In 07/23, General Motors has filed a lawsuit against Ford, claiming Ford infringed the trademarks over its Super Cruise technology.
Earlier this year, Ford has made an announcement which claims that this auto manufacturer will be including its hand-free driving system. The system is known to be dubbed as “BlueCruise”, which shall be implemented into the F-150 trucks as well as Mustang Mach E crossovers. And this decision seems to be arousing legal matter.
Coming from General Motors (GM) and its subsidiary Cruise, a lawsuit is file in a federal court in California with the attempt to prevent Ford from using such name.
Infringement claims in the lawsuit
GM claimed that Ford’s action can ultimately mislead the customer upon its registered hand-free driving system. In other note, GM also claims the name Ford is intending to use, “BlueCruise”, infringes the trademarks for Cruise. Cruise is an autonomous vehicle subdivision of GM.
In the lawsuit, GM also accuses Ford for unfair competition, which lead to the GM’s request to prevent Ford from using such name as well as demand Ford to cover unspecified damages.
GM also stated that they have been trying to reach out and resolve the matter with Ford peacefully, but meet no success. That is why they have no other choice than to file the lawsuit.
Ford’s defense
As for its decision, Ford calls the lawsuit “meritless and frivolous”. They stated that drivers had long understood the concept of cruise control, many automakers offer it, and cruise is common.
To provide evidence, Ford brought out a list of other technologies that use the word “Cruise” such as Hyundai’s Smart Cruise Control. Thus, Ford contended that GM had no issue with other “Cruise” name but Ford’s. By that note, Ford stated that GM is trying to secure itself the trademark ownership for common term such as hybrid or turbo.
Summary
According to Reuters, GM is arguing that “Ford knew what is was doing” and that “Ford’s decision to rebrand by using a core mark used by GM and Cruise will inevitably cause confusion”. In fact, GM has originally announced the Super Cruise name back in 2012, and the tech first appeared in GM’s vehicles in 2017. The GM’s Cruise subdivision has existed since 2013, with GM acquiring the self-driving brand in 2016.
With so much history belongs to the GM, Ford does seem to be in the disadvantages. However, when a specific terms became widely understood (in this case, “Cruise Control”), is it illegal to register a trademark that contain even one part of it? This matter shall be discussed in one of our other articles.
Back to the lawsuit, currently there has not any new progress yet.