Oregon Secretary of State

Music

Nipper, the fox terrier immortalized in "His Master's Voice", is one of the music trademarks filed in the Secretary of State's records. His owner, Francis Barraud, a Bristol, England theater stage set painter in the late 19th century, noticed Nipper listening intently, head cocked, to a cylinder phonograph. After the dog's death this image never left Barraud. 

He later painted the image of Nipper, listening intently to an Edison-bell cylinder machine. The Edison-bell company was not interested in the painting because "Dogs don't listen to phonographs." The Gramophone Company in London commissioned Barraud to alter the painting with a Gramophone. The painting was brought to the United States and was used as a logo and later by a successor, the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Music Trademark Gallery