paul.hunt1@virgin.net wrote:
>
> This happened some years ago with the use of 'MG'. I have some sympathy for
> the legal position if not for BMW, for whilst most if not all current usage
> is for parts for original cars, unless they clamp down now on the use of the
> name and logo they will have no recourse in law if someone in the future
> starts making a car and calling it an 'MG' or a 'Mini', since the terms will
> be deemed to have passed into the public domain. As far as the use of 'MG'
> was concerned suppliers could either change their name, letterheads etc, or
> pay a licence fee, but that is expensive.
This has been discussed interminably on the various Mini lists and
newsgroups.
The anomaly is that the car is very much slated toward the US market
and they have not done any of their threatening here in the USA. The
consensus suspicion is that the former owner of the name and logo
did none of this "brand protection" here and there is a 42-year
record of this non-intervention, so they try to frighten the UK and
Canada businesses (even if they're wrong, they have the phalanxes of
tame lawyers on retainer), but lay off the US-based businesses. It
seems our laws are different and they may well have already lost the
brand by the past history (just as Bayer lost "Aspirin" here, but
not in the UK or Canada). If they press it here, they may lose, and
then they would be even worse off.
Another perhaps cogent point: the world is full of mini-doughnuts,
miniskirts, minivans, etc. But not MG-doughnuts, etc.
-Rock http://www.rocky-frisco.com
--
Red Dirt Rangers (Rocky on piano): http://www.reddirtrangers.com
JJ Cale Live (w/Rocky): http://www.rocky-frisco.com/calelive.htm
The Luggage Fan Club: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/luggage-fans
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