Group Lotus have tried this before when David Hunt owned the name and have previously lost 3 court cases making the same claims.
It’ll be interesting but it seems that Group Lotus has lost control of its PR dept again…
This is from an independent news source, Joe Saward…
A Group Lotus press release on Wednesday used the CABC green and yellow badge and claimed that the company had achieved �seven F1 Constructers Championships, six F1 Driver Championships and numerous other considerable accolades�. This is true of Team Lotus, but not Group Lotus.
The main operating subsidiary of Group Lotus plc is Lotus Cars Ltd, which has two operating divisions � Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars. Lotus Engineering is an automotive engineering consultancy based in Norfolk; Lotus Cars builds production road cars.
It is clear that there is trouble between Lotus Racing and Group Lotus and it looks like Group Lotus has some idea that it can get into racing, elbowing Team Lotus out of the way. This is not a good idea. Group Lotus is owned by Proton, which is owned by the Malaysian government. This mighjt seem to suggest that Group Lotus has major political support, but Fernandes is very well-connected in Kuala Lumpur, a fact underlined by the appearance of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the country�s ex-prime minister, at the opening of the Lotus F1 factory in February. He ran the country from 1981 until 2003 and still plays a major role behind-the-scenes role in Malaysian politics. He led the push to remove Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his successor, in April 2009 and supported Najib Razak as the new premier. Tony Fernandes is close to Mahathir, having impressed the ex-PM by acquiring the near-bankrupt Air Asia in 2001 for one ringgit and turning it into one of the world�s most successful low-cost airlines.
Trying to take on Fernandes might be considered foolhardy given his connections, as the management of Group Lotus still needs to prove that it knows what it is doing. The chief executive Dany Bahar is a newcomer to the production car business. Lotus has never made much money and Bahar hopes to change that with a new range of road cars that will be launched at the forthcoming Paris Salon. The success of these models will probably decide Bahar�s fate as an automobile industry executive. However, it might be wise not to rock the boat in the motorsport world, particularly if your ultimate bosses are friends of Tony Fernandes.
(The �Team Lotus� trademark process (to David Hunt’s Company)was completed in January 1995, specifically in relation to Formula 1 racing. Group Lotus challenged this decision in the courts in 1998 � after the Proton takeover � and lost. Thus Group Lotus has no real legal claim on Team Lotus, based on the decisions made up to now. There is no reason to suppose that a new legal action will be any more successful than previous ones.
What a shabby situation this appears to be… particulary by Group Lotus
This makes an interesting read too.
PROTON�S CLARIFICATION ON THE PURCHASE OF �LOTUS� BRAND BY TONY FERNANDES
Kuala Lumpur, 27 September 2010 � There is and always has been only one Lotus, the Lotus started by Colin Chapman. From the beginning Lotus made road cars and raced racing cars. Until 1994, Group Lotus, the road car manufacturer and Team Lotus, which operated the Formula 1 team, were in common ownership with common directors. In 1994, Team Lotus failed and Lotus has not raced since. Since 1994, David Hunt has claimed to have acquired assets of Team Lotus, including its name, from the liquidator. He has never raced as Lotus. Mr. Hunt�s attempt to acquire the name Team Lotus was ineffective. Group Lotus is the owner of all rights in the “Lotus” automotive brand including those relating to Formula 1.
Last year, Tony Fernandes and 1 Malaysia Racing Team recognised this by taking a licence from Group Lotus to use the “Lotus” brand for the “Lotus Racing” team in the current Formula 1 season. With PROTON�s agreement, Group Lotus has now terminated its licence to 1 Malaysia Racing Team to use the “Lotus Racing” brand in the 2011 and future Formula 1 seasons as a result of the flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by 1 Malaysia Racing Team, which were damaging to the “Lotus” brand.
Following that termination, neither 1 Malaysia Racing Team, nor any other company associated with Mr. Fernandes such as Tune Group Sdn Bhd or Team Lotus Ventures Limited, has the authority of Group Lotus to use any “Lotus” brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season. This includes the use of the brand “Team Lotus”.
Group Lotus understands that Mr. Fernandes intends to rebrand the current “Lotus Racing” Formula 1 team to “Team Lotus” for the 2011 Formula 1 season. Mr. Fernandes indicates that Tune Group has acquired the rights to the name “Team Lotus” from a business formerly owned by David Hunt called Team Lotus Ventures Limited. Group Lotus believes these rights to have no proper legal foundation, a fact of which Mr. Fernandes was well aware when his company purchased them.
PROTON will support Group Lotus in taking all necessary steps to protect its rights in the “Lotus” name, including resisting any attempts by Mr. Fernandes or his companies, or any other unauthorised person, to use the “Lotus” name in the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Dato� Sri Mohd. Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh, Chairman of PROTON Holdings Berhad and Group Lotus commented, “We believe the Lotus brand to be one of the most valuable brands in Formula 1 today. We are the owners of this brand, and will take all necessary steps to protect it. Tony Fernandes has no rights to use the Lotus brand in the 2011 Formula 1 season, and we will strongly resist any attempts by him to use our brand without our permission and will withdraw our sponsorship of the Lotus Racing team.”
�To put it simply, Group Lotus is everything Lotus. The fact that 1 Malaysia Racing Team entered into an agreement with Group Lotus to use the brand means that both Mr. Fernandes and 1 Malaysia Racing Team recognises and acknowledges Group Lotus� rights,� he added.
About PROTON
PROTON, established in 1983, is Malaysia’s largest manufacturer of automobiles, and the only full-fledged OEM car manufacturer in South-East Asia. With operations in key markets from UK to the Middle East, and across South-East Asia and Australasia, especially in countries like China and Iran, PROTON produces cars to suit a range of consumer demands and preferences.
Its offerings include versatile and reliable four-door family vehicles, two-door hatchbacks for the young-at-heart, luxurious and stylish executive sedans, spacious and affordable multi-purpose vehicles, as well as the world-renowned sports cars from Lotus. Most importantly, PROTON models are now developed with Lotus Engineering, offering customers superior ride and handling experience in every drive.
PROTON�s inception as a key driver of national development has seen the brand accelerate its learning curve through technology transfer with strategic partnerships and technical collaborations. By listening to the needs of customers, PROTON cars are now steadily on track to achieve the mission for the future, with PROTON set to become a marque which builds cars with passion and soul; cars that are a delight to drive - and a pleasure to own.
About Lotus
Group Lotus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PROTON Holdings Berhad. The main operating subsidiary of Group Lotus plc is Lotus Cars Limited, which has two operating divisions - Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars. Lotus Engineering is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy based in Norfolk, UK. Global facilities include those in Michigan (USA), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), China and offices in Germany.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, offering a full engineering service from initial concept and project design through development and integration of the complete vehicle to meet all worldwide markets and customers to full production. This includes third party ‘niche vehicle’ engineering and manufacture worldwide.
Lotus Cars builds world class, prestige, high performance sports cars for sale in 37 countries. These include the iconic Lotus Elise, and the Exige and Europa. Lotus� latest model, the Lotus Evora, goes on sale from Spring 2009. Lotus is a global high-tech company, expanding rapidly and committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric cars and renewable fuels.
Lotus Racing has now made a statement which I reproduce in full below. The last couple of sentences make a lot of sense to me and Group Lotus have got this one wrong in my opinion…
LOTUS RACING, GROUP LOTUS AND PROTON
27 September 2010
SM Nasarudin, Kamarudin Meranun and Tony Fernandes, the three shareholders of Lotus Racing, announced on Friday 24th September that Team Lotus is back in Formula OneTM from 2011. Lotus Racing has competed in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under licence from Group Lotus parent company Proton, and today Lotus Racing Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat shed more light on why Team Lotus is coming back for the first time since 1994 in the 2011 Championship.
Riad Asmat: "This has been an incredible year for everyone associated with Lotus Racing. Last week we brought Team Lotus back to the Formula One grid when we announced that we had bought Team Lotus Ventures from David Hunt, and would be racing as the successor to one of the most iconic names in world motorsport. This year, we have established ourselves as the leading new team in Formula OneTM as a licensee of Group Lotus, and, although we all dreamt of bringing Team Lotus back to where it belongs, we could not do so in 2010 because those rights were owned by Team Lotus Ventures. As Tune Group has now bought Team Lotus Ventures it means we can now use the Team Lotus name for 2011 and beyond. We are all delighted we can go into 2011 with total confidence in what we own, and what we can take to the track.
"However, given that this is contested by Group Lotus we think now is the time to clear this matter up so there can be no further arguments. We have therefore today issued proceedings in the English High Court for a declaration that Team Lotus Ventures has the rights to use the Team Lotus name and everything associated with that brand in relation to Formula OneTM.
"Racing under the Team Lotus name from 2011 means our licence with Group Lotus has now come to an end. In reality, this has nothing to do with how we will go racing in 2011, as the ownership of Team Lotus has been clearly defined for many years. David was approached a number of times about selling the rights of Team Lotus Ventures, including one official offer of from Proton / Group Lotus themselves. That must have been tempting for David, as the rightful owner of the Team Lotus brand and its rights. Oddly enough, Group Lotus also recently tried to revoke the Team Lotus trade marks at a hearing at the Trade Mark Registry, but they were unsuccessful. I suspect David’s misgivings about their previous offer to buy were justified by that action.
"The licence debate really is a non-issue. It was a simple licence, attached to a one year sponsorship deal with Proton for 2010 alone, and in fact for a tiny proportion of the amount invested by the shareholders into the team - approximately 1.5% of the total budget. Unfortunately we never reached the point where we discussed extending that one year deal. When we signed our licence to compete as Lotus Racing with Group Lotus, they were very clear that we could not make any reference to Team Lotus as they had no rights at all to the Team Lotus name or its rights. In fact, in the licence agreement between 1Malaysia Racing and Group Lotus the use of the Team Lotus name is expressly prohibited as they had agreed contractually, as long ago as 1985, that they had not rights to use that name. That was obviously something we had enormous respect for, and made no attempt to change until we could do so rightfully, and with a very clear understanding of what we had acquired in Team Lotus Ventures.
"So now the licence we ran under this year has been withdrawn by Group Lotus, and while we accept that this obviously means we have reached the end of that chapter, it opens up a new and very exciting one for everyone in our team. There will have to be some discussions with Proton and Group Lotus about the entitlement to terminate the licence. Frankly, they are trying to say that some very trivial points, including t-shirt design approvals of all things, gave them the right to terminate, but we thoroughly reject this.
“Now we look to the future. The details of what has been going on behind the scenes are now coming to light, and that’s good because it means the shareholders of Proton, the government, will now know the truth of what has been going on. However the important thing is to look at what we are doing to guarantee future success. We have already invested heavily in ensuring the Malaysian / ASEAN motorsports platform grows, something that cannot be said for our colleagues at Group Lotus. We created a world first when we ran Nabil Jeffri in our aero test earlier this year - the youngest ever F1 test driver. Fairuz has been gaining invaluable experience at the highest level by driving for us, and, through Tony and Din’s AirAsia Driver Development programme, we are giving young Malaysian / ASEAN talent the chance to reach the top. We are so proud to have laid the foundations for future success, and our fans acknowledge this every day. Personally I think it’s odd that our colleagues at Group Lotus have not embraced what we are giving them - a global platform for creating huge awareness and great value for their operations, all at no cost to them. In one year we have made huge strides in the growth of Lotus Racing, and now it’s all about Team Lotus.”
An interesting read…
There is alot of passion in all of this, and to me that can only be a good thing.
I don’t underestimate the potential for ‘reflected glory’ to be gained by Group and Team Lotus if the hatchet(s) can be buried. A bit of synergie (sp) involving all concerned is all that is needed IMHO.
Yours,
Dr H. Kissinger.
I think its a very sad day for Lotus and any true Lotus fans. Just because 1 Malaysia Racing Team ran under licence with the Lotus name, does not make them Lotus and because they now (possibly) own the team lotus name they are no closer to being Lotus.
They are just a company trading under a name, they have no heritage and I am very surprised to see people taking their side. Lotus cars IS what is left of chapmans Lotus and I think they are right to be pissed at what is going on.
The most saddening thing for me is the direction that the Malaysian’s are dragging Lotus, clearly the last paragraph in 83mans post shows that Lotus racing see themselves and group lotus as malaysian and being involved in some malaysian power struggle is pretty sad imho. Who cares about some malasian rookie who will no doubt be useless, what we need to see is quality racing drivers being brought to the sport not some Malaysian political porn.
I just wish someone with the cash would buy lotus back and give us our truly British company back before its totally ruined.
Wise words Boothy 
it’ll be interesting to see whether Lotus Scuderia win this round in the courts or not 
Too right I dont want to see any “Malaysian political porn” either!
gav
I’ll start getting concerned if Clive asks Tony for his dads corduroy hat to be returned 
Lotus Group Scuderia promo:
[video:youtube]- YouTube[/video]
There’s a good chunk of footage of (Classic) Team Lotus cars in that film. Is that allowed? :whistle:
I am surprised group lotus are complaining so hard, surely this is now turning into bad press rather than good press they would have been getting from being associated with the F1 team, very confused
PMSL
Good to have you back posting 83boy
Lotus Racing released this statement today. This move is obviously intended to qiten things down a bit and Lotus Racing say they intend to remain silent until a decision is made and that the two sides are talking. It looks like a compromise might be about to be reached…
LOTUS RACING UPDATE
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 30th September 2010
In a bid to alleviate the public confusion surrounding the ongoing matter between Lotus Racing and Proton / Group Lotus, Lotus Racing shareholder and Deputy Team Principal Dato� Kamarudin Meranun recently had the opportunity to meet Proton Adviser Tun Dr Mahathir. The meeting was to discuss the matter in person and agree a future course of action for Lotus Racing.
Lotus Racing believes it is acting within its own rights, and as a result of this meeting, the team will now refrain from making any further comments on the matter. This action is upon advice from Tun Dr Mahathir, and it is out of our respect for him that we will act upon his wishes as he has supported us since our inception, and his backing has been invaluable in our growth.
We are very grateful for having had the opportunity to put forth our case and have complete trust that a fair review will be made, and a decision on the matter will be announced in due course.
Ends