Car Names & Numbers

["Paul Witek" <shempmodin@domain.elided>]

I'm not exactly sure of the inner workings of the copyright system - and I'd bet most car makers weren't 100% sure either, and decided to play it safe.  After all, you're talking about several different countries, with different laws, etc.  

More to the point, it's just common sense, really.  Why in the world would you want to *possibly* run afoul of some copyright regulations, just to end up with a car that could be confused with something else?  Just pick a different name.

The VW situation is interesting - but then again, the mass population has no idea what a Maserati Bora is, and if they do, they know it's not being made anymore.  So if someone says they just bought a new Bora, 99% of the time you'd assume it was a VW (overly optimistic Italian car fans make up the other 1%)

Could some non-American carmaker introduce a model called the "neon"?  Maybe, that's for the lawyers to hammer out - but why in the world would they want to?


- -Paul Witek 




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