Thought occurred to me yesterday, all these 7 style cars are just that. Surely someone (Caterham?) owns the copyright and therefore how are all these
legal? In this respect I should be able to get a big v8 and make a Ferrari lookalike (almost) but I'm quite sure I'll have Italian lawyers
on my back...
Going one step further would it be legal to buy, say, an entire car's worth of Ferrari spare parts and make one, then IVA it with a different
name?
7's are 'not quite' Caterhams, thats why they are ok.
The first westfields are now called 'pre-litigation' as they were just about a true copy.
Apparently some of the cars on the market are moulded from an original of what they are a copy of!
Well this is what I mean, how far away do you have to go before it's not a copy?
What stops me buying a 911 engine, suspension bits etc and fitting them to a frame that I approximate to a 911 shape? Is it a case of "as long as
it's less than a 90% copy" (for example)?
There was the Corvin years ago, a 911 copy. There seems to be no reasoning about replicating cars.
Probably depends on how old the model is.
Right then stuff the seven, I think I shall make the missus a "911"
Theres a whole post I put up a while ago about the legal aspect caterham v robinhood cat 1 v westfield cat 1 v birkin..... lost miserably.
You tend to think of these things when you're wandering round a warehouse at 2am...
There are tonnes of Ferrari / Lambo / Porsche replicas on the market amongst others. They stay below the radar because basically, they're shite.
I was under the impression it was to do with selling.
I was under the impression that if a private individual made something for themselves they could make it look like anything, in all fields. I was also
under the impression that lotus tried to copyright the basic wedge shape of the Esprite a few years ago (On the grounds that alot of other cars were
the same basic shape) and that they failed.
Logo's and badges are different though.
Yeah I suppose if you were to make it look like a 911 you'd have to sell it as a 911 replica.
How about one of them "obvious" fake style badges like "Posche"?
You have a good point.
Remember that MR2 based ferrari replica on top gear a few year back? Looked exactly like a ferrari to me and had all the apropriate badges!
The extreme cars web site even boasts their lambo was moulded off a real one, as was their 355
I think what gets the manufacturers a bit miffed is if someone is replicating a 'current' model in production as it could effect their sales
of new cars.... Ferrari @ 
£K's or replica @£K's
I'm sure the manufacturers out there dont want their name associated with sub standard offerings, see earlier post regarding the TR7
Ferrari......
I think it was put very well in an earlier post..... Most replica kit supercars are Sh1t! 
There's pleanty of decent kits out there for a lot less £ than production supercars.....Ultima for example, dont know why people bother with
replicas.....
Sort of wandered off of the original 'Caterham' thread... as we all know the 7's (whoops trademark infringement
) market is compleatly
different as there are lots of manufacturers making cars cheaper and better than the original!
quote:
Originally posted by Blackbird Rush
... the 7's (whoops trademark infringement
Are you sure you can't trademark, or hold the rights to, a number?
The Porsche 911 was going to be the 901, but Peugeot have the rights to all 3 digit nnumber with a '0' in the middle!
quote:
Originally posted by designer
Are you sure you can't trademark, or hold the rights to, a number?
The Porsche 911 was going to be the 901, but Peugeot have the rights to all 3 digit nnumber with a '0' in the middle!
quote:
Originally posted by designer
Are you sure you can't trademark, or hold the rights to, a number?
The Porsche 911 was going to be the 901, but Peugeot have the rights to all 3 digit nnumber with a '0' in the middle!