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SoA threatens legal action against ravensblade-impreza


kmin

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If anyone from SOA browsed through this site, they would see that it helps their current customers as well as encourages potential buyers. I stumbled upon this site after I purchased my Legacy. If I had found this site before hand, I just may have spent the extra money and bought the GT. I opted for the amenities rather than the larger engine. It just may have been the other way around. Anyhoo, this site has helped me alot. Besides what SOA and Wappingers Falls Subaru just recently did for me was posted on this forum. Anyone questioning SOA's loyalty to their products/customers would see that they stand behind both. I can tell ya right now, I will buy another Subaru.

 

From a legal and servicemark/trademark protection standpoint, it doesn't matter about the positive threads. There is also a fair amount of negative information posted about the car, also.

 

This has been the issue with every mfr who has cracked down on servicemark/trademark infringement. In fact, on the Porsche list I was on, the discussion was primarily about older 911s, there weren't more than a couple of folks with brand-new ones (but they also had old ones). Didn't matter, the servicemark/trademark protection has to be a black/white thing.

Ron
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Since we call them LGTs, IMHO something using that acronym would sound better than LOC or SLOC!!

 

It was meant as a joke, sorry that didn't come across. I figured SLOC is about as appropriate as nasioc (aka nabisco, etc.) which is so difficult to pronounce, that everyone does it differently.

 

I am all for the legacygt.com site name.

 

Seems to me that as long as Tide doesn't create a web site like SOAalsodeniedmywarranty.com, he might be ok. At least for a while...

________

MFLB VAPORIZER

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  • 2 weeks later...

One more thing to add to this discussion and this was tossed around on http://www.iwsti.com as well.

 

The threat of litigation alone will send many running. Others will try to fight it and either lose or just plain run out of money. How do you fight a company the size of Subaru of Japan or FHI, the true owners of the trademark rights? This area of law is still developing. In the meantime, companies must aggressively enforce their trademarks to retain them. Subaru is doing just that.

 

 

I realize the above post I made was very general particularly because I was dissappointed to see subaru shut down another enthusiast site. What I meant to say was that as soon as a forum is created using a company's trademark, and the forum becomes popular and a possible 'source of confusion' in the legal sense, then a company will most likely try to stop the use. Source of confusion in the law can and does have a slightly different meaning from that in common use. This is not generally understood by those that have not had a lot of experience reading and interpreting the law.

 

Unfortunately, for enthusiasts like us, we feel that companies like Subaru that attempt to shut down our favorite forums are ungrateful for all the positive things that flow from these sites. Alot of times, we spend a great deal of time here, going to events, and promoting their vehicles. It is a shock they want to take that away from their fan base since they do so at the cost of loosing such funs.

 

The reality is that companies like this need to do so, however much it hurts for me to type this. Why? They need to do this so that when they pursue the real trademark infringers, they will be able to maintain in court that they vigorously defended the trademarks granted them. Failure to protect one's trademarks can result in the loss of trademark protection. Therefore, Subaru has no desire to hamper the enthusiast spirt of forums like legacygt.com or iwsti.com, but they are required to do so under the law if they are to receive the full protection of the law should a serious trademark infringer come along.

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If a company doesn't aggressively pursue those who use its trademarks, it will lose them.

 

Just ask Carroll Shelby. For years he was quoted as saying he didn't care if people made copies of his old Cobra. Trhen one day after prices for original Shelbys went through the roof, he decided to sue Factory Five Racing (biggest replica manufacturer.)

 

About all Shelby got from the courts was an order for FFR not to use Cobra or Shelby items on their cars and not to refer to them as Cobras.

 

Use it, defend it,or lose it.

 

Hey. I just came up with a great name for my business: King of Imports......

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Personally, I support Subaru doing this.

I think someone said maybe in this very thread.

"Subaru, strong product, weak brand" and it's true.

 

IMHO SoA at current is to hung up on reffering to their offerings by their trim level alone.. OB, Sti, WRX etc etc.. we all know what those mean, and we all use them liberaly, but to a laymen they'd have no clue or simply associate the model as the brand when it's not.

 

For instance.. I was (and am) an Impreza fan. I had finally had enough reading about them in magazines so away I went to the Suby dealer to look at one. I already was familiar with the OB, who couldn't be, but honest to all things subaru- the "Legacy" as a model never once clicked with me untill I saw them sitting on the lot.. I knew I didn't want an OB, but the Impreza wasn't big enough.. I was beside myself when I honestly realise that I could get the OB's size and not have ot get an OB.

 

Now I feel sorta sheepish admiting all that, but it sorta goes to prove the point of why Subaru needs to take control of their brand. Because your average person who isn't a suby fan probably won't ever know the difference, and even though I had researched Subaru Imprezas, again, the fact that a Legacy was the base for the OB never really was apparent simply because Suby doesn't really even denote them that way themselves.

Even their website has Legacy's and OB's separate instead of Legacy's proper, and then having the Trim option of Outback. Impreza Outbacks, WRX and STi don't have separate sections on the Suby site for them, they are trim level options on the Impreza.. I just looked at their site and sure enough, if you look at the "Model" selection popup Legacy and Outback are listed as two different models. But Impreza has only one entry.

 

Brand confusion right there.

 

Anywho- thats my ranting. :)

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