As we continue to work our way through our archive of photos, we run across some that are a bit out of the ordinary.  They may be humorous or unique but they stand out from the other photos. We post new photos here monthly with the previous photos in the slideshow.

Our February Photo of the Month reminds us of one of the stranger chapters in Tektronix history. At first glance the photo appears to show two Tektronix Type 545A oscilloscopes at a tradeshow, but for some reason they’re in the booth of the Hickok Electrical Instrument Company. It appears that on the left there’s a Type C plugin on the scope and a Type L plugin on the scope stand (which appears to be a Tektronix Type R-500A cart). The instrument on the right looks to employ another Type C plugin while the cart has a Type B on the left and a Type D on the right. However, none of these were made in Oregon.

In 1959 an overzealous government procurement officer apparently thought Tektronix oscilloscopes were too costly. He attempted to rectify that concern by distributing a Request For Quote (RFQ) to qualified vendors, including specifications and schematics for the 545A and compatible plugins from Tektronix documentation. There was an assumption that a potential vendor or vendors would produce the instrument independent of Tektronix. A total of three second-tier scope manufacturers, Hickok, LaVoie and Jetronics, responded to the RFQ and proceeded to supply copies of the 545A and its plugins to the government, presumably at a price lower than Tektronix. Eventually, Beaverton learned of this blatant patent violation when a Tektronix Field Engineer reported back that they had seen one of these copycat instruments. These fake Tektronix oscilloscopes were later referred to as clones.

The imitation instruments presented some unique problems when they started appearing for service at Tektronix facilities. There were instances where genuine Tektronix oscilloscopes arrived with clone plugins and vice versa.

As Tektronix became fully aware of the situation, lawsuits ensued, both with the offending companies, and remarkably when Tektronix sued the US federal government. At one point, the government asked Tektronix to license Hickok for the use of Tektronix patents. Tektronix refused and the litigation process continued. A final court ruling didn’t come down until 1978 and in the end, Tektronix prevailed, receiving a nominal compensation. A more complete summary of the story is found on our Clone Scopes page.

Photos of the Month:  Jan 2025 - Present

Photos of the Month:  Feb 2019 - Dec 2024