WheelchairDriver

http://www.gmcoachwork.co.uk/Peugeot-Partner-Duo.html

New small drive from wheelchair van.

http://www.gmcoachwork.co.uk/modules/do ... rk_Duo.pdf Brochure. Too small for me but some like 58 miles to the gallon!

Looks nice, though they put the steering wheel on the wrong side... I'm confused though, is GM Coachwork a separate company, or are they related in some way to the US automaker GM (Government / General Motors) -If they are an independent company it would seem like a bit of trademark / name infringement, but I'm not an expert on that....

ex-Gooserider

Ex-G,
It looks like a small private UK coachbuilder with no connection to General Motors of US, which is not a prominent brand in UK, although many of its products are. I doubt that the US giant would take offence, especially as they use the initials of their actual name, and the real key is what is known as "passing off" - i.e. do they dset out to pass themselves off as being the American Giant? I doubt it!

Best,

Martin

A big advantage of the Renault/Peugeot/Citroen/Nissan little van is that they share a longitudinal (trailing arm) rear suspension. There is no axle across the back, so between a lowered floor and (optionally) a hydraulic suspension-lowering setup one can get by with a very short ramp. There's often enough room in reasonable parallel parking spaces even though it's rear entry. That's not the case for e.g. Fiat Doblo or Ford Connect where one ends up with a platform lift instead. Ciao, Lenny

Martin O Refurbisher wrote:Ex-G,
It looks like a small private UK coachbuilder with no connection to General Motors of US, which is not a prominent brand in UK, although many of its products are. I doubt that the US giant would take offence, especially as they use the initials of their actual name, and the real key is what is known as "passing off" - i.e. do they dset out to pass themselves off as being the American Giant? I doubt it!

Best,

Martin

My understanding is that the "passing off" question isn't so much whether the alleged infringer is attempting to appear to be related, but whether or not the "average consumer" would be confused and think there was a relationship...

As you know, I've often expressed the opinion that it would be really great if one (or more) of the major auto companies started offering a "wheelchair ready" vehicle that was designed to need a minimum amount of extra work to convert it into a "drive from chair" or even just passenger use vehicle. When I first saw the "gmcoachwork" in the links that BM posted, my initial reaction was cheers that someone finally "got it" and was offering such a vehicle... Took me a little while before I started wondering if there was a relationship between the two companies...

It's a fuzzy area of trademark law at best, with at least some precedent that if the names are similar then there should be a significant difference in the business lines - i.e. there was no conflict seen between Apple Records, and Apple Computer, but it was seen as an issue when a guy named McDonald wanted to open a fast food place in his own name, because even though he didn't use any of the logos or other stuff associated with the Golden Arches folks, it was still seen as to much of a conflict, and that customers might be confused.... (but again "McDonald Trucking" is no problem) Given that both companies are in the vehicle business (albeit different parts of it) I could see an issue being made of it, though I don't know if anyone cares that much....

ex-Gooserider