87xj95disco
11-30-2011, 08:56 AM
as many of you know already about the land rover logo i got this email and
just wanted to pass it on.
What's the story on lrna and the rover logo? I've heard of a few
aftrmarket companies being forced to change their logo. I also heard
that roav aquired the logo in74 when rover left the north american
market.
LRNA and its attorneys have been going after anyone who uses either the green oval or the word "Rover" anywhere in their company name. BMW did much the same a couple of decades ago. Perhaps is genetic.
ROAV, or rather its predecessor, the Rover Owners' Association of Richmond (VA) petitioned British Leyland for the right to use the/LAND-ROVER/ oval logo on the club letterhead and whatnot. This was June or July of 1974, at the time the club was forming and, unbeknownst to us at the time, the same moment that BL was quietly exiting North America - without giving their dealer network any advance notice. (As corporate decisions go, this is one of the biggest, most boneheaded blunders of all time, but I digress....) Permission was readily granted. Hey, BL wasn't gonna be around....
So, yes, ROAV does have legal right to use the logo. Perhaps that only applies to the oval "Z" logo. Dunno.... The Ottawa Valley folks, or rather their predecessors, did much the same for Canada.
I even went after illegal use of the words "Land Rover" once. Back in the mid-1980's, my least-favorite chain restaurant, McD's, began using the words on some kids' meal packaging. (That fool clown was driving a land rover across the moon - and it didn't look like one.) I fired off a cease-and-desist least our lawyers chomp expensively on your backsides letter on club letterhead to corporate HQ. Within the week, the packaging was pulled. Tried the same thing with Thom Mcann shoes that were called land rovers, but they told us to bugger off. Copyright laws say you can't call a vehicle a Land Rover, as McD's was doing, but it's OK to call shoes, or steaks (at Outback) the same.
So maybe LRNA should pay ROAV and OVLR.... Does 5% of gross sales for the past 25 years sound about right? ;-)
Cheers
just wanted to pass it on.
What's the story on lrna and the rover logo? I've heard of a few
aftrmarket companies being forced to change their logo. I also heard
that roav aquired the logo in74 when rover left the north american
market.
LRNA and its attorneys have been going after anyone who uses either the green oval or the word "Rover" anywhere in their company name. BMW did much the same a couple of decades ago. Perhaps is genetic.
ROAV, or rather its predecessor, the Rover Owners' Association of Richmond (VA) petitioned British Leyland for the right to use the/LAND-ROVER/ oval logo on the club letterhead and whatnot. This was June or July of 1974, at the time the club was forming and, unbeknownst to us at the time, the same moment that BL was quietly exiting North America - without giving their dealer network any advance notice. (As corporate decisions go, this is one of the biggest, most boneheaded blunders of all time, but I digress....) Permission was readily granted. Hey, BL wasn't gonna be around....
So, yes, ROAV does have legal right to use the logo. Perhaps that only applies to the oval "Z" logo. Dunno.... The Ottawa Valley folks, or rather their predecessors, did much the same for Canada.
I even went after illegal use of the words "Land Rover" once. Back in the mid-1980's, my least-favorite chain restaurant, McD's, began using the words on some kids' meal packaging. (That fool clown was driving a land rover across the moon - and it didn't look like one.) I fired off a cease-and-desist least our lawyers chomp expensively on your backsides letter on club letterhead to corporate HQ. Within the week, the packaging was pulled. Tried the same thing with Thom Mcann shoes that were called land rovers, but they told us to bugger off. Copyright laws say you can't call a vehicle a Land Rover, as McD's was doing, but it's OK to call shoes, or steaks (at Outback) the same.
So maybe LRNA should pay ROAV and OVLR.... Does 5% of gross sales for the past 25 years sound about right? ;-)
Cheers