Astrology fans know that Taurus, Scorpio and Aries emerged as car names in the 1980s, but if the stars line up just right, there could be a Sagittarius, Leo or Pisces in your driveway.
That’s because car companies own the rights to use 11 of the 12 astrological signs in the automotive industry, according to Frank Delano, president of Delano & Young, a New York firm that helps manufacturers name products. “I don’t think anyone is going to take Cancer,” Delano said.
Though it is unlikely anyone will introduce a mid-size sedan called Leo, Delano says he advises car companies to claim names like that before competitors do. Once somebody acquires ownership of a name through trademark registration, it is difficult to get it away.
Since 1989, trademark laws have included an “intent to use” clause that allows applying for a trademark before the name appears in the marketplace, Delano said. The filing fee at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is $240.
The holders of trademarks have six months to show they are using the names, but Delano says extensions can stretch the “intent to use” period to more than three years, essentially keeping the name off the market.
When Delano worked for Oldsmobile a few years back on the name for a new luxury sedan, Millennium was a top candidate (a story confirmed by Oldsmobile). Olds decided to call it Aurora instead.
Delano urged General Motors Corp. to file for a trademark on the Millennium name, but about two weeks later, Mazda registered Millenia as a future car name. Millenia, Delano adds, was close enough to keep GM from pursuing Millennium.
“Once that registered trademark has been applied for, no other manufacturer’s going to touch that name,” said Delano, whose company developed the Achieva name for Oldsmobile.
Even long after a car name disappears from the market, other manufacturers are unlikely to try to claim it, said Ken Enborg, a GM trademark and copyright lawyer.
“There is an unwritten code among car companies,” Enborg said. “We don’t use each other’s names, even if it hasn’t been used for a few years.”
Besides legal issues, Enborg said there are marketing reasons for not using another company’s brand or model name.
“We don’t want to be seen as copycats by taking a name used by another company” he said.
It has been done, however. The Explorer was a 1954 Chrysler concept coupe, long before Ford adopted it as a truck moniker, and Falcon, before becoming a Ford mainstay, was a Chrysler convertible concept car in 1955. Chrysler never used either name on a production car.
Oldsmobile used Fiesta long before it appeared on the German-made Ford Fiesta, and Concord was a Plymouth 27 years before American Motors Corp. adopted it in 1978. Chrysler acquired AMC in 1987 and now sells a Concorde.
Pacer and Citation were Edsel models in 1958, but Pacer ended up with AMC, and Chevrolet used Citation for its ill-fated X-car of the 1980s.
Because it was before his time, Enborg doesn’t know how GM acquired the Citation name from Ford. He surmises it probably took just a phone call.
“If there has been a 15- or 20-year gap in time since they used a name, I would call my counterpart at Ford and ask if (Ford has) any intentions of using it again,” he said, and GM would back off if it did. “We just don’t want to get in each other’s way.”
More often, manufacturers revive names from their own past, sometimes after long periods. Chevrolet resurrected the Malibu name last year after 14 years in mothballs. Oldsmobile used Celebrity in the 1950s and ’60s, and Chevy revived it in 1982. Ranger was an Edsel from 1958 to 1960 and later applied to Ford pickups.
How closely a manufacturer protects a name depends on the car that wears it, even when it involves products outside the auto industry. Enborg said GM would not object to an electric drill called Century, a name used by Buick for decades, but would to a drill called Corvette.
“I probably would have a problem with that,” he said, pointing out that GM licenses merchandise such as clothing and model cars with the Corvette name and logo. “The rights to the Corvette name are much broader than the vehicle itself.”
Century, on the other hand, is not the kind of name over which anyone can claim complete ownership, he said, because it is so commonly used on a variety of products.
Other car companies feel the same way. Dodge dropped the Charger in 1987, and production of the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant ended in 1989. Yet, Chrysler Corp. retains the rights to these names, said Marilyn Hobbs, a trademark and patent researcher in the company’s legal department.
“We still supply parts and service for these vehicles, so, yes, we still claim ownership,” she said. Chrysler allows use of names such as Charger and Aries on toy cars for a licensing fee.
Unless a company is dusting off one of its old monikers for a new model, choosing a name requires extensive research.
Before Chrysler approves a new name, it will search with a computer database to see whether the name is used in North America, Hobbs said. If the car will be exported, the search becomes international.
If the name clears the initial search, Hobbs said Chrysler hires an outside firm to conduct a more exhaustive search that usually covers about 300 databases, directories and telephone books to see whether there are potential conflicts in the automotive industry.
“Even if it’s close to another name, that’s an infringement,” Hobbs said, a situation that trademark law describes as “confusingly similar,” such as Millennium and Millenia.
However, when GM’s Saturn subsidiary introduced its sedan as the SL in 1990, GM didn’t hear any static from Mercedes-Benz, which used the SL tag for decades on its two-seat roadster. Similarly, GM didn’t squawk when Lexus introduced luxury coupes with an SC prefix the following year, the same as Saturn’s sports coupes.
“Your rights to using just two letters are really very limited,” Enborg said. “Unless, of course, the two letters are `GM.’ “
