M-battled BMW loses court battle to Nissan

The "M" is free!

By Alexander
August 9, 2007 9:27 AM
Filed Under: BMW, German, Nissan

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.
Source: FinancialPost

Comments

asif
August 9, 2007 2:05 PM
now they should get on Audi's case with the Q. gooooo on Nissan!

thunder507
August 10, 2007 1:14 AM
nissan is free to use m35 or m45. but using M letter without 35 or 45 . that's BMW's TM.

RS4
August 12, 2007 4:51 AM
nissan/infiniti like mazda and lexus have made it no secret in trying to copy BMW's formula for performance and vehicle dynamics etc. The only real competition to BMW's M division comes from Germany itself in the form of Mercedes-Benz AMG and Audi RS. The japanese are behind the Germans by a decade to put it kindly!

Lord_Vader
August 15, 2007 2:56 PM
Hahaha ''japan cars are a decade behind''. Now that was propaganda RS4. Japan cars are best quality. Jesus,some german car fans don't want to realize that. I like BMW,Audi,Benz e.t.c,but some fans are so dramatic. Now on topic: And what the big deal.Some letter M.

RS4
August 17, 2007 12:26 AM
Listen up and learn "vader". This year BMW/MB/Audi/Porsche are set to sell "APPROX." 3.5+ million vehicles worldwide. Compare that to lexus/infiniti/acura at LESS THAN 1 mil!!! People who want cutting edge technology and world class design buy GERMAN. By the way,where is the japanese competition to the M5/upcoming RS6/E63 AMG??? That's right, the Lexus isf running 80hp per liter out of a 5L V8, HAAAAA, now that's funny!

leeryboy90
August 20, 2007 3:16 PM
german cars are the BEST!

leeryboy90
August 20, 2007 3:19 PM
MB:AMG-Audi:R/RS-Cadilac: V & BMW:M .M is BMW's

leeryboy90
August 20, 2007 3:22 PM
Nissan cans to choose another letter

Nohchi
September 11, 2007 4:21 PM
german cars are the BEST!

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