Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Shelby Loses Trademark Battle Over Cobra Shape

US court rules Cobra design is not the property of Shelby

---

V8-powered Cobras originally evolved...

Shelby has lost his bid to trademark the original Cobra 427 S/C shape, news that will elicit a sigh of relief from third-party makers of replica Cobras all over the world (and there have been up to 200 of those since the 1970s).

Shelby lost in a US Patent and Trademark court battle against US-based Cobra rep builder Factory Five on 13 October.

"We felt that if he [Carroll Shelby] were to get a trademark on the Cobra shape, his PR machine would use that to make the legitimate replica industry look bad," says Factory Five on its website. "Our position was that a Shelby trademark would have ignored the factual history of the car, which started life as an AC car with a Ford engine in it, as well as completely discounting the huge contributions that replica guys have made to the car's continuing legacy since the 1970's."

...from rhe humble AC Ace

We quite agree, Factory Five. It is a bit rich that Shelby should attempt to claim as an original design a shape that was basically a beefed-up AC Ace and, in our best Daily Mail tone, we reckon the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's ruling is a 'fine victory for common sense'.

"We have never denied Shelby's part in history," says Factory Five, "but he has enjoyed huge popularity, in-part, due to replicas."

You can have a more detailed look at the TTAB's ruling here

^{Black and white pic: Lothar Spurzem}

Factory Five's Own Mk4 Roadster:

[Greenwich Ross]

Oi loikes that thar replicar mowder vee-hicle!

[Dangermouse78]

Common sense ruling in a US court? Whatever next, a politician who backs up their campaign claims?!
Seriously though, this is good news.... Especially since Superperformance makes Cobra, Daytona replicas & are authorised by Shelby so if he'd won where would they be?

[McAndy]

Victory for common sense indeed! Trade-marking a shape, particularly one evolved from another, is a very shaky claim IMO. I'd be interested to know how many companies/people have successfully registered such a trademark? (Coca-Cola? Apple?)

[Teggers]

Wasn't there a case a while ago where Lotus tried to trademark the Esprit shape? Anyone know the result of that?

Still, this is a good and sensible ruling - means we still get to oogle the fine shape of this car at shows around the world. And even with the occasional owner who actually drives it on the road!!!

[C2james]

Teggers said:

Wasn't there a case a while ago where Lotus tried to trademark the Esprit shape? Anyone know the result of that?

Still, this is a good and sensible ruling - means we still get to oogle the fine shape of this car at shows around the
world. And even with the occasional
owner who actually drives it on the
road!!!

Yeah on old episode of topgear had this story, what they did was send people a fax with the shape of an esprit on it, then asked people to send a message back to them saying it's a lotus so they could copyright it, I don't know the out come of the case.

[TheEnd]

C2james said:

Teggers said:

Wasn't there a case a while ago where Lotus tried to trademark the Esprit shape? Anyone know the result of that?

Still, this is a good and sensible ruling - means we still get to oogle the fine shape of this car at shows around the
world. And even with the occasional
owner who actually drives it on the
road!!!

Yeah on old episode of topgear had this story, what they did was send people a fax with the shape of an esprit on it, then asked people to send a message back to them saying it's a lotus so they could copyright it, I don't know the out come of the case.

The Esprit?
Would there be any links to the other popular kit car which is the Lotus 7 clones?
I didn't think the Esprit ever got to a stage where the shape needed protection.

[Stuart]

Greenwich Ross said:

Oi loikes that thar replicar mowder vee-hicle!

Carroll Shelby is from Taunton? That's news to me.

[Riggers]

C2james said:

Teggers said:

Wasn't there a case a while ago where Lotus tried to trademark the Esprit shape? Anyone know the result of that?

Still, this is a good and sensible ruling - means we still get to oogle the fine shape of this car at shows around the
world. And even with the occasional
owner who actually drives it on the
road!!!

Yeah on old episode of topgear had this story, what they did was send people a fax with the shape of an esprit on it, then asked people to send a message back to them saying it's a lotus so they could copyright it, I don't know the out come of the case.

Hope Lotus hasn't seen this, then... it would show how full of holes a claim like that would be ()

[RichardR]

Surely this would be akin to Alpina trying to trademark the shape of a 3 or 5 series BMW just because they'd shoehorned in a more powerful engine and flared the arches?



Edited for dodgy typing on crap Blackberry browser

Edited by RichardR on Wednesday 3rd November 22:55

[AndrewW-G]

This could have been very interesting if it had gone Shelby's way . . . . . no doubt AC could have then taken action against Shelby and Touring could then have gone after AC

Nice to see for once that the grasping chicken farmer wasn’t for once able to claim somebody else’s work as his own

[Agent Orange]

Copyright/trademark/intellectual property rights is hardly an area expertise of mine but this seems bizarre the case even made it to court.

I thought Shelby was a racer that just so happened to use an AC Ace with a big engine. AC Cars made the Cobra. Shelby's team just race prepped them. Simplistic view I appreciate but that's about right isn't it?

Surely the shape is therefore owned by AC Cars - whoever that is now.

RichardR said:

Surely this would be akin to Alpina trying to trademark the shape of a 3 or 5 series BMW just because they'd shoehorrned in a more poweful engine and flared the arches?

Quite!

Edited by Agent Orange on Wednesday 3rd November 17:39

[tonym911]

Anything for a buck. Harley-Davidson tried to copyright the 'potato-potato' idling sound of their V-twins a few years back, not sure if they won that one.

[AndrewW-G]

Agent Orange said:

I thought Shelby was a racer that just so happened to use an AC Ace with a big engine. AC Cars made the Cobra. Shelby's team just race prepped them. Simplistic view I appreciate but that's about right isn't it?

Not really, Shelby wanted a light European sports car with a big engine for racing, following his time at Aston, so he approached AC and Ford and agreed that if AC built them, he would market them in the states as Shelby and AC could market them to the rest of the world as AC's, this coupled with Shelby putting the motors in once the completed cars got to the US and the colonials love of hijacking anybody else’s success, led to all the confusion . . . . . . it’s almost as much fun to wind the colonials up about it as it is to remind them that the US legend that was the GT40, was built and designed in the UK

[Fire99]

tonym911 said:

Anything for a buck. Harley-Davidson tried to copyright the 'potato-potato' idling sound of their V-twins a few years back, not sure if they won that one.

Nope, I think they lost that one too.

[Twincam16]

Agent Orange said:

Copyright/trademark/intellectual property rights is hardly an area expertise of mine but this seems bizarre the case even made it to court.

I thought Shelby was a racer that just so happened to use an AC Ace with a big engine. AC Cars made the Cobra. Shelby's team just race prepped them. Simplistic view I appreciate but that's about right isn't it?

Surely the shape is therefore owned by AC Cars - whoever that is now.

RichardR said:

Surely this would be akin to Alpina trying to trademark the shape of a 3 or 5 series BMW just because they'd shoehorrned in a more poweful engine and flared the arches?

Quite!

Edited by Agent Orange on Wednesday 3rd November 17:39

Surely the only person who could trademark the shape would be John Tojeiro?

[AndrewW-G]

Twincam16 said:

Surely the only person who could trademark the shape would be John Tojeiro?

Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni

[Astacus]

Oh Boy a legitimate excuse for reading PH at work!

Nice try Mr S, but as they say, "No Cigar!"

Lack of distinctiveness indeed!

[soad]

Absolutely fantastic shape - just look at those curves

[chickensoup]

AndrewW-G said:

Twincam16 said:

Surely the only person who could trademark the shape would be John Tojeiro?

Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni

Hav eto agree that it would be a bit rich for Shelby to "own" the rights to a rip off of a Barchetta with flared wings

This sits nicely with the picture above

Edited by chickensoup on Wednesday 3rd November 19:20

[Rotary Madness]

soad said:

Absolutely fantastic shape - just look at those curves

Mis-matched front tyres unless im blind?