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> retro-bodied Subaru had that big VW badge on the front, CBP contacted Volkswagen of America and asked whether the van was authorized to wear the branding, as

by mdmglr 4y ago

> retro-bodied Subaru had that big VW badge on the front, CBP contacted Volkswagen of America and asked whether the van was authorized to wear the branding, as is procedure. VW said it wasn't and that the company considered it a fake version of one of its products. All they had to do was take off the VW logo and ship it separately to go undetected by customs.

mike_d 4y ago
Unless you are a big importer and have employees overseas (or are willing to fly back and forth), the best you can do is ask the seller to remove the badging. Sellers usually don't want to take on the risk of modifying the vehicle.
justinclift 4y ago
VW certainly come across like arseholes: Barg chose a middle ground and petitioned VW and customs for a compromise. He asked to be given access to the van to remove the VW badge, alter its paint, restore its Subaru branding, and sign a nondisclosure agreement. VW didn’t budge. :(
gbil 4y ago
I wonder how the CBP will react when (if) Apple releases their car and they have cars going through CBP for whatever reason with the Apple stickers, the ones included in every Apple product, on it /sarcasm
Scoundreller 4y ago
If they bought an authorized production of the VW logo (e.g. from a wrecker) I think they could mount it on whatever they want under First Sale Doctrine, no? I don’t don’t get the part about “authorized to wear”. Just matters if the logo itself was an authorized production. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine IANAL.
- jsiepkes 4y ago
  I highly doubt that. Otherwise I could obtain used and worn Nike shirts, cut out the logo and sew them to on to new shirts and sell them.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - lesuorac 4y ago
    Completely unsure of what to lookup to figure this out but as long as you're not claiming it's a Nike shirt it seems reasonable to me. People do this all the time with quilts out of tshirts/sweatshirts. Seems fairly reasonable to me that you could re-assemble a shirt using previous shirts so long as you only make the claim that you're the manufactorer. if you install windows onto a macbook you don't have to scratch out the apple logo. More specific to this actual case, people have fake badges on their cars all the time. I'm not a car person so I can't spot them but just because somebody's SUV has a performance package badge doesn't mean it has anything else that was part of the performance package. --- Re-badging seems to be a better term to search on but it only brings up random forums saying its legal but generally without any citation.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
      > as long as you're not claiming it's a Nike shirt it seems reasonable to me The fact that your shirt has a Nike logo means that you're claiming it's a Nike shirt. If you were to buy a shirt with an offensive statement on it, then get a Nike swoosh from a different shirt and sew it on, would you be surprised that Nike's upset? > People do this all the time with quilts Does Nike make quilts? There's your answer!
      - lesuorac 4y ago
        > The fact that your shirt has a Nike logo means that you're claiming it's a Nike shirt. Don't necessarily agree on that. To go back to the article, the guy very clearly claimed it was a Subaru. > If you were to buy a shirt with an offensive statement on it, then get a Nike swoosh from a different shirt and sew it on, would you be surprised that Nike's upset? I wouldn't be surprised but I also don't think Nike has any standing to do anything about that. I could also just wear Nike clothing and start a youtube channel where I do fake beheadings and Nike probably wouldn't like that association either but again they wouldn't have standing. I'm sure Underarmour didn't like the Patriot's coach's outfit but his clothes, his outfit (he cut the sleeves off rather jaggedly to intentionally look trashy). > Does Nike make quilts? There's your answer! So your argument is that you can use somebody's trademark as long as you're in a different business than they are? I think the argument of not claiming you're that company is a much better one. The dude's not running a dealership where he's passing off Subarus as BMWs. He's just legally acquired individual components and assembled them into a frankenstein car. Short of some patent infringement for that assembly I don't see a problem. I think also if you buy a computer case that came with an Intel Inside badging and you replace the CPU/Motherboard to be AMD then you don't have to scratch out all of the Intel badging. But you also can't sell it as an Intel system.

by mdmglr 4y ago

mike_d 4y ago

Unless you are a big importer and have employees overseas (or are willing to fly back and forth), the best you can do is ask the seller to remove the badging. Sellers usually don't want to take on the risk of modifying the vehicle.

justinclift 4y ago

VW certainly come across like arseholes: Barg chose a middle ground and petitioned VW and customs for a compromise. He asked to be given access to the van to remove the VW badge, alter its paint, restore its Subaru branding, and sign a nondisclosure agreement. VW didn’t budge. :(

gbil 4y ago

I wonder how the CBP will react when (if) Apple releases their car and they have cars going through CBP for whatever reason with the Apple stickers, the ones included in every Apple product, on it /sarcasm

Scoundreller 4y ago

If they bought an authorized production of the VW logo (e.g. from a wrecker) I think they could mount it on whatever they want under First Sale Doctrine, no? I don’t don’t get the part about “authorized to wear”. Just matters if the logo itself was an authorized production. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine IANAL.

jsiepkes 4y ago
I highly doubt that. Otherwise I could obtain used and worn Nike shirts, cut out the logo and sew them to on to new shirts and sell them.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- lesuorac 4y ago
  Completely unsure of what to lookup to figure this out but as long as you're not claiming it's a Nike shirt it seems reasonable to me. People do this all the time with quilts out of tshirts/sweatshirts. Seems fairly reasonable to me that you could re-assemble a shirt using previous shirts so long as you only make the claim that you're the manufactorer. if you install windows onto a macbook you don't have to scratch out the apple logo. More specific to this actual case, people have fake badges on their cars all the time. I'm not a car person so I can't spot them but just because somebody's SUV has a performance package badge doesn't mean it has anything else that was part of the performance package. --- Re-badging seems to be a better term to search on but it only brings up random forums saying its legal but generally without any citation.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
    > as long as you're not claiming it's a Nike shirt it seems reasonable to me The fact that your shirt has a Nike logo means that you're claiming it's a Nike shirt. If you were to buy a shirt with an offensive statement on it, then get a Nike swoosh from a different shirt and sew it on, would you be surprised that Nike's upset? > People do this all the time with quilts Does Nike make quilts? There's your answer!
    - lesuorac 4y ago
      > The fact that your shirt has a Nike logo means that you're claiming it's a Nike shirt. Don't necessarily agree on that. To go back to the article, the guy very clearly claimed it was a Subaru. > If you were to buy a shirt with an offensive statement on it, then get a Nike swoosh from a different shirt and sew it on, would you be surprised that Nike's upset? I wouldn't be surprised but I also don't think Nike has any standing to do anything about that. I could also just wear Nike clothing and start a youtube channel where I do fake beheadings and Nike probably wouldn't like that association either but again they wouldn't have standing. I'm sure Underarmour didn't like the Patriot's coach's outfit but his clothes, his outfit (he cut the sleeves off rather jaggedly to intentionally look trashy). > Does Nike make quilts? There's your answer! So your argument is that you can use somebody's trademark as long as you're in a different business than they are? I think the argument of not claiming you're that company is a much better one. The dude's not running a dealership where he's passing off Subarus as BMWs. He's just legally acquired individual components and assembled them into a frankenstein car. Short of some patent infringement for that assembly I don't see a problem. I think also if you buy a computer case that came with an Intel Inside badging and you replace the CPU/Motherboard to be AMD then you don't have to scratch out all of the Intel badging. But you also can't sell it as an Intel system.