Daimler has stopped a Chinese minicar that resembles the Smart ForTwo from being shown at next week’s Bologna auto show.

Daimler claims the Noble infringes its design copyright for its ForTwo and is trying to stop...

puregreencars.com

 

Good. Infringing on another company's design is a no-no.

 

whoa whoa whoa whoa... whoa..... whoa....

The "Noble/Bubble" is a FOUR seater car?!?!?!

 

wow great job on Daimlers part. I wish they do this more often against other car makers, the copy cats are out of control recently as I kept seening more and more (namely Nissan, Toyota) manufactures coping Benzs mirror blinkers on their models.

 

copying an IDEA (for example. lights on side mirrors, which, may i add, was NOT a mercedes invention or origination) is very different from bit-for-bit copying a car.

otherwise ONLY chrysler would be making minivans in the U.S.

 

Thats not only an idea but also a design and style. I've never seen a mirror blinker on any car before MB came up with it. You should look at the blinkers on Acura and Toyotas Scion, they cloned it pretty much down to the mold. I would say thats pretty bad...at least GM make the mirror blinkers look different.

 

Talk about lack of creativity and originality.

 

im pretty sure that there were several cars back in the 50s/60s that had integrated turn signals but cant remember which ones.

but to give you an example, the Citroen DS (1955-1975) had headlights that turned with the steering wheel, a feature which has just recently been revived by Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus.

my point is that the bulk of "new" ideas were in use decades ago, so trying to claim copyright infringement on most design and styling ideas is nearly impossible. the situation with SMART, however is very different as the Chinese company responsible for making the "clone" set out to basically create a rival to the ForTwo using the same dimensions as the original, which IS copyright infringement since they are trying to freeload off the Original's success.

 

Note that the original MB side mirror indicators were only at the tip of the mirrors. Now we have them covering the full width of the backside of the mirror housing.

 

I guess some car companies shouldnt have windsheilds or roofs. i dont see the point of your argument. technology vs styling is very different. there is not much styling differences you can do with blinkers on a side mirror. If MB came up with putting markers on side mirrors, that is nice, but does it mean that other companies wont/cant use it, i dont agree.

-J

 

I doubt it, I tried to find one a long time ago but haven't found any.

Exact same thing as I am talking about the mirror blinkers. Make something that look "exactly" the same size and shape even the details look the same, if they (Nissan/Toyota) change dimensions a little I would feel a lot different towards them.

 

mercedes has switched their design for the mirror turn signals several times so id be hard pressed on any one lextoy or nissan to be a "clone"

taking styling CUES and making a CLONE of something are very different.


this reminds me of all those BMW fanatics saying that Lexus was copying the infamous "hoffmeister kink" or whatever the hell its called only to be shut up by these pics that predated his useage of it in the 2000...



i would hardly say nissan or toyota "cloned" the mirror design, they may have taken the IDEA but thats allowable, if someone came out with an 8spd transmission tomorrow would Lexus be able to claim patent infringement? No, because an Idea and a Clone are very different things.

 

^^^^
Those got nothing to do with me or what I am trying to say.

I don't think you want me to start posting pics of mirror blinkers and set up a side by side comparsion with a game of guess which brand it belongs to. I don't think you'll be able to guess correctly since they look so identical.

I am not sure which country you are posting from but in USA you can own an Idea and have rights to it. There are a lot of ligitations between software and technology firms going back and forth based on a simple idea.

 

Actually that would be a fun game lol. Guess the car just by looking at its mirrors hahaha.

 

The pictures you posted, BTW, PureDrifter, are a 1961 Dodge Dart and a 1964 Ford Galaxie.