RE: Mercedes has Gullwing replica crushed

[Bladedancer]

That's so... German of them.
Thanks for being stick in the mud.

You don't make these anymore but hey, spoil people's fun.

[Johnboy Mac]

OllieC said:

how very German

What a laugh.

Check out Rolls Royce's (including prior to German ownership) & Ferrari's policies to name just two. Nothing to do with being German.

Edited by Johnboy Mac on Friday 23 March 18:39

[Johnboy Mac]

Flat_Steve said:

My opinion is that it must've been a small kit car company that made this, I find it hard to believe they'd jump up and down on someone's dreams

Sounds about right.

[crazy about cars]

Well done, I'd burn it.

[TheOrangePeril]

raymondmarble said:

If this was some company's mould or prototype for making money from, then fair enough. But if this was something some guy built in his shed for his own use because he could never afford and original, then its a bit harsh

Surely it wouldn't be a breach of copyright if built privately for private use and private sale? I can cover as many Beatles songs as I like for Youtube or paint as many Warhol copies as I desire as long as their use/sale is non-commercial.

[mybrainhurts]

The Danimal said:

Blimey... they're not messing about.

Ve are German. Germans do not mess about, und you did not get avay mit mentioning zer war...

[Steffan]

TheOrangePeril said:

raymondmarble said:

If this was some company's mould or prototype for making money from, then fair enough. But if this was something some guy built in his shed for his own use because he could never afford and original, then its a bit harsh

Surely it wouldn't be a breach of copyright if built privately for private use and private sale? I can cover as many Beatles songs as I like for Youtube or paint as many Warhol copies as I desire as long as their use/sale is non-commercial.

But you cannot call yourself the Beatles and represent yourself to be the Beatles.

IMO by badging the car as a Mercedes and copying the shape so closely, that is what the owners are doing with such cars. It is clearly an infringement of trademark and copyright. The German law is right.

If the owner of the copyright objects, then it must be game over.

[vintageracer01]

ONE MORE REASON TO NEVER EVER BUY A MERCEDES OR FERRARI !!!!

I hate this attitude towards replicas !!!!

The originals are over 30 Years old!
Mercedes has exploited all the earnings from it. Or Ferrari who have a similar attitude.
I cannot see where Mercedes is harmed here in any way?????????????????
The originals are clearly distinguishable from a replica!
And there is NO CLEAR EVIDENCE that replicas harm the market for original cars!
I even believe replicas help to keep the spirit alive and RAISE the prices of the originals!!!
So WTF...!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just an egocentric nonscense of some DUMP company managment along the lines "We are all you are nothing.

These companies do not realise that they disqualify themselves and build a bad image for the wide public. I even cannot believe that a keen collector is bothered about it as long as these replicas are not EXACT copies even in material and all in order to betray people to be sold a copy as an original!!!

Any medicine can be counterfeit after 30 years, many ideas lose their patent rights or copyrights after some time. Otherwise there would ONE telefon producer, ONE light bulb producer etc. Royalty payments od not go forever as far as I understand!

So why this crap here?

Here I prefere very much the attitude of Jaguar or Porsche or even Shelby or Ford.
You have proper companies who built D-Typs, C-Types, 550 RS,356, 904, 917 and Cobras.
Few Ford Hot Rods would be possible if small companies would not re-mold '32 or '34 or T-bucked bodies.
This keeps the spirit alive, also normal people of today can enjoy the pleasure of driving
at least a replica while the originals go into the million-gazillions...

No Mercedes or Ferrari for me there ever!

[BarnatosGhost]

If this was a story about sony seizing and destroying counterfeit dvd players we wouldn't have any complaints. No different.

[Skyedriver]

Caterham v Westfield
Westfield had to crush all their jigs etc and change their design to stop infringement

[matlee]

At which point can a car be classed as not being a replica? how much do the dimensions and styling need to differ?

[Steffan]

Skyedriver said:

Caterham v Westfield
Westfield had to crush all their jigs etc and change their design to stop infringement

Its a bit more complicated than that.

Westfield gave certain undertakings to Caterham in an out of Court settlement I think if I remember correctly. I do not think this was franked by the court.

I think the big issue was the use of the 7 logo and title.

Interestingly Caterham subsequently lost the case against Birkin http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/1998/44.html

That is really the deciding case IMO.

This pretty well established that the shape of a car cannot be copyrighted. Very difficult to claim copyright to a shape.

However the Trade Mark protection and Manufacturers rights make the use of the make of car eg Mercedes/Ferrari and deliberate cloning of a vehicle completely illegal.

Although we are not as aggressive with this as is German copyright law, I cannot see any vehicle registered and marked as the car of a manufacturer which is actually a complete sham copy being allowed on the road if the manufacturer takes this up.

I would expect this to be regarded by the Courts as misrepresentation at best. How can it not be misrepresentation? The car is not what it claims to be.

Clone runners rely on not being noticed. A risky approach as this case shows.

[Zed Ed]

I can't think of a behaviour less likely to make me buy a new car.

Just indicative of a car manufacturer in decline

[dealmaker]

BarnatosGhost said:

If this was a story about sony seizing and destroying counterfeit dvd players we wouldn't have any complaints. No different.

Not quite.....

It's more like someone making replicas of 1950's Decca Radiogrammes - would anyone really care today?? Only people who want to buy a 1950's Decca replica.......

[MSPV12]

ralphrj said:

Actually the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Fellbach buys, restores and sells original Gullwings (they will buy any Gullwing in any condition). Typically these sell for €200-300k.

If they allowed replica bodies or cars to be produced the value of original gullwings would fall leaving MB and other Gullwing owners out of pocket.

http://www.mercedes-benz-classic.com/content/class...

Rollocks! Anyone who ca afford a real one wouldn't buy a replica. Is the monalisa less valuable because someone painted a copy?

[BarnatosGhost]

dealmaker said:

BarnatosGhost said:

If this was a story about sony seizing and destroying counterfeit dvd players we wouldn't have any complaints. No different.

Not quite.....

It's more like someone making replicas of 1950's Decca Radiogrammes - would anyone really care today?? Only people who want to buy a 1950's Decca replica.......

And the people who might want to sell them an original.

[MSPV12]

Carfolio said:

Good. One less faker faking ;-)

To be a faker, one must be guilty of attempting to pass off a copy as original. There is no evidence that this was the case in this instance.

One must remove the blinkers of the small mind before exposing oneself as a tt

[MSPV12]

johnpeat said:

All st like this does is buy lawyers new yachts and wings for their mansions...

It's bullying bullst from a company which should know better. How little do I have to change a car to make it not the same 'design' - add 2" to the wheelbase? 3" to the width?? 1degree of angle to the front wing???

We need to stop feeding this nonsense and grow up - it's a car ffs, if someone wants a replica, let them get on with it...

Imagine if all this legal bluster and bullst had been invented before the wheel - MB would be royally fked

+1000

Well said that man!

[SlipStream77]

30 tonnes of pressure?

That's a pretty un-German mistake, tonnes is a unit of mass.

[BarnatosGhost]

MSPV12 said:

Carfolio said:

Good. One less faker faking ;-)

To be a faker, one must be guilty of attempting to pass off a copy as original. There is no evidence that this was the case in this instance.

One must remove the blinkers of the small mind before exposing oneself as a tt

Well, if it had looked like a mkI Fiesta with a Mercedes badge, then fine. But it looked just like a Mercedes 300SL...

The very reason for its creation was to be fake.