JCR Maker's Mark

Here I go again...my pet peeve is Google misinformation and everyone just copying one another. Ok make that two pet peeves. When you search for the owner of trademark JCR the seemingly unanimous answer is John C. Rinker. You will find that not only individual sales listings but large platform sites like Etsy, Ebay and EBTH, who touts themselves as the premier platform, all sellers are advertising their jewelry as something it isn't. Their titles state "a rare John C Rinker, or "hand made by John C Rinker and made by "famous designer John C. Rinker". When you google John C. Rinker you come up with a page with his name and his initials JCR and a quick scan shows he was a jewelry designer. You can read about him here http://blog.petersuchyjewelers.com/2013/07/about-john-c-rinker-jcr-jewelry-master-jeweler/. So far so good here's his name, the letters JCR, its mentioned he was a designer and every listing you looked at is selling a JCR item is using his name so there's the maker's match, right? Wrong......What is not clear is that buried in the above linked article that although John spent his career as a designer, he designed under other business' names and not his own. He never featured or marketed his own branded jewelry until he owned the shop John C. Rinker Jewelry in Baltimore MD. The article goes on to explain his business was a repair shop where "patron's brought their jewelry to Rinker for expert repairs. He restores antique pieces made of platinum, gold or silver". He did dabble in bespoke custom designed pieces but "It is interesting to note that while this artisan does not design and create collections of his works, he does feature examples of his work" in his work shop. When a Federal trademark search is conducted under John's name there is no filing for his own mark under his or his business name. So the question still remains, who really does own the JCR trademark?

Here is the federally filed data for the owner, JAM CREATIONS, INC. A mass merchandiser / manufacturer located in New York City's jewelry district that was founded in 1989. https://start.cortera.com/company/research/k3q9pzp8k/jam-creations-inc/ . Jam Creations used the JCR letter mark from April 1996 until June 2004. There is a hand full of sellers who have attributed this mark to "designer Chuck Clemency" of Jam Creations and presented the jewelry as if it was personally made by him.....that would not be correct either. True it is his product as the principal owner but manufactured in a mass production environment and without a doubt never touched by the hands of Chuck Clemency. The merchandise, many of which were sold through mass marketing channels, fall between up scale to mid range for price points.

75047678 - JCR

Status: Dead/Cancelled, Registration cancelled because registrant did not file an acceptable declaration under Section 8

There is also a registration filed in Canada 0377212- JCR that was filed in 1974 and expunged in 2006. The mark was registered by JEAN-CLAUDE RIVET, 6079 Boulevard Monk, Montreal, QUÉBEC and passed onto other Rivet family members. The filing of JAM Creations was attemped in Canada in 1998 but the registration was abandoned as the mark was already in use by Jean-Claude Rivet. However the volume output of jewelry from this maker will be limited as Jean-Claude Rivet, a Montréal watchmaker and owner of a small independant retail jewellery store from 1955 to 1993, with wife Rita Rivet, who was a gemstone importer, were a family business. When considering the jewelry designer turned jewelry repair shop owner John C. Rinker's connection to the JCR mark and the Canadian independant jewellery store who registered the JCR mark from the mid 1900s until 1998, it becomes evident that most all jewelry marked JCR will have been manufactured by mass merchandiser JAM Creations.