UPDATE: Seth alert me to On The Rox Fabrication and their Facebook page. The business creates custom parts for the Roxor that make it look more jeep-like. Here’s a pic showing a Jeep and a Roxor. At a quick glance, can you spot the Roxor?
The answer is that neither are jeeps (okay, so it was a misleading question). Both are Roxors.
Below are some of the parts made by On the Rox. I will be interested to see Jeep’s reaction one its legal staff becomes aware of the On The Rox products.
Original Post August 7, 2018: This post covered Jeep’s Filing with the FTC against Mahindra, the creator of the Roxor.
As many of you know, the Roxor is Mahindra’s newest jeep-like vehicle. It’s a non-highway vehicle capable of a max speed of 45 mph. It’s best thought of as a hybrid jeep/atv(aka side by side). When they were first introduced, many folks wondered how Mahindra could build and sell these in the US. And, furthermore, why wasn’t FCA (Jeep’s parent company) fighting this.
It seems FCA was simply biding it’s time and thinking about how to respond, because just the other day FCA filed a complaint with the FTC regarding the sale of the Roxor in the US. The core of the complaint rests on two principles.
- According to the filing, “Most significantly, [Mahindra & Mahindra] exacerbate likely confusion by promoting their vehicle as bearing the Jeep-IP that FCA owns, touting their vehicle as being ‘modeled’ on the … Jeep”. In other words, Jeep is claiming the Roxor looks too jeep-like. With this argument, FCA is relying on the concept of Trade Dress, though I’ve found no evidence that FCA ever trademarked a specific ‘dress’. Of course, FCA has trademarked JEEP and the 7 slot grille, but the Roxor circumvents those. I suspect the argument will come down to whether a judge or the FTC believe that the Roxor dilutes the Jeep brand. Given the number of news outlets that have described the Roxor as a jeep-like vehicle, there may be a solid case for that.
- While Mahindra is one of the oldest licensees (since 1947), that license doesn’t give Mahindra the right to sell jeep-like vehicles in the US. Since Mahindra doesn’t own the Jeep IP (some folks on Facebook have made, surprise-surprise, many erroneous claims regarding the Mahindra-Jeep contract, such as that Mahindra “owns” the rights to build and sell jeeps … a license does not equal ownership … in the end, having no access to the contract, we don’t really know the specific details),Jeep feels it is within its rights to put a stop to the Roxors. No doubt this argument will come down to the specifics of the contract(s). Is Mahindra limited from selling only highway vehicles in the US that look like jeeps or are they banned from selling anything jeep-like in the US? Time will tell ….
It’s interesting to me that Jeep didn’t file a lawsuit against Mahindra for violating the terms of its contract. So, either it doesn’t violate those terms OR starting with the FTC is a simpler, cheaper option for now.
Mahindra did offer a response, claiming its “actions, products and product distribution (including Roxor) both honor the legacy of the relationship and the terms of our agreements with FCA.” This is a pretty boilerplate response. To me, it also suggests they didn’t try to work with FCA when planning the Roxor, but instead were hoping for forgiveness or expected protection vis-a-vis it’s license. Still, I’d be surprised if there were terms that allowed Mahindra to sell jeeps or jeep-like vehicles in the US.
LINKS:
- Law360 article (have to sign up to view): https://www.law360.com/automotive/articles/1070073/fiat-chrysler-says-indian-look-alike-is-ripping-off-jeep
- Jalopnik article on filing: https://jalopnik.com/jeep-is-trying-to-keep-the-mahindra-roxor-from-going-on-1828080605
- Australian Take on the Issue: https://www.motoring.com.au/fca-wants-indian-jeep-knock-off-banned-113947/
- Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-02/fiat-chrysler-looking-to-block-mahindra-jeep-knock-off-in-u-s
- Jalopnik article from the spring of 2018: https://jalopnik.com/this-is-why-mahindra-can-build-tiny-jeeps-1823472625
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