WEC
Vanwall's participation in the WEC threatened?
Will the Vanwall team be able to compete in the WEC in 2023? © Vanwall Racing
Already the end of hopes for Vanwall in WEC ? While the Vanderwell 680 from the Austrian team is present in the entry list for the 2023 season with the Frenchman Tom Dillmann, the Argentinian Esteban Guerrieri and especially the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, world champion of Formula 1 in 1997, it might not be on the starting line when the season kicks off on March 17, on the occasion of the 1000 Miles of Sebring.
For many months, the use of the name of the British brand, the first F1 world champion manufacturer in 1958, has been the subject of an imbroglio because this name is already registered in Great Britain and in the European Union by Sanderson International Marketing. PMC GMBh, the company linked to ByKolles, registered the same trademark in Germany and for worldwide use, before challenging the European rights of its British counterpart for non-use, thus requesting its deletion.
The EUIPO agrees with Sanderson International Marketing
The EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) delivered its verdict this Thursday, February 2. In the document to which AUTOhebdo was able to gain access, the European body revoked ByKolles' request. To reach this conclusion, the office requested and examined sets of evidence provided by both parties. Sanderson International Marketing thus presented evidence of commercial activities to relaunch the Vanwall brand. These take the form of various press articles or television broadcasts.
This could therefore complicate Vanwall's participation in WEC 2023, the presence of the Austrian Hypercar still being subject to certain conditions, including its homologation. Above all, Manufacturers must be able to use the name of a brand to which they have the rights. AUTOhebdo is awaiting clarification from the championship on this subject.
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Valentin GLO
Journalist. Endurance reporter (WEC, IMSA, ELMS, ALMS) and sometimes F1 or IndyCar.
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Jean-Yves Hubert
04/02/2023 at 01:57 a.m.
No, but frankly, what do fans and the public care about knowing that an artisan manufacturer must be approved by its damn European authorities to participate in the WEC? Imagine the situation a few years ago when the ACO was very happy to have Rondeau, Courage, WM, Pescarolo to speak only of the French, who would have been prohibited from participating in Le Mans under the pretext that they are not depositaries of a brand?!!! We walk on the head.