The Federal Court of Appeal in Canada has ruled that Nissan is free to use the letter "M" when promoting its Infiniti M35 and M45 product range, in a two-year court case where BMW Canada has accused Nissan Canada Inc. of trademark infringement. Earlier this year BMW won an injuction that would prevent Nissan from using the "M" letter, but this was overturned on appeal on July 12.
When Infiniti originally unveiled the "M35" and "M45" models BMW expressed no objection. Only when Nissan Canada launched an advertising campaign announcing "the M is coming" did BMW executives raise some eyebrows and decided to take legal action.
BMW will now have to either petition the Supreme Court to hear the case or alternatively come to an agreement with Nissan, BMW spokesman Jochen Frey said on August 7.
