Canadian Mustang Owners Club - Ford Mustang Forums - Shelby Loses Bid to Trademark Cobra Shape

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...1&d=1289868067

There are few cars quite as iconic as the Shelby Cobra. Yet while many Americans remember this car as Carroll Shelby’s creation, the styling was actually done by the Brits. All Shelby did was drop an American V8 into an AC Cobra body and in doing so, created a legend.

This was the crux of the argument Factory Five, a kit-car builder opposing Shelby’s bid to trademark the shape of the Cobra. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Court sided with Factory Five though, preserving their right to continue to build their Roadster kit cars.

Shelby and Factory Five Racing have butted heads before, with Shelby suing FFR over the use of the Cobra and Daytona names and shapes. FFR won these rulings, and Shelby granted FFR the right to use the body styles as long as no allusions to the original cars were made. Then Shelby tried to trademark the 1965 427 S/C shape, and FFR, fearing Shelby would go out and try to make the legitimate replica car market look bad, objected, resulting in a court opinion.

FFR objected that Shelby has long since abandoned rights to the trademark as various kit car outfits have already popped up replicating the car. Further, Shelby did not advertise their own “official” reproductions, and at the same time the continuing-fame garnered by the Cobra is a direct result of the replica-car market. Ultimately, the U.S. Patent and Trademark court sided with FFR. You can read the whole court opinion here, but the basic gist of it is that your right to buy Cobra kit cars remains intact.