40 replies to this topic

[Jammy]

Exactly. I'm almost of the opinion that some of the parties/companies involved want to make it as confusing as possible so that no one tries, or can, make stuff using the old Rover/Mini/MG names.

However, surely, if Company B (possibly with another two letters) took you to court, they'd have to prove that they own the rights to whatever trademark/company name you were "infringing". And then possibly you could seek help from company "China" would want to lay claim to the same trademarks/companies.....

Man its a mess.

[biggav]

The chinese got totally screwed by what they bought... they literaly bought 2 models silouhette rights and the MG brand name. they produced 1 road legal "MGF" (i forget the name they call it) which was set to be "finished" in longbridge and immediatley got served with a notice from MG ROVER (the company) who still owned the IP rights to the car. they unveiled plans for the MG versions of Rover 75 and 45 and got letters from rover again over IP rights (and the fact they had been sold the Mk1 75 not Mk2 facelift which is what they had drawn up) and Honda who own the Rover 400 (honda Civic aerodeck)

Apparently, BMW were under contract to MG rover (phoenix) to supply body panels for all cars at swindon pressing as part of the deperation but when the bills weren't paid and the company went into administration, the contract was void and the pressings remained BMW property... that may not be true but i was told it by a manager at BMW Swindon who moved to Cowley.

[RobJaxon]

just like myfootballclub we should all chip in a certain amount and collectively buy/own the rights to mini.
The Mini Forum owns the rights to Mini
Sounds good ey. There is afew thousand of us on here.

[Jammy]

I doubt even with all the clubs in the UK, and all the internet forums collectively we'd have enough to both hire a legal company to navigate the legal minefield and then go and buy the rights from whoever was found to own them.

[biggav]

and even if you did, the car CANNOT GET TYPE APPROVAL FOR PRODUCTION

[Jammy]

I'm pretty sure it depends on how many you plan to build though! There are certain safety tests in America that a number of a supercar models were exempt from, purely because it would involve smashing to pieces cars like the Zonda F, the Enzo, Maclaren SLR, etc etc.

[biggav]

you can SVA each car you build if you want to i suppose.......

[M44K TS]

And they should all be the newest registration mark if thy're all new parts when being SVA'd

[Jake Blues]

who's response, the original question asked was who owns rover

My original question was "Who owns Mini?" ie classic Mini. With all the furore generated it is obvious that BMW do but...........when they are asked a question regarding classic Mini, you get a response like the one I quoted in the first post..."we don't have anything to do with it".
Very confusing!

[Ethel]

I think BMW's reply to Jake is just saying they are not responsible / no longer offer customer support for the original Mini.

Nobody can lay claim to Mini as a product (registered design) as all those rights are out of date, as Biggav said.

Tradenames and trademarks are perpetual and I believe those relating to 'Mini' and 'MINI' still belong to BMW who licence 'Mini' to BM Heritage.

I stuck up a thread a while back linking to info on the guy who registered the classic Mini's body shape as a trademark back when it still belonged to Rover. I don't think anyone has challenged that trademark but I wouldn't think BMW could be at all confident about successfully defending it. Trademarks should be original and by the 1980's when it was registered the Mini shape had been used all over the shop. It's also sharp practice seeking to misuse trademark legislation to protect a product that should be protected by patents or registered designs.

Edited by Ethel, 05 April 2008 - 05:12 PM.

[RobJaxon]

I think BMW's reply to Jake is just saying they are not responsible / no longer offer customer support for the original Mini.

Nobody can lay claim to Mini as a product (registered design) as all those rights are out of date, as Biggav said.

Tradenames and trademarks are perpetual and I believe those relating to 'Mini' and 'MINI' still belong to BMW who licence 'Mini' to BM Heritage.

I stuck up a thread a while back linking to info on the guy who registered the classic Mini's body shape as a trademark back when it still belonged to Rover. I don't think anyone has challenged that trademark but I wouldn't think BMW could be at all confident about successfully defending it. Trademarks should be original and by the 1980's when it was registered the Mini shape had been used all over the shop. It's also sharp practice seeking to misuse trademark legislation to protect a product that should be protected by patents or registered designs.

I agree. Nicely put