As "Back To The Future" celebrates
its 30th anniversary this year, there's a legal tussle over the futuristic car
that provided the guts for the flying time machine used by Michael J. Fox in
the classic 1985 film.
Maverick automaker
John DeLorean's eponymous creation co-starred in the 1985 movie as it
transported Marty McFly back to the 1950s to engineer his parents' meeting —
and, in a 1989 sequel, to a 2015 world that featured flying skateboards, automated
dog-walkers and self-drying jackets.
Now, DeLorean's widow, Sally, claims
in a federal lawsuit that Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company has been
illegally using the DeLorean name to sell hats, pens, notebooks, key
chains and other items, and has illegally licensed the name and images to other
companies including Nike, Mattel, Urban Outfitters and Apple. The company has
never been formally affiliated with the one DeLorean started.
The Texas company "has improperly and
illegally appropriated for its own use Mr. DeLorean's legacy,
including the DeLorean Identity, together with intellectual
property," the lawsuit alleges.
The suit claims the company has plans to
manufacture an electric version of the car, which it says would be illegal
because the car's design belongs to John DeLorean's estate.
In addition to seeking to stop the company from
continuing to use the trademarks, the suit seeks damages as well as the
company's profits derived from their use. Through its attorney, the company has
denied all claims and asserted it has the right to the trademarks. The two sides have a settlement conference
scheduled for next month.
John Z. DeLorean was an automotive
innovator who began his career at General Motors and is credited by some with
creating America's first "muscle" car, the Pontiac GTO, in the
mid-1960s. He left GM in the early 1970s to launch his own company and
eventually produced the DMC 12, referred to simply as
"the DeLorean," a sleek, angular car with gull-wing doors and an
unpainted stainless-steel exterior.
Only about 9,000 of the cars were produced
before DeLorean's company went bankrupt in the early 1980s, but the
car's look and cult following helped land it a role in the "Back To The
Future" films. According to the Internet Movie Database, the car was
chosen because it would plausibly look like a spacecraft to people in the 1950s
flashback scenes.
DeLorean died in New Jersey in 2005 at age
80 after years of court battles that included a highly publicized drug trial in
the 1980s in which he was acquitted of conspiring to sell millions of dollars
of cocaine. His former estate in the rolling hills about 40 miles west of New
York City was converted into a golf course by developer Donald Trump in 2004.
Sally DeLorean lives in New Jersey with her daughter.
Attorney R. Scott Thompson, who represents
Sally DeLorean, said John DeLorean bought his company's
trademarks, images and other intellectual property during the company's
bankruptcy proceeding. The lawsuit alleges that in 2004 he gave the owners of the
Texas company permission to make a small modification to the car's user manual,
and they acknowledged that DeLorean owned the intellectual property.
"There is definitely no written
agreement" relinquishing the trademarks, Thompson said, adding, "to
the extent that any written agreement exists, it says the opposite."
At that time, the lawsuit contends, the Texas
company was a "small forum" where DeLorean enthusiasts
could buy or sell parts or exchange information. The company, disputes this
characterization.
William Mead, a New Jersey-based attorney
representing DeLorean Motor Company, said in an email that the
company existed for 10 years prior to John DeLorean's death and has
registered trademarks. He said DeLorean was aware of its operations
and didn't express opposition.
The Texas company has been assembling and
selling DeLorean cars made from original factory parts it acquired in
the original bankruptcy proceeding, Mead said.
"Now, years after
Mr. DeLorean's death, Sally DeLorean has unfortunately
filed a lawsuit as a representative of the Estate of John DeLorean,"
Mead said. "The DeLorean Motor Company denies that the Plaintiff
has any right or authority to prevent the DeLorean Motor Company from
operating its thirty-year-old business, and has no right to money damages."
Source - FoxNews
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