Andover Norton Press Release

kommando

kommando

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Issued 8am UK time this morning.

Press Release


On Monday 26 February Andover Norton International Limited issued court proceedings against The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited for breaching the terms of ANIL’s exclusive trade mark licence agreement to use the NORTON and COMMANDO trade marks to sell spare parts and assemblies for vertical twin cylinder engine Norton motorcycles made between 1952 and 2002.



In the same court proceedings ANIL is also suing The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd for trade mark infringement and passing off, in relation to its use of the NORTON and COMMANDO trade marks to sell spare parts and assemblies for vertical twin cylinder engine Norton motorcycles made between 1952 and 2002. The full list of defendants in the case are: (1) The Norvil Motorcycle Co Ltd, (2) Ms Susan Miriam Emery, (3) Mr Leslie John Emery, (4) Norton Motorsports, Inc, and (5) The Norton Motorcycle Co Ltd.



ANIL’s exclusive licence was granted in November 2003 by Norton Motorsports Inc., a predecessor of The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited. Once an “exclusive” licence has been granted then no further licences can be granted for the same rights. This is a strict legal requirement.



The NORTON and COMMANDO trade marks to which ANIL’s 2003 exclusive licence relates were acquired on 17 April 2020 by The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited, which belongs to the Indian company TVS Motor Company Limited. The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited became the licensor of the trade mark rights to ANIL at that time.



Shortly afterwards on 5 May 2020 UK trade mark No 2128517 for NORVIL and UK trade mark No 2128766 for COMMANDO were assigned by The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd to The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited.



The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd uses the trade marks NORTON and COMMANDO to sell spare parts and assemblies for vertical twin cylinder engine Norton motorcycles made between 1952 and 2002. The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd states on its website:



“We are proud to have a license from the Norton brand name owners to manufacture and supply genuine parts. With this we can manufacture and supply parts for the Norton Dominator and Norton Single plus the Norton Commando and Norvil too, for all of the pre 1977 models.



With the latest acquisition of the Norton brand by the TVS group, our license has been further strengthened.”



The use by The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd of the trade marks NORTON and COMMANDO to sell spare parts and assemblies for vertical twin cylinder engine Norton motorcycles made between 1952 and 2002 contravenes ANIL’s 2003 exclusive licence. Further, the granting of any licence to The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd to use the trade marks NORTON and COMMANDO to sell spare parts and assemblies for vertical twin cylinder engine Norton motorcycles made between 1952 and 2002 would contravene the terms of ANIL’s trade mark licence with The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited.



ANIL’s court action against The Norton Motorcycle Co. Limited and The Norvil Motorcycle Co. Ltd also accuses both parties conspiring and causing damage to ANIL through breaching of the terms of ANIL’s exclusive 2003 licence.



ANIL’s court proceedings were filed with the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, and are now a matter of public record.



ANIL will not make any further comment on the ongoing proceedings.

The Board of Directors at Andover Norton
Andover Norton International Ltd

Unit 6 Wooler Park, North Way, SP10 5AZ, Andover
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In the multinational corporate world a case against a subsidiary will be included in the monthly report to head office. If its been under the radar at TVS it will not be when the Norton monthly report goes to India in March. TVS reporting of accounts is 1st April to 31st Mar so they will have to act quickly if its not to be included in the End of Year report.
 
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kommando said:
In the multinational corporate world a case against a subsidiary will be included in the monthly report to head office. If its been under the radar at TVS it will not be when the Norton monthly report goes to India in March. TVS reporting of accounts is 1st April to 31st Mar so they will have to act quickly if its not to be included in the End of Year report.
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How long has this been going on? Seem to remember that the NOC had a battle with Les Emery years ago!! Norton spares must be making more money than I first thought.
 
There has been a number of actions, Norvil threatened the NOC for carrying ANIL ads in 'The Roadholder' using 'Commando', NOC spent £600 on a lawyers opinion who told them to tell Norvil to go away. ANIL took action against NOC for having copies of old Norton drawings recovered years ago out of a skip, an agreement was finally made, can't remember the agreement details but the effect was it stopped the drawings getting into the hands of Norvil. Not an exhaustive list as there was also the Mick Hemmings vs Norvil on the Norvil trademark. ANIL took over Mick Hemmings assets including his Norvil parts.
 
And We're OFF.........
Andover Norton Press Release
 
grandpaul said:
"What a waste" by the people knowingly doing wrong things.
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If we all look back , does anybody remember what the Kenny Dreer Norton company bought rights were ? Was it everywhere but England rights ? So it seems that just using and selling the Name Norton and Commando is what the problem is with Norton Motorcycles ? Clearly the engines and motorcycles are not the same business as Vintage Norton Commando ? This smells of bigger fish to fry to me . Why was this not brought up during Donnington years ? Or was it ??
 
TonyA said:
If we all look back , does anybody remember what the Kenny Dreer Norton company bought rights were ? Was it everywhere but England rights ? So it seems that just using and selling the Name Norton and Commando is what the problem is with Norton Motorcycles ? Clearly the engines and motorcycles are not the same business as Vintage Norton Commando ? This smells of bigger fish to fry to me . Why was this not brought up during Donnington years ? Or was it ??
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As you can imagine it's pretty complicated. Joe is probably the best person to outline the Norton trademark status and he won't be able to say anything right now (aside from what was just published).

There have been multiple efforts to consolidate the world wide trademark and Kenny's team was one of the biggest. Which is one of the things that made the sale of Norton America appealing. I don't know if the TVS handling of the trademark was nefarious or clueless. I suspect both.
 
Hmmmmm, all this trademark property license intrigue is tres sexy!
I bet this will put the Norton name back on the front page again, and of course, it's all free publicity for Dr. Bob's boys.
 
So glad I got my "bootleg" Fading Green Dot speedo wrist watch before the whole operation was shut down by the trademark owners ;-)

"Can't we all just get along?"
 
I dislike litigation and greedy lawyers as much as anyone but it is my understanding ( perhaps incorrect) that trademark / patent holders are obligated in some fashion to defend their interests ,
otherwise they stand increasing likelihood of losing their rights to said trademark/patent . Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in on this .
 
Richard Tool said:
I dislike litigation and greedy lawyers as much as anyone but it is my understanding ( perhaps incorrect) that trademark / patent holders are obligated in some fashion to defend their interests ,
otherwise they stand increasing likelihood of losing their rights to said trademark/patent . Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in on this .
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If I read this correctly it’s more that Norton granted exclusive rights to Andover and then also granted rights to Norvil. So it’s like double dipping, not defending the copyright.
 
Richard Tool said:
I dislike litigation and greedy lawyers as much as anyone but it is my understanding ( perhaps incorrect) that trademark / patent holders are obligated in some fashion to defend their interests ,
otherwise they stand increasing likelihood of losing their rights to said trademark/patent . Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in on this .
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Yes this is correct. You either fight for every inch of trademark ownership or you are no longer considered legally the owner and cannot got after bigger infringements. Lax assertion of your ownership rights will be used against you in future cases.

The sad thing is, we are trying to keep these old machines running....any company/individual that wants to support this can be discouraged by these legal maneuvers and many never proceed...the parts suppliers can then dry up entirely and the bikes fade away.
 
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