Nissan beats BMW in battle over "M"

[Pashdut]

A Canadian court just ruled that the letter "M" does not belong to BMW, so it has decided to change its name to "BW." Just kidding . BMW Canada had sued Nissan Canada in a bid to stop the Infiniti brand from using the "M" model designation on its mid-level vehicles. BMW has been using the letter "M" to signify its top-performing models for decades and felt its use on Infinitis was confusing to customers.

Actually, BMW called Infiniti vehicles "inferior and more modestly priced." That should have put Nissan in its place, but no, Nissan fought back. And the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal is siding with Nissan, ruling that it's free to use the letter "M", as well.

This recent judgment in Nissan's favor overturns a previous one that went BMW's way and blocked Nissan from using the letter. Nissan was this close to changing its name to Missan. There I go, cracking wise again. Seriously though, BMW has the Supreme Court available if it still wants to fight.

Infiniti BMwSource: http://www.canada.com/national...14412

[szh]

Good news!!

Z

[CakeDaddy]

Canada? I didn't think it was that serious. I wonder why it wasn't an issue back when Infiniti introduced the 2 door M30, or when Chrystler Introduced the 300M. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't the Chrystler M in production back in the 50's.

[lswaidz]

Next thing you know Apple will sue IBM for it's controversial use of a copyrighted vowel at the beginning of their name... details to follow ;-)

[szh]

Next thing you know Apple will sue IBM for it's controversial use of a copyrighted vowel at the beginning of their name... details to follow ;-)

I guess they would first have to prove that the letter case does not matter!

Z