What is Porsche doing?

My chair is patented for what it’s worth!

I’m not so sure about the Porsche DNA in the concept though. With a tweak or two, I can imagine this as a Jaguar concept, or any of those makes that had curvy sports cars in the past.

Although the cars are very different, the fender vent kinda reminds me of TVR. They did this on a few cars and I haven’t seen it elsewhere. Since they’ve been gone for a few years, this could have made a good concept for them too, just paint it purple.

Except a mainland Chinese buyer…

Looking into this more, it looks like the concept they showed eventually changed quite a bit for production (knocking off Landrover instead?)

I don’t know the price differential but it seems like this car includes a 1.4L engine. So I have to assume design aside nobody who had money for a 3.0L Porsche Turbo was actually cross shopping these. Porsche scales in China continue their best global growth (compared to Europe) so it’s no surprise these companies continue to pump money into things.

But based on that it’s not clear if they were successful in defending the IP?

I’m sure there are more details here but it doesn’t actually seem like this panned out where this knockoff car did much.

That TVR vent detail is such an elegant way to solve that problem, but only if competently executed. Thinking about incorporating that or the Porsche Tack’n Turbo style in some new electronic products that will run hot.

I have a “lunch” (OK its on Teams) meeting with our legal team today to talk about our ornamental protection on a product which though is new for us, has at least 20 years of existence in the fitness industry. The patent drawings are typically ‘verbatim’ to the eDrawings models we supply.

(Written from my Knoll office chair, I couldn’t afford the Aeron and went with Chadwick)

Porsche is doing a lot of things right, lately. The new Taycan is simply stunning !

A friend of mine took delivery this week in “frozen blue”, which is Porsche speak for baby blue. And it works!
I am blown away.

Writing from this:


(the file upload does not work in firefox!)

Taycan is really nice. There’s one in that color near me and I love seeing it drive by. So much better than the Panamera, though Im not sure overall if I like it as much as the original A7 in silhouette. Interior I’ve heard is stunning though.

R

The Macan clone is called the SR9, different from the T700.

Ah gotcha. Looks like it comes with the mid 90’s classic 4G63 Mitsubishi engine, the same motor that powered the Mitsu Evo and Fast and Furious generation Eclipse. So based on that alone it’ll make at least 800 horsepower more than the Porsche.

Like I said, someone who has budgeted ~$20k for a car that looks like the Porsche wasn’t the buyer of the Macan.

I own fake Eames molded chairs. After spending all of our dining room budget on a nice table and lighting we had no money left for chairs and the $200 for 10 knockoff chairs was good enough compared to $6500 for the real thing. I also have a cat and a small child so buying the real thing only to have it chewed on by my brain-damaged feline wasn’t in the cards. I already look at the 2’ gouge across our toddler made across our walnut table and just cry a little each time I cover it with a table cloth.

Design patent terms are 15 years and the Eame’s designed those chairs around 1950. It’s public domain for the last 55 years. They are all reproductions of a design in the public domain (although that is harder to say than “knock-off”.

First, this thread needs to parse IP. The fellow in the OP is talking about a copyright, which is vastly different from a design patent.

For a design patent, I’m no lawyer but I am well-qualified to be a putz on the jury, I see more difference in the 2 cars in question than I see between your average Honda and Toyota SUV. I wouldn’t award patent holder a nickel.

But the question is, does it violate a copyright? In the most obvious sense, no, the images of the copycat are not the same as the original. But then you get into the larger question, can you copyright a 3D object. Traditionally, no, that is the purpose of a design patent. That said, there are exceptions and probably the most notable is the copyright Apple received for the form of the original iPod. I think that was more driven by the 2D orthographic views, but the precedent has been set.

So should a 3D object get a copyright? That certainly can be debated. I have stated before, I am against without a complete revamp of copyright law. Freaking Mickey Mouse has driven the law for people to pretty much indefinitely make money off of an idea, it never becomes public domain. I personally think money is not the root of all good and if someone can offer me a cheaper chair, god bless.

I think we already have a thread discussing ip and copyright vs. public domain & heritage.

Perhaps a mod can link it here and we keep this one on focus?

Thanks.

mo-i: I think this thread started about IP and wondered into discussing Porsche. I think we are on topic!