General Motors Continues Fight for Corvette Trademark in Australia

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General Motors Continues Fight for Corvette Trademark in Australia

Photo Credit: Topspeed.com


General Motors must really want to sell the next-generation Corvette supercar in Australia.

How else to explain a report this week on the Internet site Wheels that since 2013 GM has spent “tens of thousands of dollars” trying to trademark the Chevrolet Corvette badge in the Land Down Under.

GM was turned down last year by IP Australia, the governmental body in Australia that oversees the use of trademarks, because it said the Chevy bowtie used on the Corvette’s proposed twin-flag badge looks too much like the Red Cross.

The Red Cross can only be used during time of conflict, according to the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, to indicate that people or vehicles – usually those related to medical care – should not be fired upon.

Australian Red Cross vs C7 Corvette Logo


Now, GM is trying again by applying for a divisional application for a trademark, which basically buys the company more time to overcome the IP Australia objection to the trademark while retaining the priority filing date of the original application.

If you’re a lawyer or you’re super-smart and read the following very carefully, you might understand this technical explanation of a divisional application:

“A divisional application effectively allows the applicant to overcome an objection to the application by excluding some goods or services to which an objection relates thereby allowing the parent application to be registered for goods and/or services to which the objection does not relate,” Nicola Scheepers, a principal at intellectual property law firm Griffith Hack, said. “The divisional application retains the original filing date of the parent application and the applicant then has more time to overcome the objection relating to the conflicting goods and/or services, which are now in the divisional application, without sacrificing the priority filing date of the application.”

Wheels believes the extra effort by GM substantiates the rumor that a Ford GT-fighting C8 supercar will be sold in Australia when it arrives, perhaps in 2019, if Internet rumors are to be believed.

Already, GM’s request for the trademark name “Zora” has been approved down under, with Wheels believing that trying to trademark the first name of the Corvette’s first chief engineer, Arkus-Duntov, could indicate that Chevy is finally planning to build and sell his beloved but heretofore ignored mid-engine Corvette.

C7 Corvette in Australia

Photo Credit: corvetteclinic.com.au


Interestingly, GM’s new global design leader, Mike Simcoe, is from Australia and is reportedly leading the design of the eighth-generation Corvette.

Wheels reported that the first hint at the C8 Corvette came via images of a monstered Holden VE Commodore prototype with a V8 engine.


Source:
WheelsMag.com.au

Related:
GM’s Trouble With Aussie Trademark Registration Reveals Details about Mid-Engine Corvette Zora
GM Trademarks the Iconic Name of Corvette’s First Chief Engineer “Zora”
C8 Corvette Looking More Likely to Serve as Holden’s New V8 Sports Car in Australia

 



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