, 1967 during an attempt to break the water speed record on Coniston Water in Bluebird K7. The boat and Mr Campbell's body were recovered in 2001. Bill Smith, then of Kiltech Underwater Limited, led the recovery. He became the managing director of Bluebird Project Ltd in 2012. 

The tribunal outlined that while both the Bluebird Project and the Campbell Family Heritage Trust agree that a decision was taken in 2002 to rebuild the boat, the trust gave it to The Ruskin Museum four years later. This led to a long-standing dispute between the parties about the 'nature of their relationship,' the documents state. 

Bluebird K7 eventually went on display at the museum in Coniston in March 2024.