Thys Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 The quote below just landed on one of our local 4x4 forums. What is the situation in the UK regarding the use of the Land Rover name, or for that matter names like Landy etc? "Big Daddy Jaguar Land Rover has just got cross. Patent Attorneys Spoor and Fisher are sending out letters to all of the independent repairer’s (INDY's), new parts suppliers , secondhand parts suppliers and accessory builders and fitters that they may no longer quote the names Land Rover, Range Rover, Freelander, Defender, Rover, Landy, Landie , and Landi in their business names or advertising materials. Now over and above their international trade marks they have registered Landy, Landie and Landi in South Africa as a trade mark. There are some independent operators that have been going for years, as much as 35 to 40 years plus. These were the people who propped up the brand during the cold war days when BMW was in control. Land Rovers rating was rock bottom. Poor products and even poorer service delivery. The very same industry that contributes to millions of rands to their coffers in parts sales each year, keeps Land Rover owners happy and brand loyal, and go on to buy new Defenders, Disco 3 and 4’s,Range Rovers and Freelanders etc. They want to close it down or make it very difficult to trade. Their very own dealers don’t want to work on the old Defenders and Disco’s and most certainly not the Freelander 1 because they no longer have the expertise. That’s why a lot of the dealers pass that work onto the INDY’s. Just imagine if all of the INDY’S closed shop for a month, how would the dealers cope. Please, they can’t even cope with their existing work load of cars under motor plan." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozsug Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Would this be better posted in the International forum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Nothing new. BMW put the same sort of thing out when the bought Land Rover. One independent near me had to change all his signs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 IIRC FORD did exactly the same too, just to reinforce their ownership of the name, my local LR parts supplier had to change his business name from Land Rover Parts of Camborne to LRP of Camborne, but it still means the same, maybe they are panicing about the huge Chinese market & possibly infringements & counterfieting of the badge/name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 So ... if you are selling spare parts you now have to have them on your website as "Parts supplier for 4x4 vehicles made by a company that cannot be named but used to be British and then German and is now Indian" Ridiculous - they'd never make it stick apart from perhaps banning the use of it in company/business names like "XYZ Land Rover" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutty_32 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I think you can still say you supply / stock / service / specialise in Land Rovers, you just can't have Land Rover in your company title, like "Bucks Land Rover" for example unless you're a genuine dealer. I certainly don't want the little guy to disappear, but it seems fair enough (can't call you're corner shop "High St Tesco") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMc Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I think you can still say you supply / stock / service / specialise in Land Rovers, you just can't have Land Rover in your company title, like "Bucks Land Rover" for example unless you're a genuine dealer. I certainly don't want the little guy to disappear, but it seems fair enough (can't call you're corner shop "High St Tesco") When I used to travel into London by train every morning, I used to see a scabby looking shop, trading as T.E.S.Co. They appeared to get away with it for years. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 As has already been said, the same think happened years ago and lots of independents had to change their names and advertising so that "Joe Bloggs Land Rover" became "Joe Bloggs 4x4 - Land Rover Specialist". At the same time they also cracked down on spurious items having the Land Rover logo on them such as mugs, T-shirts and so on that were being sold with the Land Rover logo without being sanctioned by Land Rover. In the UK I doubt it will make any difference apart from perhaps newer companies that have been created since then. Yorkshire Off Road Club got caught up in the last lot, we were going to be Yorkshire Land Rover Club but nobody at Land Rover was brave enough at the time to sanction the name due to the legal department being all jittery so we went with Yorkshire Off Road Club instead. It took 6 months before the name was finally sanctioned by which time we decided we preferred Off Road Club anyway so stuck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will4x4 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 as above this will never stick world wide. i see hundreds of grey delers who have better CI than the offcial franchised dealers...Its more to protect them so they do have grounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToyRoverlander Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 as above this will never stick world wide. i see hundreds of grey delers who have better CI than the offcial franchised dealers...Its more to protect them so they do have grounds It has happened in the US as well a while back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 While Landrover may not have a leg to stand on, they do have very deep pockets and can make it unaffordable to defend your corner once you have to employ patent lawyers of your own. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Within the last couple of years a friend has had to remove the Land Rover green oval logo from his vehicles and use other methods of saying Land Rover. I seem to remember in the early 1970's being instructed while I worked at the ford main dealer to report any Foed signs being used by small workshops and shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Here's a good example... Roverdrive (makers of overdrives for Land Rover vehicles) have had to completely rebrand their company due to this latest outbreak of what can only be described as nonsense... Taken from the (now) Global Roamer Corporation website: Welcome to the GLOBAL ROAMER CORPORATION website. We have changed our name from Roverdrive Gear Corporation, at the insistence of the Land Rover Company, who will not allow the consecutive use of the letters R-O-V-E-R related to any automotive product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Here's a good example... Roverdrive (makers of overdrives for Land Rover vehicles) have had to completely rebrand their company due to this latest outbreak of what can only be described as nonsense... Taken from the (now) Global Roamer Corporation website: Welcome to the GLOBAL ROAMER CORPORATION website. We have changed our name from Roverdrive Gear Corporation, at the insistence of the Land Rover Company, who will not allow the consecutive use of the letters R-O-V-E-R related to any automotive product! Now that makes very interesting reading. Do Land Rover own the ROVER name. I thought Rover was a car mamufactured in England by Chinese who bought Rover after they went bust. Somebody explain further please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Brock Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Hope nobody has a dog named - Rover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Tata own the Rover name, they bought it from Ford in 2008 according to Wikipedia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 It's a little heavy handed but not totally unreasonable - I don't think they can stop you saying you specialise in Land Rovers or you sell Land Rover parts, what you can't do is use their company name / logo in your company name / logo. You wouldn't expect to get away with setting up a shoe shop called "The Nike Store" or selling soft drinks called "Super Pepsi" without getting a letter or two from the suits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Having been at both ends of branding argument I have learnt that what can sometimes seem like a trivial use of a name or brand who knows where will it will lead in 20 years time!! Back in the 60 a little computer company started up in the US, they decided on a name that was similar to that of a record company in the UK.. Letters were sent but what did it matter that company made something called a personal computer and the original company produced music, no problem there!!! 20 years later, that personal computer company had grown a little and decided to move into the music market, as they had been using the 'brand' without challenge for the previous 20 years. Bring on 5 years of legal challenge and over £200m in fees!! As people often point out despite the best efforts of Leyland/BMW/Ford the Land Rover brand name and image is Iconic, when TATA brought LR they also brought the entitlement to that history, that would have factored into the price, and in some cases can actually be worth more than the IPR held by the company (When MG Rover went under the name was worth more than the designs!!) although I am not saying that this is the case with Land Rover. What may seem like over overenthusiastic brand protection to the outsider is just good business sense, and is protecting the value of their asset, many people don't like LR main dealers but to be a main dealer you need to invest into Land Rover maintain standards, hold stock etc. Why should a company that has committed none of this investment use the Land Rover name and Logo which also offers them an air of official status? There are some shoddy 'small guys' out there and this can also damage the brand. I have also been on the other side when a big company has tried to 'bully' a little company into signing away rights to a name, that they have no legal right over in the first place because the name was similar to theirs!!! However when you call their bluff they realise that they don't have a leg to stand on and soon back down. Jason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 A local and current example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17366992 I really hope they get to keep the name, but I don't think they've got much of a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 With regard to the pub, a friend of mine who deals with this type of legal dispute told me that there's a fair chance they'll get to continue using the name as they've been trading with it for so long. But the use of the characters/images/likenesses etc. inside the pub probably won't be upheld. That said, these days with the internet it would only take a decent campaign to convince the lawyers at SZC that this would be an incredibly bad piece of publicity for them and more importantly for their new film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 It's OK, Stephen Fry will save them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailysleaze Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 They could just drop the H and call it "The Obbit" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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