Delorean Motor Company (DMC) Texas threatening to sue Delorean owners now

[David T]

This isn't all bad. If it helps to keep DMCH solvent and they can service the Delorean community with parts then it is a good thing. Just what do you think will happen if DMCH was to go out of business?

[EngineerGuY]

It is as if someone warned about this 20 years ago... and they all laughed!

I'd be willing to bet that at this point the company in Texas makes more money from "licensing" than they do from parts and repair... All because they were the first to register intellectual property they never owned.

I think he'd be ok paying a small licensing fee of like $500 or something. It was never mentioned but perhaps he can offer that up in his reply. Depends on what his Attorney's advice as he did acquire one I believe.

[EngineerGuY]

This isn't all bad. If it helps to keep DMCH solvent and they can service the Delorean community with parts then it is a good thing. Just what do you think will happen if DMCH was to go out of business?

Bullying websites that have nothing to do with selling Deloreans or their parts is going too far. These small rental websites aren't promoting or selling cars, they are offering their personal Time Machine replicas for events. They are going too far.

[Michael]

This isn't all bad. If it helps to keep DMCH solvent and they can service the Delorean community with parts then it is a good thing. Just what do you think will happen if DMCH was to go out of business?

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Deloreango and DPI get all my business. I did order a book and model car from DMCH back around Thanksgiving so if DMCH went "belly up" I guess we would have a lot less Delorean branded shit to buy...which would mean some of the DeLorean Fanatics might save enough to buy an actual car.

[Helirich]

This isn't all bad. If it helps to keep DMCH solvent and they can service the Delorean community with parts then it is a good thing. Just what do you think will happen if DMCH was to go out of business?

Is DMC in financial trouble? I hadn’t heard that. If they were to fold, it would be a terrible blow to the community. I don’t really think this will help them though. As I said, I don’t think they have much hope in court. I was involved with a trademark dispute with Bell helicopter. There are some fairly specific guide lines that will keep you out of trouble. In my case, we busted them and had to back down. But without seeing the offending party’s ads, I think it’s unlikely there’s much of a case here. (I can’t read the attached letters)

[EngineerGuY]

Is DMC in financial trouble? I hadn’t heard that. If they were to fold, it would be a terrible blow to the community. I don’t really think this will help them though. As I said, I don’t think they have much hope in court. I was involved with a trademark dispute with Bell helicopter. There are some fairly specific guide lines that will keep you out of trouble. In my case, we busted them and had to back down. But without seeing the offending party’s ads, I think it’s unlikely there’s much of a case here. (I can’t read the attached letters)

The letter basically says you can't use the word " delorean" in any domain names because they own a trademark for the name. Even when websites are using it to promote their own Delorean Time Machines for rent. You can clearly see all the rental websites have nothing to do with Delorean, are not taking away from Delorean in anyway, and do not use their logos or trademarks. All the websites have a disclaimer stating such on the bottom as well. It's a bunch of crap from Delorean Texas.

[Malevy]

Is DMC in financial trouble? I hadn’t heard that. If they were to fold, it would be a terrible blow to the community. I don’t really think this will help them though. As I said, I don’t think they have much hope in court. I was involved with a trademark dispute with Bell helicopter. There are some fairly specific guide lines that will keep you out of trouble. In my case, we busted them and had to back down. But without seeing the offending party’s ads, I think it’s unlikely there’s much of a case here. (I can’t read the attached letters)

The reality of this situation is- all of the DMC Intellectual Property was "public domain" for 10+ years. Had someone taken this seriously 20 years ago when DMCH spent a few dollars to register with the USPTO, then we would not be where we are today. Unfortunately, a judge may see that DMCH has made investments in the IP for the last 20 years and rule in their favor. Not to mention, Sally Baldwin (DeLorean) "settled" with DMCH making their claim even stronger.

We won't know until a judge can see the evidence and decide... And I'd bet money that will never happen. No one is making enough money from using the IP from DMC (that DMCH claims to own) to fight the fight.

Will these disputes have an impact on the DMCH publicity? Yet to be seen, but so far it has not. And some say even bad press is good. DMCH and SW have played a very smart (and selfish) game WRT the IP so far.

[ssdelorean]

>>snip<<

Will these disputes have an impact on the DMCH publicity? Yet to be seen, but so far it has not. And some say even bad press is good. DMCH and SW have played a very smart (and selfish) game WRT the IP so far.

People have such short memories. Prime example: SonnyV vs. James Espey postings. or the next "new" DeLorean.
There will be sink here for a while and then disappear like a fart in the wind. Until the next fart happens.

[Malevy]

People have such short memories. Prime example: SonnyV vs. James Espey postings. or the next "new" DeLorean.
There will be sink here for a while and then disappear like a fart in the wind. Until the next fart happens.

Agreed.. But back when SonnyV happened (Recall, I am the guy who discovered and disclosed it) the community was a lot "smaller". We only had the DML. Now we have dozens of forums and information outlets. It may help extend the memories, but again I agree it will fade eventually.

[Helirich]

The reality of this situation is- all of the DMC Intellectual Property was "public domain" for 10+ years. Had someone taken this seriously 20 years ago when DMCH spent a few dollars to register with the USPTO, then we would not be where we are today. Unfortunately, a judge may see that DMCH has made investments in the IP for the last 20 years and rule in their favor. Not to mention, Sally Baldwin (DeLorean) "settled" with DMCH making their claim even stronger.

In my case, we hired a trademark lawyer. He said it comes down to few main things.

1. Is the name your using the same or close enough to be mistaken by the general public to be the same?

2. Are you in the same business or is your business likely to be misconstrued to be the same by the general public.

3. Would a failure of your product possibly hurt their business?

In our case, we spelled Bell, Belle, as in “southern belle”. That was not different enough. But the biggest problem was we made helicopter parts. If we made furniture, we would be fine, even if we spelled it Bell. Obviously, Bell had deep pockets and we changed our name.

In this case, I may not understand, but does DMCH rent cars? Are the ads such that people might think they are renting from DMCH? I donÂ’t see how identifying a car you rent as a Delorean (if it is) , can be a trademark infringement. Even if you were renting a Corvette and calling it a Delorean, I think your problem is fraud, not trademark infringement. I suppose a lawyer could argue that a break down of the rental car reflects on DMCH, but I think it would be a weak argument since there might not be a single part on the car from DMCH.