Updated 11/2/25
The Tank Museum extends its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of David Hamlyn-Wright.
We accept that the perception of a process The Tank Museum reluctantly initiated in August 2024 to defend itself may be skewed in light of David’s recent passing.
We have no desire whatsoever to contribute to the grief of David’s family and friends, but remarks made on the TankNutDave Facebook page and shared elsewhere are both harmful misleading.
To be clear:
- The Tank Museum is not seeking to obtain the trade mark “Tank Nut”/ “Tank Nuts” for itself.
- It did not launch or amend existing proceedings opportunistically to benefit from David’s passing.
- We have no desire to monetise this term, nor to prevent anyone from using it in future as they see fit.
- There is no suggestion that we are seeking to have websites taken down.
We would have preferred to deal with his matter in private. We haven’t lost sight of the fact that someone recently passed away, but we find ourselves under pressure to react in order to ensure that that our actions and motivations are being fairly represented.
Last week, an attempt was made to establish contact with those operating the related “Go Fund Me” page. So far this has been unsuccessful, as have all subsequent attempts to establish contact with the family.
For several months before his unexpected death, David was involved in a trademark dispute with The Tank Museum. It was a dispute that he initiated with formal allegations of a breech in May and June of 2024.
David’s complaint against The Tank Museum proposed disproportionate claims for restitution, backed with threats to interfere with the provision of The Tank Museum’s online services.
An attempt to settle the complaint through negotiation was rejected and given the implied risk, The Tank Museum sought legal advice.
As the complaint was deemed to lack a solid legal basis, The Tank Museum reluctantly engaged a legal team under Section 21 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 to protect its interests.
A cease-and-desist letter was issued to the trade mark holder in August 2024, and proceedings to have the trade marks invalidated were initiated to prevent future malicious actions.
A case demonstrating that the trade marks lacked distinctiveness was submitted to the UK Intellectual Property Office on 2 December 2024.
The trade mark holder was informed by the IPO that they would have 2 months (until 10 February 2025) to issue a counter to this challenge, which we understand they have done. We now expect the case to proceed to tribunal in due course.
No further communication from the trade mark holder or his representatives has been received directly by The Tank Museum since 14 August 2024, and no further proceedings have been initiated since those described above.
That David passed away during this window was a sad turn of events in a regrettable episode – and we accept that this will have done little to improve the situation in the eyes of his family and friends, in the midst of their grief.
The Tank Museum and David were understandably at variance on this matter at the time of his passing, and we appreciate that those suffering from the grief of his loss may not be in full possession of the information we have now provided.
Once again, we sincerely offer our sympathies to David’s friends and family at this difficult time and apologise for any additional distress this forced response may have caused.
We remain prepared to engage with his family should they wish to reach out with us.
