VW Loses GTI Lawsuit Against Suzuki
WRITTEN BY HANS CHEONG, PUBLISHED ON MARCH 22, 2012, NO COMMENTS
TAGGED WITH: ,F-150, FORD, GOLF, GTI, SUZUKI, VW
Car makers can sometimes take their nameplates a bit too seriously. Last year, Ford became an Internet joke when it sued Ferrari for naming their F1 car F150, arguing that the name is too similar to its F-150 pick-up truck. Ford thought a bit too highly of its truck and actually associated it with a F1 car.
In its complaint to the US District Court in Detroit, Ford argued that Ferrari is capitalizing on Ford's investment in the F-150 nameplate. Ferrari however, acted like a proper adult and did aN easy name change and called its F1 car F150th Italia.
VW's messy divorce with Suzuki has been well publicized. However this lawsuit predates the VW-Suzuki deal talks over five years. Suzuki applied for the trademark 'Swift GTi' in 2003 and in 2004, somebody in VW decided it was a good idea to contest against Suzuki's application.
VW argues that it owns the rights to the term 'GTI' in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Austria. Which is funny because clearly there is an extremely popular non-VW GTI that has been selling France for many years - the Peugeot 200-series GTI, all four generations of them.
The European Court of Justic threw out VW's case, supporting an earlier decision by the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM).
The ruling said “OHIM correctly held that the average consumer in Sweden, Benelux, Germany, France, Italy and Austria would not assume that all vehicles, parts and accessories come from the same manufacturer simply on the basis of the combination of the three letters ‘gti’, and accordingly any likelihood of confusion was excluded.”
Here's a bit of history trivia. While VW may have popularized the whole GTI hot hatch genre, it wasn't the first to come out with the GTI name.
Way back in 1961, Maserati was the first to use the GTi name on its 3500 GTi. 'i' in small case in reference to its direct fuel injection engine grand touring concept.
Maserati today belongs to Fiat. Fiat, acted like an adult and accepted the GTI name is a commonly used term and never bothered to sue other car makers for using the name Maserati created.
One may even argue where is the 'grand touring' in the GTI when there are used by hatchback cars? Bah. Lawyers...
http://www.cbt.com.my/2012/03/22/vw-...gainst-suzuki/
WRITTEN BY HANS CHEONG, PUBLISHED ON MARCH 22, 2012, NO COMMENTS
TAGGED WITH: ,F-150, FORD, GOLF, GTI, SUZUKI, VW
Car makers can sometimes take their nameplates a bit too seriously. Last year, Ford became an Internet joke when it sued Ferrari for naming their F1 car F150, arguing that the name is too similar to its F-150 pick-up truck. Ford thought a bit too highly of its truck and actually associated it with a F1 car.
In its complaint to the US District Court in Detroit, Ford argued that Ferrari is capitalizing on Ford's investment in the F-150 nameplate. Ferrari however, acted like a proper adult and did aN easy name change and called its F1 car F150th Italia.
VW's messy divorce with Suzuki has been well publicized. However this lawsuit predates the VW-Suzuki deal talks over five years. Suzuki applied for the trademark 'Swift GTi' in 2003 and in 2004, somebody in VW decided it was a good idea to contest against Suzuki's application.
VW argues that it owns the rights to the term 'GTI' in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Austria. Which is funny because clearly there is an extremely popular non-VW GTI that has been selling France for many years - the Peugeot 200-series GTI, all four generations of them.
The European Court of Justic threw out VW's case, supporting an earlier decision by the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM).
The ruling said “OHIM correctly held that the average consumer in Sweden, Benelux, Germany, France, Italy and Austria would not assume that all vehicles, parts and accessories come from the same manufacturer simply on the basis of the combination of the three letters ‘gti’, and accordingly any likelihood of confusion was excluded.”
Here's a bit of history trivia. While VW may have popularized the whole GTI hot hatch genre, it wasn't the first to come out with the GTI name.
Way back in 1961, Maserati was the first to use the GTi name on its 3500 GTi. 'i' in small case in reference to its direct fuel injection engine grand touring concept.
Maserati today belongs to Fiat. Fiat, acted like an adult and accepted the GTI name is a commonly used term and never bothered to sue other car makers for using the name Maserati created.
One may even argue where is the 'grand touring' in the GTI when there are used by hatchback cars? Bah. Lawyers...
http://www.cbt.com.my/2012/03/22/vw-...gainst-suzuki/
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