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[manlytom]

A Honda or so video called Zero X. Is this a rip off or what ? can they do this ? trademark etc. do we need to get the lawyers out ?



or am I just not understanding it.

t

[Richard230]

Curious.     Maybe Zero hasn't trademarked their brand and model names wherever that commercial was made . Or maybe the producer of that commercial has never heard of Zero electric motorcycles - which is certainly possible in the off-road IC industry.

My guess is that Zero can take care of their own trademark issues and I don't know enough about trademark laws to form much of an opinion. Frankly, I am not quite sure what they are trying to sell in that video.   

[Lipo423]

I'm not an expert, but let's say I have some experience on this...The name Zero + "whatever you attach next to it" is very popular, from motorcycles, games, computers, bicycles, music, among others businesses...
Normally -unless well known registered brands like "Coca-Cola" "Apple" etc...you can use a lot of different names without getting yourself in trouble...A company or an individual could face potential liabilities (if Zero has registered that way) when you talk about Zero X Electric motorbikes -which is not the case as this is an IC motorbike advert, made by a Motorbike company that was found in the 40's...

In any case -not knowing if you have any interest or relationship with Zero- you look like someone that cares about the brand...

[Brammofan]

Zero has definitely trademarked their name.  The Goods and Services covered by "Zero Motorcycles" are:
 

Electric vehicles, namely, motorcycles; Motorcycles. FIRST USE: 20070629. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070629

Zero also holds the following trademarks:

   Serial Number   Reg. Number   Word Mark   Check Status   Live/Dead
1   85189661      ZERO URBANCROSS   TARR   LIVE
2   85157817      ZEROCROSS   TARR   LIVE
3   77977387   3661976   ZERO   TARR   LIVE
4   77793886      ZERO DS   TARR   LIVE
5   77757810      ZERO MX   TARR   LIVE
6   77665631   3669261   Z-FORCE   TARR   LIVE
7   77665629      ZERO S   TARR   LIVE
8   77665628      ZERO SS   TARR   LIVE
9   77616233      ZERO X   TARR   LIVE
10   77960452      DISCOVER THE EXPERIENCE   TARR   DEAD
11   77377959      ZENERGY   TARR   LIVE
12   77160341      ZERO   TARR   DEAD
13   77191336   3669900   ZERO MOTORCYCLES   TARR   LIVE

For more info, go to http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4007:9qj98k.1.1
and search for Zero Motorcycles under the "owner name and address" field.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to allow linking directly to the search results or I'd provide that.

Yes, the have a trademark on Zero X. It is listed as:

: Electric motorcycles; Motorcycles and structural parts therefor; Motorcycles for motocross

Could they advance a claim of trademark infringement against Honda? Sure.  Would they win such a claim? Who knows?

[protomech]

Let it never be said that Americans are always the first to threaten lawyers : p

At first I thought this wasn't really affiliated with Honda, but it appears to be a factory race team.
http://powersports.honda.com/racing/offroad/offroad_2011_honda_team.aspx

JCR/Honda is located in San Clemente, CA .. about 400 miles away from Santa Cruz. I wouldn't be surprised if they've raced in some of the same races.

Edit: the "nice" approach would be for Zero to tell Honda to change the name of the video, or to at least append a note saying the film isn't associated with Zero.

Unfortunately Zero must defend their trademarks or they will lose them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark#Trademark_erosion

[flar]

Reading the description it looks like the video is about their 2011 racing season where they lost one of their riders, nicknamed "Ox" (as in the letter O, not the digit 0), but continued on to some success anyway.  They likely called the video "zero x" to honor the fallen rider's nickname, but that is likely their current investment in using that name.

So far it seems to be just the name of that video and not the name of the team or any of their efforts, so I don't know how that plays into the trademark fields that Zero Motorcycles has registered.

[dkw12002]

Maybe Zero X was just the name of the video and not the bike. I can't get any hits for a Honda Zero X bike.