Suzuki GTI: Volkswagen loses legal battle to stop Japanese firm using its trademark name

March 21st, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Graham Smith

PUBLISHED:

11:29 EST, 21 March 2012

|

UPDATED:

13:40 EST, 21 March 2012

Volkswagen has lost its legal battle to prevent Suzuki from using the familiar ‘GTI’ tag on one of its cars.

The German firm appealed when the European Union’s OHIM trademark office rejected its complaint that the Swift GTi name that Suzuki wanted to register would cause confusion with the celebrated Golf GTI.

But today’s ruling from the European Court of Justice backed the OHIM in declaring that the public would not be confused – particularly as car makers including Rover, Peugeot, Citroen, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Toyota have all used the term GTI on some models.

Models help launch the new eco-friendly Suzuki Swift at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, today. Volkswagen has lost its legal battle to prevent Suzuki from using the familiar 'GTI' tag on its Swift cars

The judges said: ‘There is no likelihood of confusion between that trademark and the earlier trademarks “GTI” held by Volkswagen.’

Suzuki applied for the SWIFT GTi trademark in 2003, but Volkswagen pointed out that it had the rights to the term ‘GTI’ in countries including Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Austria.

Its Golf GTI was hailed as the first ‘hot hatchback’ when it was released in the 1970s.

Today’s judgement said the most distinctive part of the name Suzuki wanted to use was the word ‘SWIFT’, rather than ‘GTi’.

The trademark office had been right in its original decision that ‘any similarity between those marks in view of the combination of the letters “GTI”… would be largely if not entirely countered by the fanciful model name SWIFT appearing in the initial part of the mark applied for’.

Timeless: The Volkswagen Golf GTI was hailed as the first 'hot hatchback' when it was released in the 1970s

Timeless: The Volkswagen Golf GTI was hailed as the first ‘hot hatchback’ when it was released in the 1970s

In legal terms, confusion between trademarks occurs if ‘the public might believe that the goods in question come from the same undertaking or from undertakings which are economically linked’.

Given the already widespread use of the letters ‘GTI’ by car makers, the term had ‘only an extremely low degree of inherent distinctiveness for the general public’.

The judgement concluded: ‘The average consumer in Sweden, the Benelux, Germany, France, Italy and Austria would not assume that all vehicles, parts and accessories come from the same manufacturer simply on the basis of the combination of the three letters “GTI” and accordingly any likelihood of confusion is excluded.’