TVS Cease and Desist

Bernhard said:
Because the accountants and pen pushers cannot see past the end of their nose, if it had not been for all the people, both good and bad, that kept making the spare parts since the Norton factory shut down, that marquee would have faded into obliteration.
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'marquee' Bernhard?? That's a bit intents :)
 
I'm not any form of lawyer, but as I understand it, in order to protect the value of the goodwill which forms an expensive part of the purchase price, the company has to protect it's trademarks, otherwise the goodwill will be reduced in value.
Thus it's not a case of the factory trying to muscle in on the huge world market for Norton tee-shirts, but rather an attempt to regain control of the trademark. Presumably cNw et al can ask Norton for permission to use the curly N or whatever.
If Norton management is clued up, they would probably agree to allow reputable companies to use the logo?
 
This is what Harley-Davidson did when the first group of bean counters took over from AMF; They went around to all the independent shops that had kept their crap running and told them they were no longer allowed, under penalty of litigation, to use the bar-and-shield logo, paint their buildings orange and black, or even use the word "HOG" in any of their advertising. Then they emptied out the race shop and crushed all the race bikes for a tax write-off. Dick O'Brien must have been spinning in his grave. At least Norton's new owners can't do that, but after all these years of their logo being used on shirts, signs, coffee cups and whatever, they deign to pick low-hanging fruit such as enthusiast forums who make no profit and only advance and carry the marque through restoring, racing and improving THEIR crap.
 
I think we should, from now on, refer to any future output as TF Nortons, to avoid confusion with SG Nortons, Bracebridge St., Plumstead, Andover, Shenstone et al.....
 
I become disgusted seeing as I've been dragging this pile of nuts & bolts around with me for the most part of my life like I'm married to it to hear of others of the same nature being slapped in the face for exercising what I consider to be a Right having been earned the hard way..... This is only because greedy bastards glimpsed a chance that if the last asshole hadn't absconded/mismanaged funds that the brand could actually have made a successful go of it this last time.
 
It's widespread by the look of it.

Norton trade mark and the new owners

Hi all , Here in Sydney,Australia the Norton club has just received an official Email from the Lawyers of the new Indian owners of Norton Motorcycles informing us that within 7 days we must cease and desist using the "Norton" trade mark logo as well advertising for sale any clothing such as...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
 
cliffa said:
It's widespread by the look of it.

Norton trade mark and the new owners

Hi all , Here in Sydney,Australia the Norton club has just received an official Email from the Lawyers of the new Indian owners of Norton Motorcycles informing us that within 7 days we must cease and desist using the "Norton" trade mark logo as well advertising for sale any clothing such as...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
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Yep, that sounds like the same letter.

I think they should have taken a different approach, but who am I. It’s way over the top in my opinion. Anytime I see a letter from a solicitor or lawyer demanding something, then I automatically go on the defense. Perhaps if they would have asked the clubs to help their new Norton brand in a nicer way it would have been better for them. They could have partnered with our Norton clubs to help their brand instead of this. It would have been far more beneficial for them, than going around pissing Norton owners and clubs off.

Let’s see where it goes next. I hope they get a bit more friendly and realize that it’s people like us and the clubs that will keep them in business. Imagine if the Norton clubs received a letter asking to partner and promote rather than cease and desist how much better it would be. We might actually be excited about it then instead and look forward to buying a new Norton. I won’t buy one now.

Well if they are reading this and probably are, the new Norton owners should be aware it’s not too late to turn it around. Thoughts? I know they are possibly asking that their logo be removed and that’s it for now. But what next? The Colorado Norton owners club have the Norton logo on their website because we love Norton’s, that’s all. Just leave us alone.
 
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This was going on before the present owners as well. There is a small family race team called Wiz Norton who run two rotaries. A couple of years ago out of the blue they received a similar letter and were absolutely gobsmacked, as they thought they were doing Norton (can I use that word?) a favour by carrying the name when there was no other presence at the IOM for example. They used to sell the odd T shirt and posters just to try and help with costs, but no way were they a threat to the bottom line of "that company"

I agree with you Jerry. The way they are handling it now they are just going to piss people off and they will look elsewhere for bikes. - Plenty others out there.
 
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Hope they not just focused on selling their bikes in their homeland …. can’t imagine that the plan …. life experience say way more gained with honey than ….. maybe they will see the light although this current atmosphere gives more $ to their legal team and it is that team on leading edge of this attitude …. no offence meant to any lawyer members here , it just the way it appears to be ….
 
SteveBorland said:
I'm not any form of lawyer, but as I understand it, in order to protect the value of the goodwill which forms an expensive part of the purchase price, the company has to protect it's trademarks, otherwise the goodwill will be reduced in value.
Thus it's not a case of the factory trying to muscle in on the huge world market for Norton tee-shirts, but rather an attempt to regain control of the trademark. Presumably cNw et al can ask Norton for permission to use the curly N or whatever.
If Norton management is clued up, they would probably agree to allow reputable companies to use the logo?
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What management - read the London gazette, no one is in control. Looks like they have just kissed good bye to £16M quid pissing off Accessnorton. Clearly poorly advised when they bought out Garner or was it the remnants from Norton America. Some may want to read the opposition they raised against Thomas Norton on the US TESS website. The US judge has said it will not protect the rest of the US held TM's. Use it or lose it, and there is no sign of them using it.
There needs to be a change of the guard, or it looks like TVS will have a dead duck on its plate. Trying to revive the brand from where Garner left it was one thing, but pushing it further back down the crap pile looks like suicide. They and their so called advisors do not truly understand the big picture and history of Norton, clearly they spoke to the wrong people.

Looks like Garner has had the last laugh here, as it looks like he gained enough to pay back the pension pots at TVS expense.

Rather spend my money on the Ricardo / Zongshen developed motor.
 
Jerry Doe said:
Yep, that sounds like the same letter.

I think they should have taken a different approach, but who am I. It’s way over the top in my opinion. Anytime I see a letter from a solicitor or lawyer demanding something, then I automatically go on the defense. Perhaps if they would have asked the clubs to help their new Norton brand in a nicer way it would have been better for them. They could have partnered with our Norton clubs to help their brand instead of this. It would have been far more beneficial for them, than going around pissing Norton owners and clubs off.

Let’s see where it goes next. I hope they get a bit more friendly and realize that it’s people like us and the clubs that will keep them in business. Imagine if the Norton clubs received a letter asking to partner and promote rather than cease and desist how much better it would be. We might actually be excited about it then instead and look forward to buying a new Norton. I won’t buy one now.

Well if they are reading this and probably are, the new Norton owners should be aware it’s not too late to turn it around. Thoughts? I know they are possibly asking that their logo be removed and that’s it for now. But what next? The Colorado Norton owners club have the Norton logo on their website because we love Norton’s, that’s all. Just leave us alone.
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The only club that they have partnered it seems is the NOC in the UK.
 
I have to agree with the new owners exercising their legal authority on trade mark protection. If a company does not defend their trademarks, they lose all legal claims to them going forward. It is not a mean spirited attack on others using their TM, but a legally required action to keep control of their property. I don't like it, but that is the fact.
 
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