Trademark
-
Rumors of a Lexus sports car carrying the GS F banner have been circulating since 2010 or so, at times producing details like “it will come to market with a supercharged V-8,” or “it’s getting an all-new V-8.” While no GS F has yet materialized, the 2011 debut of the Lexus GS 350 F Sport at least showed the luxury automaker’s intent to build a sporty sedan larger than its IS F, which may be discontinued following the 2013 model year. While Lexus is keeping future plans under wraps, the brand has recently filed for a trademark on the GS F name, but only in...
-
Will Lexus' Upcoming Compact Crossover Be Called The NX?In September, prior to the Paris Auto Show, we caught word that Lexus was working on an all-new compact crossover. At the time, we expected the new grocery-getter model to debut in Paris, but instead, Lexus surprised us with the LF-CC concept. That doesn’t mean that a Lexus-badged compact...
Kurt Ernst -
Toyota Going High-Tech With Its Interiors
According to trademark applications filed by Toyota, customers may soon enjoy a touch-sensitive dashboard and inductive charging for mobile devices, which could potentially increase the Japanese automaker’s appeal among tech-savvy new car shoppers. Touch sensitive displays are nothing new, as...
Kurt Ernst -
GM Trademarks 'Electra' Name, New Buick Model In The Works?
The world of trademarks is a bit sketchy when it comes to automotive planning. Names of cars are dutifully protected--losing the rights to a name could cause lots of trouble. Sometimes, we even get an inkling of future product through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's public database. The...
Nelson Ireson -
GM Trademarks “Cadillac LTS” Name
Cadillac is revitalizing its entire lineup with the latest technology and best-in-class dynamic performance so that one day people may look to the brand and consider it the ‘Standard of the World’ once again. We’ve already started to see this with the launch of the new 2013...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: Ford Suing Ferrari Over F150 F1 Car Name
Silly as it may sound, trademark law is a curious thing, and Ford is moving to stop use of the F150 name (though note the lack of hyphenation) used by Ferrari for its latest Formula 1 car. The name was chosen by the Italian firm to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the country's unification. Ford...
Nelson Ireson -
The Audi RS line of cars are a range of high performance models built completely in-house by the automaker’s quattro division. Designed to compete with BMW’s M Division and Mercedes-Benz AMG, Audi RS models have a reputation for being consistently more extreme than their Teutonic rivals but sadly, in the United States, their range has been virtually non-existent. While that’s all set to change with the arrival of the TT RS later this year and the RS 5 sometime in 2012, there could always be another model or two, especially when you consider how many different models AMG and...
-
Geely says Rolls Royce's copy claims are baseless
China's car industry is infamous for its tendency to 'borrow' details from European carmakers, often to the point where the word 'clone' is used with some accuracy. The latest car to catch legal heat for the practice: Geely's GE, a remarkably obvious take on the Rolls Royce Phantom. But Geely...
Kenneth Hall -
Mercedes celebrates 100th anniversary of trademark with special-edition CL 500
A whole range of 100-year celebrations have been going on in the automotive industry as the giants that started this four-wheeled industry reach their century marks. Today Mercedes Benz celebrates the 100th birthday of its iconic three-pointed star and Benz emblems with the release of a...
Nelson Ireson -
European trademark filing reveals Nissan 370Z Roadster sketches
Europe's Office for Harmonization of the Internal Market (OHIM) maintains a trademark database that helps to ensure a minimum of conflict and easy filing for claims. That same database also lets slip basic sketches of car designs before their official unveiling on a regular basis, and this time the...
Nelson Ireson -
Daimler on verge of settling Smart ForTwo clone car suit in Europe
For more than a year now, Mercedes' parent company Daimler has pursued a copyright infringement case against Chinese carmaker Shuanghuan for its Bubble, a blatant knock-off of the Smart ForTwo minicar. A recent holding in a Milanese court has put the German company on the back foot, however, and...
Nelson Ireson -
Lexus registers LFA trademark with USPTO
Speculation that the Lexus LF-A supercar project had been axed several months ago was refuted to some degree by ongoing testing of the car at the Nurburgring. Now a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has breathed new life into the car's possible production, though the company still...
Nelson Ireson -
A number of Ford-brand enthusiast sites today revealed that at least one other site, TheRangerStation, has received a letter from a law firm claiming to represent the Blue Oval, demanding that they relinquish any domain names with Ford brands in them, as well as turn over for destruction all merchandise with Ford logos, in addition to demanding $5,000 for trademark infringement. New updates on the issue from Ford reveal that the root cause of the matter is the alleged sale of counterfeit Ford goods, including a range of decals and logos using Ford trademarks. Speaking with MotorAuthority...
-
Jaguar Trademarks Reveal Plans For New C-XE And C-XJ
There have been plenty of rumors circulating about Jaguar planning a new lightweight sports car to rival the likes of the Porsche 911 but until recently we haven’t had any substantial evidence that officials were even contemplating launching a new car. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show back...
Alex Kaufmann -
Ferrari Trademarks 'GT California' For New Model?
The rumors surrounding Ferrari's Dino-that-can't-be-called-a-Dino have dominated much of the Ferrari-related press lately, but it looks like Ferrari has something else up its sleeve for Detroit. As we reported two weeks ago, it is widely speculated that the so-called GT California will be a 2+2...
Nelson Ireson
