Saturday, November 05, 2011

The Nissan That Became a Lamborghini Not Confiscated For Likelihood of Confusion

This Summer Bertel Smitt reported for the Truth About Cars about a Kunming barber who changed exterior of his Nissan Bluebird into a Lamborghini Aventador.

The police confiscated the car. But not because of intellectual property rights infringements (based on trademark, copyright or design-patent rights) Smitt wrote:

"When a car is registered in China, a picture is taken of the car. If the car doesn’t resemble the picture, you have a problem. An insidious punishment was handed down: The barber was ordered to restore the car to its original documented shape."

So the basis for the confiscation is not the likelihood of confusion (when you hear the race monster's modest motor this might become obvious) but the inability for the police to identify the car. Read here. Compare with the original Lamborghini Aventador here.

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