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International Novelty Company
Baltimore, Maryland
The International Novelty Company incorporated in Baltimore, Maryland on April 13, 1892. Five men signed the papers; Charles H. Lighthiser, Daniel M. Hendersen, Robert S. Collmus, P. Bryson Millikin, and George W. Allen. The International Novelty Company made an agreement with Elijah J. Bond and obtained the rights to Elijah's Canadian Ouija patent (No. 36,092.) Unlike the Unites States patent (No. 446,054) that Bond assigned to Charles W. Kennard and William H. A. Maupin, Bond did not grant the Kennard Novelty Company international rights. This would later come back to haunt William Fuld when he would try to enforce his Ouija trademark (104 Folio 24,709) in Canada.

Charles H. Lighthiser was the company's president, and Daniel M. Hendersen was its secretary and treasurer. On June 15th 1892 the International Novelty Company made an initial two year agreement with the Copp Clark Company Limited to lease the rights to manufacturer the Ouija board in Canada. The International Novelty Company would collect twenty-five cents on every Ouija board manufactured and sold by Copp Clark. In return, the Copp Clark Company Limited would receive the exclusive rights to manufacturer the Ouija board in Canada. All they had to do was manufacture one thousand Ouija boards in that first two year period. The deal itself cost Copp Clark a whopping five dollars. That agreement was later modified in a telegram from the International Novelty Company to Copp Clark Company Limited dated November 12th 1898. The royalty fee was reduced from twenty-five cents to fifteen-cents per Ouija board.

The agreement stayed in force and royalties were paid to the International Novelty Company until April 19th 1904 when a fire in Toronto burned Copp Clark's inventory of Ouija boards as well as their entire warehouse. They later realized that the Canadian patent was only valid for ten years and expired on March 10th 1901. When Copp Clark started re-manufacturing Ouija boards in 1908 they no longer paid a royalty to the International Novelty Company.

On December 17th 1919 Copp Clark received a letter from Washington Bowie Jr. informing them that William Fuld held the U.S. and Canadian trademarks on the word Ouija. Bowie further informed them that unless they immediately stopped manufacturing a talking board with the name Ouija on it, William Fuld would take appropriate actions against them. With many of Copp Clark's records burned in the fire of 1904 the company initially thought they would need to settle with Fuld. Since William Fuld had up until then never manufactured his Ouija board in Canada, Copp Clark decided to play cat and mouse with them effectively ignoring their letters. In 1938 William A. Fuld began sending letters demanding they cease and desist yet Copp Clark again ignored their calls.

Attorneys for William Fuld Inc. began sending letters to Copp Clark in 1960. Much of the earlier paperwork on this matter had been misplaced and again Copp Clark contemplated settling. Unfortunately for William Fuld Inc., Copp Clark rediscovered the initial agreement with the International Novelty Company on November 7th 1961. Though William Fuld Inc.'s Canadian Ouija trademark, now owned by Hasbro, is still in effect, based on the past agreement with the International Novelty Company Copp Clark could not be stopped from using the name. The Copp Clark Company is no longer in business however there are a few other talking boards in Canada that carry the Ouija's name.

If you are interested in purchasing today's Canadian Ouija board please visit Products of Canada.