Indian IP blog Spicy IP is running a fascinating article about the battle between the South African branches of car manufacturers Chrysler and Mahindra.

They're arguing about the legitimacy of Mahindra's use of the word 'jeep' (in lower case) in an advertisement to describe the type of vehicle they're manufacturing. Chrysler claims it owns the trademark to the world's oldest sport utility vehicle of World War II vintage.

Now the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa has jumped in too, and the waters are getting muddier by the minute. And, as if this wasn't complicated enough, SpicyIP mentions that the relationship between Mahindra and Chrysler actually goes back quite a long way. Which implies that, at some point, the big boys in India and the US may step in to stop this squabble.

The irony is, it's all about big, luxury, gas-gobbling, environment-killer cars....

tags: policy-law trademark advertising

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