just make another one
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=25411&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=html&utm_campaign=2012-3- 23
Only fibreglass im sure the owner still has the moulds just make another one
I am actually surprised it hasn't happened sooner. Humourless bar stewards.
I don't understand their thinking because replicas have not in any way reduced the value of the originals - look at Cobras and Lotus sevens
amongst others. In fact in some cases owners of originals own replicas as "daily" drives to preserve the original.
I think it's just small and mean minded by Mercedes. If you want to be like that then just insist on removing Mercedes badges - in any case in my
opinion they would in all likelihood have to prove that it is an exact copy and not just a like looking body before they could legally act.
Most folk would think that a passing Gullwing rep was the real-deal, and their impression of it would reflect on their impression of Mercedes. So I
can understand why Merc would be upset at there being (in all likelihood) vastly inferior products masquerading as one of their own.
What I don't understand is that if you're capable of making such complex car shapes, then why not make something unique???
How long do they own the IP on these things anyway though?
Don't patents expire after 25/30 years anyway?
If I start my Mclaren F1 replica now, it might be finished in time for the patent to expire!
Cheers,
James
quote:
Originally posted by James
How long do they own the IP on these things anyway though?
Don't patents expire after 25/30 years anyway?
If I start my Mclaren F1 replica now, it might be finished in time for the patent to expire!
Cheers,
James
In this case its not just IP or patents, Dailmer AG own artistic rights to the design which holds the same rights as a work of art. I believe such rights last indefinitly so it can never be copied without the rights holders permission.
That thing looked BEA-UT-IFUL
what a waste.
I seem to remember one of the Jag 'D' type replica companys in this country was making a Merc 300 (not gullwing) replica I wonder if this is
going to effect them?
If the car is so great to Mercedes, why don't they still make it?
I suspect the German authorities (a Stuttgardt regional court!) saw the law in a light favourable to Mercedes in this case.
Importing a replica Mercedes to Germany is perhaps asking for trouble!
I suspect a Somerset court might take a different view as there will be inevitable differences between the original and the replica.
http://www.classicreplicasuk.com/mercedes-sl300-gullwing.asp
I would argue that since Merc no longer produces this design, or parts for it, that they have abandoned the design and forfeited rights to it.
quote:
Originally posted by The Shootist
I would argue that since Merc no longer produces this design, or parts for it, that they have abandoned the design and forfeited rights to it.
Mercedes is a big enough company that they simply threw money at the problem until the replica manufacturer was crushed under the weight.
the legal system, in cases like these, is not about right or wrong, but who has the most money.
had this been a case of two equals fighting over rights to a design, it would not have happens as it did.