GM Re-Files ZORA Trademark

[John]

Since it is unlikely that this is a defensive trademark patent, after all who else would want to use it on a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mustang, etc., maybe, just maybe, there will at least be one version of the ME engine that is called the ZORA. Personally doubt that the entire C8 line would be all ZORA’s, with then model specific and differentiation. But for the 1,000 HP, AWD hydrid version, that sure could be a ZORA.

General Motors Files 'Zora' Trademark With US Patent and Trademark Office December's filing marks the automaker's first attempt to trademark the famous name since 2014.

BY JAMES GILBOY, JANUARY 1, 2019

LANKY TURTLE - YOUTUBE SHARE


General Motors has made a bid for rights to the "Zora" name, which is historically associated with its flagship sports car: the Chevrolet Corvette.

GM filed for the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Dec. 12 of this year, claiming pertinence to "motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles." The automaker previously attempted to secure the Zora trademark in mid-June to early July of 2014, issuing claims with at least 23 intellectual property offices, the USPTO included. December's Zora filing is the first and only of its kind for the Zora name in 2018, and only the third since July of 2014.



USPTO VIA THE DRIVE

The Zora name is believed to be derived from that of Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Chevrolet engineer credited with the idea of dropping a V-8 into the C1 back in 1955. Arkus-Duntov was an outspoken advocate for the mid-engined Corvette, with which GM experimented several times, but never produced in series within Arkus-Duntov's life—he passed in 1996. Many Corvette fans consider the Zora name a fitting way to pay tribute to the engineer that called for the model's evolution decades before GM was ready to make the leap.

All association between the Zora name and the mid-engined C8 remains speculative at present, but the expected reveal of the C8 in mid to late 2019 combined with the fresh Zora trademark may rekindle rumors of a relationship between the two. The Zora name went unmentioned in an alleged large-scale leak of information on the C8 earlier this month, though some of the other names specified in the claimed leak have a comparable paper trail with intellectual property offices, making the link of any name to the C8 tenuous until confirmed by GM.

http://www.thedrive.com/news/25732/g...ademark-office

Our previous thread on earlier ZORA trademarking: https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ked-everywhere

[CorvetteBlogger]

I went back and looked at the 2014 filing (below). It notes an "Assignment Recording" whereas the 2018 filing doesn't have that. The USPTO has a section on Assignments which it defines as "the act of transferring to another the ownership of one’s property, i.e., the interest and rights to the property." So my thinking is GM was assigned the rights in 2014 from another entity and then re-registered or renewed it in Dec 2018 without the assignment. Other than the fact that GM still is interested in reserving the name Zora for a vehicle name, I doubt this is anything other than standard legal work by the corporation's trademark lawyers.

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s301.html

[John]

Thank you very much Keith. Always nice to know more...

[JB]

Rumor is the chinese were going to try and sell their mid engine sports car in the united states and were going to call it the Woo Ling Zora...




(kidding)

thanks for the heads up.

[Skank]

Once again with ZORA shown as all capital letters to match CORVETTE all capital letter badge.

[FrankLP]

Will be interesting to see if the speculation that GM is moving to Corvette names (i.e. ZORA, Stingray, etc.) versus alpha/numerical titles (i.e. Z06, ZR1, etc.) becomes fact.