Years ago I worked in Orlando and watched in horror as Disney cracked down on people making Mickey Mouse cakes. One story I recall was that CEO Michael Eisner ordered a Disney-themed cake for his own kid's birthday party from a bakery in Anaheim and then sued the guy when he delivered it.
Trademark law is rough trade.
Art, without quoting the entire post, you wrote that my comments about brand and trademark protection were not logical, even for a moment. And that the revenues of all the replica manufacturers amount to nothing compared to Group VW revenue.
Well, both your comments are true. But they have nothing to do with brand and trademark protection.
It's not about revenue comparisons or logic. It has nothing to do with the revenue generated by the company illegally using a protected trademark.It's about the law.
If a company fails to protect it's trademark, there comes a point when a judge might rule that they have abandoned it.
At it's simplest, "...it is possible to lose rights in a mark by allowing third parties to use the mark without controlling how it is used."
That quote is from this site. And there's lots more detail to be learned if you peruse the entire page. http://www.inta.org/TrademarkB...RightsFactSheet.aspx
Porsche comes across looking like the bad guy here, picking on innocent small businessmen.
But the reality is that they have to act. If they don't, the damage could be irreparable. I guess in this case, they finally had enough.
I don't really buy JPS's comment that owners posting pictures on their Facebook page was the problem. A quick walk around JPS's web site, and you will see the Porsche brand all over the place. They pushed it a bit too far. and Porsche had to act.
As far as "the owners affixing Porsche badging to JPS cars"- I had a new JPS build in 2002. Porsche badges were an option on the check-list. It was an option-box I ticked and then regretted every day afterward. Whatever that car was, it wasn't a Porsche. Maybe if it had a Type 4 or a 912 engine in it I would've felt differently, but the only Porsche part on the car was the badge proclaiming what it wasn't.
I've banged this drum for 10 years, but I'll throw it out one more time because I'm an opinionated old man:
I know exactly what my car is: the best custom car I could afford (and build parts of myself), working within some self-imposed limitations. Whatever this thing is, it's mine like no other car ever has been.
... but it's not a Porsche. It has no badging to claim it is. It's an Intermeccanica, and an outlaw in the Emory sense of the word. I'm happy to have badges proclaiming it's origins in Vancouver rather than Stuttgart.
If a guy wants to put Porsche badges on his speedster, or his Kia, or his E350- that's fine with me. IMHO, if a builder does it, it crosses a line. If I ran VW auto group or the Porsche division, I'd guard my copyright pretty jealously as well. I'd also have fixed the RMS/IMS madness before it tarnished an entire decade's worth of otherwise extraordinary cars, but that's another matter, and well above my pay-grade.
John Steele will land on his feet. I'm not sure how, but he always does.
"John Steele will land on his feet. I'm not sure how, but he always does."
Yup.....time, after time, after time, after time.
For decades, now......
Here are the P settlement facts that I've verified prior to this post.
Porsche claims that they do not want to stop replicas, they just want to protect their name and trademarks.
Porsche tried to claim the words "speedster" and "spyder" and that claim was legally challenged and Porsche dropped that claim.
Porsche also claimed ownership of the numbers 356, 550 . They were granted the rights to those numbers in court a couple of years ago. Porsche also claimed ownership to several things they do not own, like the #130 and "Little Bastard".
Porsche attorneys are out there watching Face Book and the SOC.
The 1%'s always come out on top. Those little ba$tard$.
Thanks for the post!
Only if they badge 'em, Marty...
..and sell 'em.
Marty there in even more trouble calling them Mercedes!
Terry don't you mean "brand them"
Stan,you may be opinionated,but you certainly are not old! Wipper snapper!
There are those that are extremely well schooled in the law(mans),and take full advantage of ambiguities,loopholes and the like. A day will come when all men will stand before GOD,and account for how they live their lives and how they have treated others. None of us is exempt from missing the mark on occasion. I believe that if you are looking for justice or fairness in this life,it isn't going to happen! The only true justice is GOD's justice, and all men will eventually "pay the piper". Good,bad or indifferent,your past always catches up with you.
