Jenny 492 --
Funk & Wagnall's was founded in 1876 by Dr. Isaac K. Funk and Adam
Wagnalls in 1876 and the first dictionary was published in 1893.
After the death of Charles E. Funk, son of the editor of the first
dictionary, the publishing company was sold to Reader's Digest
Association in December, 1965.
It is still possible that Reader's Digest controls some of the
copyrights, so here is contact information for the compahy:
Reader's Digest Association
The Reader?s Digest Association, Inc.
Reader?s Digest Road
Pleasantville, NY 10570-7000
(914) 238-1000
www.rd.com
Richard E. Clark
Vice President, Investor Relations and
Global Communications
(914) 244-5425
richard.clark@rd.com
Jason Tuthill
Manager, Investor Relations
(914) 244-5260
jason.tuthill@rd.com
Michael A. Brizel
Senior Vice President
and General Counsel
Richard E. Clark
Vice President
Investor Relations and Global Communications
Clifford H.R. DuPree
Vice President, Corporate Secretary
and Associate General Counsel
---
WRC Media, formed in May 1999 out of the Weekly Reader Publication
Corporation (a K-12 weekly newspaper in the U.S.) has a subsidiary,
World Almanac which publishes the Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia
database -- only as an online product.
According to the company's annual report, "Funk & Wagnalls also
annually sells a general yearbook containing a review of the major
news events that transpired in the previous year and a science
yearbook containing a review of the major scientific events in the
previous year. The yearbooks (general and science) are licensed from
World Book Encyclopedia, Inc."
There are about 47,000 licensed users for the encyclopedia and 18,000
for the science yearbook:
SEC Edgar Database
WRC Media Annual Report, 2002
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1102329/000112528203002632/b323942_10k.txt
WRC isn't particularly forthcoming about its management in it online
materials or even the annual report, but here is contact information
for them:
WRC Media
512 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10018
Phone: 212-768-0455
Fax: 212-768-1887
http://www.wrcmedia.com/index2.asp
Martin E. Kenney Jr., chief executive officer
Robert S. Lynch, chief operating officer and treasurer
Richard Nota, VP Finance, phone: 212-768-1150;
Fax 212-768-1887
---
Finally, it was Ferguson Publishing that published the 2002 Funk &
Wagnall's New International Dictionary:
Ferguson Publishing Home Page
http://www.fergpubco.com/
Amazon.com
"2002 Funk & Wagnall's New International Dictionary"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0894344277/qid=1085703901/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/104-2912122-0883953?v=glance&s=books#product-details
---
As for your final question, there are a large number of intellectual
property (patent, copyright, trademark) firms in the U.S. Here's one
leading Chicago firm with a presence in many cities. Using Google you
can search for Banner Witcoff, then choose the "similar pages" link to
find other intellectual property firms:
Banner & Witcoff Home Page
http://www.bannerwitcoff.com/
Google search strategy:
1. use the NY Times archive to determine acquisition date of Funk & Wagnall's
2. Google search for:
"Funk & Wagnall's"
3. SEC web pages for WRC Media and Reader's Digest
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
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