When does it stop being a Porsche?
 

Interesting that Porsche is taking an interest?

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/singer-removes-acs-car-website-232900777.html

---Adam

Interesting. I remember a somewhat similar story from a few years ago, there was a guy who called himself Dead Mau 5, I think he was some kind of famous DJ, and he had some legal trouble with Ferrari after he modded a car to look like a cat and called it a Purrari, and Ferrari lawyered up to make him cease and desist.

They are very protective of their trademarks, even with their own customers. Always have been.

I've always found it interesting that they don't crack down on all the guys making Speedsters and 550's.

---Adam

I didn't read the whole link, but I see where it's going. Reminds me of my ol' close friend Chuck, a godfather of Porsche parts in So. CA. He passed away about 3-4 years ago from lung disease. His logo was 911Ltd. on ebay from which he sold for many years. One day he got complaints from Porsche about using their name. He didn't care, told them to f-ck off and carried on. Never was a problem. I miss Chuck, used to stay with him when I came home. Some people here may remember buying parts on ebay from 911Ltd.

Singer found the line in the sand.
I guess they can replace all the Porsche logos with Singer and be OK.


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Yep. They may have even done it on purpose to keep the car being talked about longer.

In the guitar world, it has transpired that if a manufacturer hasn't been consistent in strictly protecting its products' "trade dress" over the years, it is more difficult to claim infringement.

Take Fender, for example. There have been countless copies of Strats and Teles for decades, which Fender halfheartedly objected to, so that they now have a difficult time claiming infringement. You can walk into any music store today and buy a Fender copy.

On the other hand, Rickenbacker is known for being ruthless in protecting their designs, and will sue copiers without hesitation for trying to sell Fakenbackers.

It could well be that Porsche is too far behind the eight ball to stop the 356/550 clones at this point, but are putting their foot down on the Safari design while they still can.

Pure conjecture on my part; I'm no intellectual property lawyer!

Speaking of guitars, I had a couple Martins, a D41 and an N20 classical which I special ordered from the factory to look like a D41 with all the inlay etc. Brought them both with me to Japan in1988. I noticed then the Japanese had produced a Martin look alike Morris with similar inlay and gear. Nevertheless, it was a dead give away if you picked up a Morris and looked at it or played it. Nazareth Pennsylvania, built by the finest craftsmen, best materials for 150 years then was a Martin,. A Morris was a junk box by comparison at best (appearance or sound) even though Japanese made. Moreover, Martins sound better the older they get, the more they are played. I should have kept those two guitars, yet there came a time when I just stopped playing. A Martin is the real McCoy and so is a genuine Porsche.

Could Porsche be showing their hand here? May be that a factory rally 911 is en route and Porsche is uppity that Singer re-imagined it before they’d fully imagined it. Imagine that.

Porsche has been working with Francis Tuthill on a Cayman GT4 rally car for a year or two. A modern one.

I don't see them doing a retro classic one.

Porsche will do whatever they set out to do. You or I may not see it coming until...they decide to disclose it.

The Singer rally (know it has a fancier name), wouldn’t look too dissimilar to a pumped up cayman. I don’t think they’re concerned about the retro classic market. They’re concerned about someone with Singers brand currency telling the story of a modern Porsche rally car before them

The term Aspirin was the trade name for Bayer's Acetylsalicylic Acid worshipped universally for its ability to tame the occasional hangover. Now the word Aspirin is used generically because Bayer did not protect their Copyright name. I bet Bayer no longer overlooks Copyright infringement issues. As a 45 year member of PCA Porsche has always protected its Copyrights and rightfully so..