Slate Grey with Burgundy Interior JPS for Sale

Another beautiful car Troy.

Not a fan of burgundy seats but that combination is beautiful

Beautiful car!

Stunning car Troy.

Great looking Troy. Hope you a good buyer whom will also join the madness. 

Thanks for all the nice comments, it really is one of the nicest I've ever had.  

I'm sure it would already be sold if eBay would allow it to be posted, but they won't, so it's going to take a little longer than usual.

I always tell new owners about the SOC, many times even before they have bought one, so they can do their due diligence.

Someone made an offer on my beauty today. I was tempted to upgrade.

Why wouldn't Ebay allow it?  I have sold some odd stuff there over the years with no problems.  My only negative out of hundreds of transactions was when I was ticked off because I charge 5 bucks to cut plywood to protect old 33rpm records for shipment and that was in the shipping description!  It is a beauty of a car! 

Gorgeous car

Z

Jim, ebay has Porsche's lawyers up their butt. Anything that could possibly be construed as trademark infringement is flagged. Even though Troy(and others) carefully remove ANY and all Porsche references in the ad copy and blur the badges with photoshop, it doesn't seem to always be enough. And once your add is flagged it is impossible to get it un-flagged.

I'm currently waiting on a reply from the Porsche attorney who is responsible for having eBay delete ads.  My discussions with eBay have been fruitless.  When I ask the eBay VeRO team to show me where the problem is they say they don't know.  They say they just do what the Porsche attorneys tell them to do and I need to contact Porsche.

In my previous email from the Porsche attorney he specifically said the name Porsche can not be used in the ad and no emblems with the Porsche logo or the Porsche, Carrera, Spyder or Porsche Speedster script are allowed, they are considered trademark violations.

I believe that my ad did not violate any of these restrictions, but they deleted it anyway.

Porsche allows the cars to be built, so it isn't an issue with the body. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Overkill on Porsche's part and E-bay is forgetting who their customer is. They are more concerned with Porsche's deep pockets and ability to sue than they are with the relatively small community of replica Speedster enthusiasts who aren't organized enough to pose a threat to them.

Simple business risk calculation.

Panhandle Bob posted:

Overkill on Porsche's part and E-bay is forgetting who their customer is. They are more concerned with Porsche's deep pockets and ability to sue than they are with the relatively small community of replica Speedster enthusiasts who aren't organized enough to pose a threat to them.

Simple business risk calculation.

Hmmm????  Well, eBay has "deep pockets" too!  I wonder if there is a case here???

This is what my eBay ad looked like, it was in the Replica category.

http://67.181.190.107/replicaspeedster_eBay.htm

Yeah, Troy, they have deep pockets and they don't want them exposed to a lawsuit from Porsche or anybody else. Those things have a way of reverberating around and effecting other parts of a business that deals with all kinds of different brands, and all kinds of potential replica products.

I'm on your side but I believe that their legal team has probably done the calculations and assessed the risk on this and other situations where big brand owners  could sue them. More upside in blocking you than tempting Porsche.

I'm not an attorney. My comments are based on over thirty years in the ethical pharmaceutical business where we would sue at the drop of a hat if we thought any of our brands were threatened in any way, and we had that policy everywhere on the planet. Most of the time the mere threat of a suit shut down anybody we encountered that we believed was a threat. And, we didn't care about the depths of their pockets.

What I was suggesting was that maybe there could be a case against eBay here.

Well, go after them.

Troy, what the asking price and who was the builder?

Troy Sloan posted:

Panhandle Bob posted:

Overkill on Porsche's part and E-bay is forgetting who their customer is. They are more concerned with Porsche's deep pockets and ability to sue than they are with the relatively small community of replica Speedster enthusiasts who aren't organized enough to pose a threat to them.

Simple business risk calculation.

Hmmm????  Well, eBay has "deep pockets" too!  I wonder if there is a case here???

This is what my eBay ad looked like, it was in the Replica category.

http://67.181.190.107/replicaspeedster_eBay.htm

 

14 photos included the "Speedster" script on the sides of the car. Does that count?

@Troy Sloan

Porsche does not own the copyright likeness for the Speedster body or the Speedster name.  eBay  is a Porsche puppet. and someone needs to call them on the carpet for pulling ads when  there is no wording - reference,  badging or Porsche scripts are in place.   FYI  Shelby went after Factory Five Racing years ago for body likeness infringement and FFR won which benefitted all the other Cobra manufactures.  Send a few bucks and send a certified letter to eBay with details and related references. 

Porsche attorneys would disagree strongly with Alan's statement above, regarding ownership of the Speedster name and shape, since the Porsche corporation states in clear terms that they own both. 

Iconic shapes, like the Speedster body or the Coco-Cola bottle, are routinely given copyright status in the US.

While Porsche may not pursue enforcement of copyright on Speedster replicas, they would never agree that they have forfeited any rights to trade dress or trade name rights.  The Porsche legal team periodically renews and republishes the company policy regarding copyrights.  It's easy to find published Porsche policy by Googling around.   As I always suggest, do your own research from several sources and act accordingly.

Here is what is on the Porsche website:

Trademarks

Porsche, Porsche Crest, Porsche Design, 718, 911, Spyder, Carrera, Targa, Tiptronic, Porsche Speedster, Macan, Varioram, VarioCam, Boxster, Cayenne, Porsche Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, Tequipment, "Porsche. There is no Substitute.", RS, 4S, Porsche Bike S, PCCB, PCM, PDK, and other Porsche product names, model numbers, logos, commercial symbols, trade names and slogans are trademarks and the distinctive shapes of Porsche automobiles are trade dress of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG ("PAG") and are protected by U.S. and international trademark laws. You are prohibited from using any of the marks appearing on this website without the express prior written consent of PAG, except as permitted by applicable laws. Other marks and logos shown on this website may be marks owned by third parties not affiliated with Porsche and are used with permission. Nothing shown on this website should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any permission, license or right to use any trademark, service mark or trade name displayed on this website without the written permission of PAG or the third party owner. The use of any Porsche logo or mark, whether registered or unregistered, as a hyperlink to this website or any other Porsche website is strictly prohibited unless consented to in writing by PAG.

So they don't own or have a Trademark on the "Speedster" name but they do of course have a Trademark on the "Porsche Speedster" name. In answer to my own question above, the "Speedster" script on the side of the car should be okay.

Jim is right that they do whatever they can to protect the mark.

Speedster was used by many other makers hence no copyright on that word alone.... but if they could

Mfgr's who have used Speedster in the name of a vehicle:

Auburn

Aston Martin

Noble

Porsche

Vanderhall-Venice (3 wheeler)

There are probably more. 

Robert M posted:

Troy Sloan posted:

Panhandle Bob posted:

Overkill on Porsche's part and E-bay is forgetting who their customer is. They are more concerned with Porsche's deep pockets and ability to sue than they are with the relatively small community of replica Speedster enthusiasts who aren't organized enough to pose a threat to them.

Simple business risk calculation.

Hmmm????  Well, eBay has "deep pockets" too!  I wonder if there is a case here???

This is what my eBay ad looked like, it was in the Replica category.

http://67.181.190.107/replicaspeedster_eBay.htm

 

14 photos included the "Speedster" script on the sides of the car. Does that count?

@Troy Sloan

Not according to the letter the Porsche attorney sent me several weeks ago when they deleted my Black Speedster.

@Robert M

"Spyders" have been elsewhere as well. Mitsubishi has one.

Porsche owns "Porsche speedster" but not..." Speedster " . Porsche has never enforced the Speedster body - trade dress infringement. If they were to do so  replica manufactures would not be in business .  Same scenario as I mentioned with Shelby vs. Factory Five Racing

One of my favs is the Corvair Spyder.

Get your own attorney and go after them, Troy. Just remember, they don't need to win, they just need to make it so expensive to adjudicate that there is no financial upside to doing it. But, there is always the issue of principle to be upheld.

Troy Sloan posted:

Panhandle Bob posted:

Overkill on Porsche's part and E-bay is forgetting who their customer is. They are more concerned with Porsche's deep pockets and ability to sue than they are with the relatively small community of replica Speedster enthusiasts who aren't organized enough to pose a threat to them.

Simple business risk calculation.

Hmmm????  Well, eBay has "deep pockets" too!  I wonder if there is a case here???

This is what my eBay ad looked like, it was in the Replica category.

http://67.181.190.107/replicaspeedster_eBay.htm

 

Troy, maybe the fact that your ad even says the car has the offending scripts but are just taped over? ie their interpretation is the car can't have the Porsche trademarks, not just show them?

Jim Kelly posted:

Porsche attorneys would disagree strongly with Alan's statement above, regarding ownership of the Speedster name and shape, since the Porsche corporation states in clear terms that they own both. 

Iconic shapes, like the Speedster body or the Coco-Cola bottle, are routinely given copyright status in the US.

While Porsche may not pursue enforcement of copyright on Speedster replicas, they would never agree that they have forfeited any rights to trade dress or trade name rights.  The Porsche legal team periodically renews and republishes the company policy regarding copyrights.  It's easy to find published Porsche policy by Googling around.   As I always suggest, do your own research from several sources and act accordingly.

We've been fortunate that Porsche has not rigorously enforced their trademarks in the past. It would seem that they have decided to enforce them more aggressively on eBay now. In eBay, they seem to have found someone to do the heavy lifting for them.

The future? I've got no idea. But it does seem that since Porsche became a subsidiary of VW, the tone has changed somewhat. VW has a long history of vigorous defense of it's trademarks.

Look out Nuckels! Double whammy.

The guys who know best about all this, I assume, are the builders of replicas.

Panhandle Bob posted:

Look out Nuckels! Double whammy.

Bob, if I ever decided to sell Penny I would market her as a Volkswagen Speedster. It's what she is - the registration proves it.

My Slate Grey JPS is now on The Samba.  The first person who comes to see it will be the one who buys it. 

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/cl...etail.php?id=2209785

Troy Sloan posted:

My Slate Grey JPS is now on The Samba.  The first person who comes to see it will be the one who buys it. 

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/cl...etail.php?id=2209785

Hi Troy,

I saw on the web that you were going to have a Seafoam Green over  tan leather  Speedster for sale I think this is in the  future  and I would like to get a jump on it.

If this is true can you get in touch with me as I am getting ready to order one built custom in Light Blue metallic over Tan and I would like to see what this is going to look like.

Bob Burton

Sent you a PM Bob.  @Bob Burton

Please post "sold" at the top if this listing. Interesting but way too much time spent on finding out that it is no longer available in the Samba link.

link.

Joe in NH 

joe18d posted:

Please post "sold" at the top if this listing. Interesting but way too much time spent on finding out that it is no longer available in the Samba link.

link.

Joe in NH 

Sorry Joe.  As you can see in the link I inactivated the Samba ad several weeks ago when the car sold, but I wasn't aware that it could still be seen.  I'll delete it.

There is no option for posting sold at the top of this thread. 

However, did you see the beautiful Seafoam Green Vintage Speedster I currently have for sale.  It's even nicer than the Slate Grey one. Here's the link  Http://www.replicaspeedsters.com 

It's also on eBay. @joe18d