Recent Trademark Case

Will it be Gear knobs or Speedbird?

Trademark News

If you are fan of cars, odds are you must have come across Jeremy Clarkson as a host on Top Gear, which airs on BBC. Later this year Jeremy Clarkson was dropped as a host after a so-called altercation with the show producer. But it did not stop him to re appear again as a host. He signed a deal worth £160 million to make 36 episodes with amazon for its prime instant videos.

Two weeks before amazon announced its acquisition of the former Top Gear team, Olswang LLP- that has worked for Jeremy in the past filed a trademark application for the name Gear Knobs and a divergent spelling Gear Nobs, through a shell company called Newincoo 1361 LTD.

Thus allowing them to use the brand name for their show and range of related merchandise, including badges, umbrellas, key fobs, and arcade games. Other possible merchandise on the application includes watches, video game controllers and smartphone apps. The original Top Gear brand was worth £15o million a year to BBC through a lucrative combination of live shows, DVD sales, and all manner of branded merchandise, including stig bubble bath and Top Gear birthday cakes.

But however BuzzFeed fortnight dredged up the trademark application for the impudent title filed by Jeremy Clarkson’s lawyers Olswang. Thus making possible complication for the former Top Gear hosts.

Last month, Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, said that the team was still trying to come up with a title for the show, which is expected to premiere on the Amazon Prime streaming service next year. “Jeremy, Rich and James have some new ideas of things they would like to explore and try,” he said.

The name “Speedbird” was also registered as a trademark on July 28, suggesting that it could be used for a new Stig-style character.

By Sanjeet Arora

3^rd year Law Student Wolverhampton University