Road Registerable Chinese Bikes

[XR6T8080]

Wesley,

You can register a colour, just try to buy a can of Malbro Red or Coke Red. These are trade marked colours. As for generic statements, go and label a software package "Wesley Windows", I bet Micro$oft have you in court with a cease and disist order before you produce the first copy.

Being in the IT industry, we see IP theft cases all the time. People leave one job, starts a new company and the origional company finds their code in the new companies software. They usually win.

I think you are being a bit general in your claims. How would you feel if I started makign whatever you have patents for, if I only called them a different name ?

patents and trademarks are different things for starters.

malbro red, is a malbro mixed colour which they have specifically made, it isnt a standard generic colour such as red. You will find that the companies dont even own these colours, they own them in combination with logos and other such things, they own them with 'conditions' attached.

what your talking about in IP theft is to do with copyright, which is another matter again.

Design patents on designs are different again in which you can have a design but it has to be unique in one way or another, and if your clever enough, you can pretty much patent any design you want, which believe it or not doesnt actually give you a leg to stand on in any other country, and since the design patent laws are different in every country, unless you register a seperate application with every single other country, your not going to be protected by those countries. This is the same with trademarks.

patents, trademarks and copyright, are completely seperate entities.

and with the 'wesley windows' thing the term windows is generic, and wesley is my name, so I would be well within my rights to use it (and yes I bet Microsoft would sue me, but it would do them no good). if you go here... http://www.abr.business.gov.au/(msj13v3s4h...tartSearch=True

you can see the amount of different business names with the word 'windows' in them. this is because its generic and cannot be tradmarked, the use of the word 'microsoft windows' is a whole term, Microsoft is a registered trademark, its the microsoft bit that's the problem.

If I tried to register Microsoft Fencing, that would be illegal, however, if my last name, or first name was Microsoft, I would be able to register and use the name, because its my name and there would be nothing anybody could do about it.

do I need to put up some scans of certificates from IP australia which is the trademark body for australia? the amount of reading we have had to do to get these through, we know the ins and outs of them.

No offence but we've spent many long hours reading over this stuff, after giving up spending many long hours and a small fortune with tradmark / patent attorneys. I can talk about this stuff all day long.

[XR6T8080]

bottom line, unless the motorbike has BMW written on the fuel tank with the same logo, exact same engine etc. theres not a thing anybody will be able to do about it.

[tmac450]

bottom line, unless the motorbike has BMW written on the fuel tank with the same logo, exact same engine etc. theres not a thing anybody will be able to do about it.

As Zap said, you're being way too general, and you don't know the full details of the Mer and BMW law suit.

Do you realise how compley cars are? One car has several hundred patients and trademarks associated with it. The Chinese would only have to breach one of the patiented parts in the car to be sued. They could also be sued for their marketing through implication (ie, the Chinese could be claiming that their cars are as safe as a Merc or BMW because they copied them, this is misleading and open to legal action by the individuals or companies effected).

I work in publishing and IP, trademarks and copyrights are apard of our everyday business. As long as there is a perceived encroachment into IP, etc, then there is a case to answer for. The law is not cut and shut, there are a lot of grey areas, and ultimately, it comes down to ther judge's interpritation of the law, regardless of the amount of registered trademarks, etc.

[XR6T8080]

As Zap said, you're being way too general, and you don't know the full details of the Mer and BMW law suit.

I work in publishing and IP, trademarks and copyrights are apard of our everyday business. As long as there is a perceived encroachment into IP, etc, then there is a case to answer for. The law is not cut and shut, there are a lot of grey areas, and ultimately, it comes down to ther judge's interpritation of the law, regardless of the amount of registered trademarks, etc.

Well I'll agree with you on the 2nd bit, it does come down to the judges interpretation of these things at the end of the day. but with the being too general comment, I wasnt the one who suggested somebody was able to trademark a colour.

trademarks, design patents, etc. are 10 year things, you would be surpised how many large companies let them expire, or dont even have them to begin with and think that putting TM on the side of the logo will get them by.

have you filed a tradmark application yourself?

[tmac450]

Yes I have, more than one.

By the way, Harley Davidson has trademarked a sound, and as you've even said, custom colour mixes have been trademarked, eg Ferrari Red, Marlbro Red, etc.

Also, in publishing, someone copying the content of a trademarked book, but using a different title, is still in breach of the trademark, I can't see that being too different in the automotive industry.

Edited 11/11/07 02:00 AM by Dagabond

[XR6T8080]

ok were getting off track here, but I said a colour by itself cannot be trademarked, the colour with other factors I.e. logos etc. can.

and I can go down to any paint shop tomorrow and get them to mix either of those colours you mentioned.

[XR6T8080]

http://www.caslon.com.au/trademarkprofile11.htm

paragraph 3 on that site, the colour by itself isnt really protected, using it with a combination of other things protects it. its more of a trademark class, than actually a tradmark, its a non-tradtitional tradmark from what ive read. the colour on its own isnt protected.