| Nanjing Auto, SAIC race for Rover |
| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-02-25 13:28 |
|
Nanjing Automobile and Shanghai Automobile Industry Corp appear to be speeding toward a head-on collision over patents and marketing rights associated with the failed British carmaker MG Rover.
Both own pieces of the company or rights to its technology, both intend to exploit the famous Rover name in their marketing, and neither appears likely to yield a centimeter of right of way to the other.
SAIC paid around 67 million pounds (US$128 million) to buy the designs of the Rover 75 and 25 and Rover engines, and Nanjing Auto forked over 50 million British pounds (US$87.5 million) to acquire the remains of MG Rover Group, including equipment and the intellectual property rights to the Rover 45 last July.
Nanjing Auto applied to China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce to register up to 11 Rover-related trademarks, including the Chinese version of the Rover and Austin brands.
But it may face trouble proving it has the greatest right to the Chinese-character rendition of the Rover brand name.
BMW Corp held the rights to the English Rover brand through November 30, 2008, according to documents published on the Website of the trademark office.
But the trademark has been sold to SAIC, a BMW Corp official told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
"Nanjing Auto will not be able to get the Chinese Rover brand without the trademark owner's permission," said Xu Zhengguo, a lawyer at the Shanghai-based Jing Hu Trademark Firm.
According to the country's laws, the Chinese version of a trademark can't be used by one company if another company holds the rights to the English-language version.
Meanwhile, Nanjing Auto's application is still pending at the trademark office.
Nanjing Auto is also facing difficulties in registering its Austin brand, as another company apparently beat it to the trademark office.
Nanjing Auto and SAIC are racing to be first to launch their debut models based on Rover technology.
SAIC has warned it will take legal action if any of the property rights it owns were passed on by the financial administrator of MG Rover Group to Nanjing Auto. |
|
|
|
|
