AC’s carbon-fiber, V-8 Cobra costs $860K less than Shelby’s

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by CompFi

2. Amidst the various legal challenges over the years, does AC possess the rights to produce Cobras? Maybe jointing possess the rights with Shelby American?

As to production rights, considering all the Cobra replicas that have been manufactured over the years and the lawsuits filed by Shelby which failed to shut them down (the most recent being his lawsuit against Factory Five Racing in the early 2000s, IIRC), there may be no issue with producing the actual cars.

Here's an interesting excerpt from an article which appeared after AC announced their plans last year:

"They go on to say that “AC Cars is the legitimate owner of the AC Cobra trademark…”. Carroll Shelby is not around to dispute that statement but I suspect he might have something to say if he were here. However, Ford has claimed ownership of the Cobra brand in the past as seen in this quote from a Ford press release dated 11 August 1986.

"Ford has granted a licence to Autoraft Limited of Brooklands in Surrey for the use of the name COBRA for the AC Mk IV sports car which is now being manufactured by Autokraft.

"The name COBRA, a registered trademark was originally owned by Carroll Shelby but was assigned to Ford Motor Company in 1965. The COBRA trademark is still the property of Ford Motor Company and under the provisions of the Trade Marks Act 1938 and similar legislation in other countries, it is an infringement of Ford’s trademark rights to use the name COBRA in relation to motor vehicles."

Based upon this, it would appear Ford still holds the rights to the 'Cobra' name, and that AC would have to license from Ford the use of that name.

https://mycarquest.com/2022/12/a-new...g-in-2023.html

[Harpoon PV2]

Originally Posted by cycleguy55

"[i]The name COBRA, a registered trademark was originally owned by Carroll Shelby but was assigned to Ford Motor Company in 1965.

A dollar really did go farther back in 1965! Cheers, Dennis

[Dominik]

Just look for Lubinsky in this forum and come to your own conclusions