HOW VALUABLE TO WILDLIFE TRUST IS THE FAMOUS 'BIRDFAIR' TRADEMARK?

                                              

The trademark - no prizes  for identifying the bird

ALTHOUGH the Leicestershire and Wildlife Trust has ditched Birdfair, it still holds a potentially value asset - the trademark.

Any individual, organisation or consortium seeking to take over the show would thus need to secure the permission of the Trust to use the name.

And, if the Trust has astute commercial lawyers, it would probably also seek payment - either a one-off sum or a recurring income.

Any revenue could prove precious in helping the Trust with its core activities such as managing its 35 reserves, including Rutland Water.

Over the years, Birdfair has certainly been a moneyspinner, generating profits of more than £5-million over 30 years. 

In the past, these monies have been channeled into global conservation charities, but a new owner might have other ideas.

Birdlife started life, in 1989, as the British Birdwatching Fair but, following the change of name, the Birdfair trademark (number: UK00003072917) was formally registered on September 17,  2014.

It is due for renewal on the same date in 2024.

Factfile:

* Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is the foremost wildlife charity operating in the two counties, with a mission to protect and enhance the wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland and to engage people with nature. It has over 17,000 members, manages 35 nature reserves covering 1,250 hectares, and is supported by a staff team of 35 and more than 700 volunteers (341 of these worked on Birdfair in 2019).

* Birdfair was held over three days in August every year from 1989 to 2019. Total annual attendance on the site was around 20,000.

* Birdfair’s last donation was in respect of the 2019 event and totalled £168,000. The donation for the 2018 event was £320,000. 

* The cancellation of the 2020 event increased the costs relating to the financial year 2019/20, resulting in the much lower donation figure for the 2019 event.

* Income from recent Birdfairs averaged £900,000 per year. Costs averaged £600,000.

* Birdfair is operated by LRWT’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Leicestershire Wildlife (Sales) Ltd. 

* Virtual Birdfair - a wholly online event - was held in August 2020. It was an innovative concept, one of the first digital events to be held whilst Covid prevented “live” events. It was designed to explore how new digital techniques could be harnessed effectively to communicate with the public and spread the Birdfair message.

* Virtual Birdfair's  website hosted more than 130 exhibitors, 43 artists, 17 sponsors and partner organisations, 130 recorded events and lectures, 24 authors talks and 20 live events. 25,800 unique users visited during the festival week (rising to 96,000 over autumn), viewing pages 210,199 times. 

* Grant funding of £123,000 was received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund  to allow the Trust to hold Virtual Birdfair, plan for the future and seek to ensure continuity of the event. In addition, a loan of £41,713 was obtained from the Royal Society of Wildlife Trust’s Strategic Development Fund, to provide working capital support.

* Rutland Water Nature Reserve is managed by the Trust in partnership with Anglian Water.