Volkswagen has lost a dispute with Suzuki over the famed GTI badge made famous since the early 1970s by its Golf model line.
According to Bloomberg News, the EU’s General Court has ruled it cannot overturn a decision by the European Union’s Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market granting a trademark for Suzuki’s Swift GTi.
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“There is no likelihood of confusion between that trademark and the earlier trademarks ‘GTI’ held by Volkswagen,” the Luxembourg-based court said in a statement.
Volkswagen will review the ruling and consider an appeal to the region’s highest court, the EU Court of Justice, spokesman Eric Felber told Bloomberg.
The carmaker’s German rights “to the GTI trademark will remain unaffected by the judgment”, he said in an e-mail.
The report noted that VW and Suzuki are in arbitration concerning a separate dispute over a 2009 cooperation agreement which Suzuki ended last year. The Japanese automaker is seeking to force VW to sell back its 19.9% Suzuki stake.
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