Re: [T3] RMMW, Type 3 owners will likely loose :-( My little rant

["Mysterious J" <mysteriousj@snet.net>]

VWoA is so protective of their copyrights, that its become almost legendary.
Being involved with watercooled VWs as well as the aircooled side of things,
I hear allot about this.

I'm going to be in Florida next weekend, and I SHOULD be in touch with my
contacts at Mid-America while I'm there.  If I can sneak it into the
conversation (Hey, I see you guys bought Rocky Mountain Motor Works.  I'm
restoring an old VW; what do you carry?) I'll see what I can get from the
horse's mouth.

Jim
'68 Fastback

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>
To: <type3@vwtype3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [T3] RMMW, Type 3 owners will likely loose :-( My little rant


> On 16 Mar 2004 at 14:31, Cybernotchback wrote:
>
> > My take on it is that MAM couldn't be bothered, (I even told the sales
> > person that MAM would lose a lot of friends).  His response, "that's
> > too bad, but due to the lack of licensing they couldn't even sell
> > clothing". Which leads me to beleive that ANY part with a VW part #, VW
> > symbol...etc will likely be disposed of rather than sold.
>
> I think there's some misunderstanding here. I'm not a lawyer, but I think
this
> is not nearly as bad as it is  painted.
>
> If I try to print up T-shirts with the VW logo on them and sell them then
I'm
> abusing VWs copyright and will have to stop. I can license this from them,
> however, and go ahead, but I'll have to pay something for the license.
>
> Parts with the VW logo on them are a different matter. If they actually
have
> the VW logo on them, then they were originally sold to VW who then sold
them to
> someone else. Once they sold them, they also sold the rights to dispose of
them
> as the new owner sees fit, so MAM can resell them if it likes. The point
here
> is that VW has already made its profit on them and can't complain.
>
> West Coast Metric is a perfect example of all this. For most of their
startup
> years, all they sold was genuine VW parts which they bought (they
bargained,
> and got a special deal) right from a VW dealer in their area. They could
resell
> those parts within the US with no legal limitations.
>
> One thing that gets sticky is that VWoA is probably the only body which
can
> legally import VW parts into the US, so it's possible that some parts
might
> have been imported illegally, in which case they are still illegal to
resell. I
> can imagine that VWoA might have sold RMMW a license to import certain VW
> goods, from Brazil, for example, but once those are legally imported under
a
> valid VWoA license they are legal to resell.
>
> What I'm getting at is that I believe that if the parts were legal for
RMMW to
> sell, then they would also be legal for MAM to sell. But if MAM does not
renew
> their license to import, then their only option would be to buy from VWoA
or to
> buy parts that did not carry the VW logo.
>
> Keep in mind that there are LOTs of good parts out there which are genuine
OEM
> parts, but which don't carry the VW logo anywhere. You can still buy those
at
> NAPA the same as you can buy a perfectly good part for your Ford. It just
won't
> come in a box that says "Ford" on it, and it won't carry the Ford logo.
Most of
> what RMMW sold didn't have a VW logo on it anyway, so those parts can't be
> affected. I don't think there is any way that you can require a license to
make
> or sell replacement parts for any car.
>
>
>
> -- 
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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