Aston sue Envisage

[Vanin]

I thought that they might be better having a go at Ford for the Mondeo and Fiesta which look more like an Aston than the Envisage product.




Luxury car manufacturer sues for breach of copyright, claiming wheel, headlight and logo designs have been copied

The Speedback GT made by Envisage Photo: Philip Hollis
By Victoria Ward5:07PM GMT 01 Feb 2015
Aston Martin Lagonda, James Bond's favourite British luxury car manufacturer, is suing a supplier alleged to have copied its designs.
It claims the Coventry-based Envisage Group used its wheel and headlight designs as well as its logo. It also accuses the company of setting set up a design business using confidential information and using its trademarked designs on a video that is in the public domain.
Envisage Group is the parent company of Envisage Manufacturing and Visioneering, which are also named in the High Court writ.
All three are accused of breaching an obligation of confidence by unlawfully using confidential information. Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) is demanding damages for infringement of copyright, design rights and trademarks.
Last year, Envisage began designing and manufacturing its own bespoke luxury cars and manufactured the prototype Speedback GT for David Brown Automotive, costing around £500,000.
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Aston Martin alleges that a video promoting the new arm of the business includes images of a car bearing its own trademarked designs, including its alloy wheel and headlight.
It has accused the company of planning to make a car using those designs as well as a sign which is “identical” to its distinctive winged logo.
The writ alleges that the supplier has purposefully copied its logo “to cause the public to make a connection” with Aston Martin, potentially causing customers to be “confused”.
It says: “There is a clear exploitation on the coat-tails of the Aston Martin Lagonda trademarks.”
The famed Warwick-based manufacturer has used Visioneering to supply its design services since 2007 and Envisage Manufacturing to supply parts and tooling since 2011.
It claims that both companies had access to copies of confidential data files containing designs of its past, current and future cars and that these files have been used by the rival business.
Aston Martin says it owns the copyright of its designs and data files.
The writ states: “It is commonly understood within the motor vehicle industry that Computer Aided Design data and standards for the parts depicted therein is confidential.”
It accuses Envisage of “unlawfully” making use of confidential information and states that as a result, it has suffered loss and damage and is entitled to claim damages.
The writ says that on entering Aston Martin premises, all employees of the defendants were required to sign a certificate of confidentiality, which includes references to “trade secrets, technical data and know-how”.
In 2013, when asked about the level of access Visioneering staff had to a virtual private network containing confidential designs, employee Bill Walsh insisted that no information had been used inappropriately
“Please rest assured at no time during the location of the AML systems in the Envisage office have they been used for the creation, modification or storage of any design geometry data for any customers other than Aston Martin,” he wrote.
The writ states that Aston Martin has produced “some of the most famous motor vehicles in the world”.
It says that all of its cars produced since 1932 bear its logo on the bonnet, the boot, steering wheel and the engine.
And it adds that the cars have appeared in 11 James Bond films, including Goldfinger. Diamonds are Forever and Casino Royale.
High profile customers include the Prince of Wales and actor Rowan Atkinson.
The Envisage Group could not be contacted for comment.

[Murph7355]

I hope AM lose. If only for bringing more attention to the Envisage which is truly awful!

It looks as much like a Ford Thunderbird to me. Nothing like current Astons and only like the old ones if you're blind.

[steveatesh]

Ha, repost

I use you for copying my post!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Vanin]

steveatesh said:

Ha, repost

I use you for copying my post!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I do hope that you mean to sue me as I do not feel like being used!!

[Vanin]

http://www.amoc.org/forum/index.php?topic=27334.20

Just look at this old thread and you can see the company that Aston really need to sue!

[Jon39]

Vanin said:

.....you can see the company that Aston really need to sue!

Perhaps a little tricky, when they paid for the factory and also the development costs of most of the current range.

Did you know this is not the first time?

[DB4DM]

And the overriders on that Zephyr are the same as DB4 and DB5. Lots of electrics in common too

[john ryan]

The DB2 ones are however MG TD - lots of inspiration there