Editing Skunk Works (section)

==Term origin==
[[File:Skunkworks-logo.jpg|thumb|The Skunk Works logo as seen on one of Lockheed Martin’s hangars.]]

The term "Skunk Works" came from [[Al Capp]]'s [[satirical]], [[hillbilly]] [[comic strip]] ''[[Li’l Abner]]'', which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s.<ref name="origin">{{Cite web |title=Skunk Works® Origin Story |url=https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/skunk-works-origin-story.html |access-date=2018-07-24 |website=Lockheed Martin}}</ref> In the comic, the “Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of [[Dogpatch]], in the backwoods of [[Kentucky]]. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the toxic fumes of the concentrated "skonk oil", which was brewed and barreled daily by "Big Barnsmell" (known as the lonely "inside man" at the Skonk Works), by grinding dead [[skunk]]s and worn shoes into a smoldering [[still]], for some mysterious, unspecified purpose.

In mid-1939<ref>{{Cite news |date=1939-06-25 |title=Aircraft Company Remodels Old Distillery |page=V-3 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60957928/aircraft-company-remodels-old-distillery |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}{{open access}}</ref> when Lockheed was expanding rapidly, the YP-38 project was moved a few blocks away to the newly purchased 3G Distillery, also known as Three G or GGG Distillery.<ref name="Bodie51" /> Lockheed took over the building but the sour smell of bourbon mash lingered, partly because the group of buildings continued to store barrels of aging whiskey.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cefaratt |first=Gil |title=Lockheed: The People Behind the Story |date=2002 |publisher=Turner Publishing |isbn=9781563118470 |pages=89, 110}}</ref> The first YP-38 was built there before the team moved back to Lockheed's main factory a year later.<ref name="Bodie51" /><ref name="Wilson1969">{{Cite book |title=Current Biography Yearbook |date=1969 |publisher=H. W. Wilson Co. |page=199 |quote=At that time, Lockheed did not as yet have a formal engineering building, and so Johnson and his staff improvised a development plant using unoccupied corners in hangars and an old distillery. The results of this 'skunk works' approach was the legendary P-38 Lightning.}}</ref> In 1964, Johnson told [[Look (American magazine)|''Look'']] magazine that the bourbon distillery was the first of five Lockheed skunk works locations.<ref name=Look1964>{{Cite magazine |last=Kocivar |first=Ben |date=1964-10-06 |title=Collier Trophy |magazine=[[Look (American magazine)|Look]] |volume=28 |page=36 |quote=He calls his development plants 'skunk works'. There have been five of them&nbsp;– the first, an abandoned distillery. |number=20}}</ref>

During the development of the [[P-80 Shooting Star]], Johnson's engineering team was located adjacent to a [[wikt:malodorous|malodorous]] plastics factory.<ref name="bennis_biederman" /> According to Ben Rich’s memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a [[Civil defense|Civil Defense]] gas mask. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, [[Irv Culver]], referred to the facility as "Skonk Works". As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. One day, when the [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culver’s desk. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver". "What?" replied the voice at the other end. "Skonk Works", Culver repeated. The name stuck. Culver later said at an interview conducted in 1993 that "when Kelly Johnson heard about the incident, he promptly fired me. It didn’t really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways."<ref>{{Cite book |last =Pace |first=Steve |title = Lockheed Skunk Works | page = 11 | isbn = 978-0879386320 | year = 1992| publisher  = Motorbooks Intl }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Rich |first=Ben |title = Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed| page =   | isbn = 978-0316743006 | year = 1996 | publisher  = Back Bay Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How the Skunk Works got its name |url=http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/skunkworks/name.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308114336/http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics/skunkworks/name.html |archive-date= 2011-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fanz7WrrIgA&ab |title=Skunk Works Story {{!}} Aviation Revolutions, Lockheed, And Kelly Johnson |via=YouTube |access-date=2024-02-24}}</ref>

At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.<ref>[[Walter J. Boyne|Boyne, Walter J.]], ''Beyond the Horizons'', p. 154.</ref> The company also holds several registrations of it with the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]. They have filed several challenges against registrants of domain names containing variations on the term under anti-[[cybersquatting]] policies, and have lost a case under the [[.uk]] domain name dispute resolution service against a company selling cannabis seeds and paraphernalia, which used the word "skunkworks" in its domain name (referring to "[[Cannabis (drug)#New breeding and cultivation techniques|Skunk]]", the pungent smell of the cannabis flower). Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. The respondent company argued that Lockheed "used its size, resources and financial position to employ 'bullyboy' tactics against... a very small company."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-04-23 |title=Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service – DRS 04100 – Lockheed Martin Corporation vs. UK Skunkworks Ltd – Decision of Appeal Panel |url=http://www.nic.uk/digitalAssets/18073_ukskunkworks_appeal.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226192423/http://www.nic.uk/digitalAssets/18073_ukskunkworks_appeal.pdf |archive-date=2009-02-26 |publisher=Nominet UK}}</ref>

In Australia, the trademark for use of the name "Skunkworks" is held by Perth-based television accessory manufacturer The Novita Group Pty Ltd. Lockheed Martin formally registered opposition to the application in 2006, however the Australian government's intellectual property authority, [[IP Australia]], rejected the opposition, awarding Novita the trademark in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guan |first=Lilia |date=2008-05-27 |title=Skunkworks wins trade name battle |url=http://www.crn.com.au/News/112210,skunkworks-wins-trade-name-battle.aspx |access-date=2011-12-31 |publisher=CRN Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-05-28|title=Skunkworks wins naming right fight|url=https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Skunkworks-wins-naming-right-fight|access-date=2022-01-08|website=Business News|language=en}}</ref>