I'm not at all impressed with Group Lotus' or Proton's behavior. Here's to hoping the Malaysian government sides with Fernandes and puts him in charge of Proton.

after looking at the development of this year I do agree with the statement made by Hunt on how he rate the Lotus Racing. Fenandes put much cash to race on, and the team performed. i do blieve that to get a FOM/FIA's late night welcome to the formula one racing the name of this 'Lotus' calibrate was absolutely must. All plot must have been set up in super rush, therefore I could imagine for the both sides, Proton as well as Tony, that they somehow build-in damage limitation mechanism. For Proton was this One year limitation and for Fernandes' side it was their respect on accepting 'Team Lotus' branding prohibition.

Cool. It is a deal. Fernandes could have lost his game massively, actually he can still dress up as Virgin stewardess... th season is not over yet, but so far the team performed well.(Bravo)

I think Proton is Ugly player in this development as now they completely turn their back to the Fernandes not because they failed, but because they succeed. Proton rolled themselves in another championship and so on. Honestly I do hope that GP2 clear tis situation, eventually forbidding none of them to run under the banner.


Toyota... does not have much space to look around formula one isn't it? Rendering plot of this? No Malaysian will not accept such move from Japanese (ocupation) giant. They are too proud to do that. Rather, Proton wanted to abuse what Toyota have abandoned...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87042

Riad Asmat has it absolutely spot on IMO. Sod you, Proton, crappy car maker lol.

Problem is that in the 1990s Hunt tried to register Team Lotus as a trademark for various things and was opposed by Group Lotus. Not sure whether that ever came to an end. But once Team Lotus stopped racing, Group Lotus was no longer going to allow them to "grandfather" the name.

That's a strange move. I wonder if they'd have done the same thing if Tony Fernandes didn't plan to use the Team Lotus name. The idea of the Lotus Cars group entering F1 itself just sounds like a response to the current Lotus team, rather than a real intention to enter the sport.

Proton are going over the top with this. Tony's team has more likely been great for the Lotus brand. The only thing harming it is Proton themselves, coming out saying what they said today.

James Allen on Lotus controversy

Allen includes a very interesting quote from Fernandes:
"We would like to co-operate but if Group Lotus doesn’t want to then there’s not much we can do about it. Maybe the ownership will come under one anyway in due time. It makes sense if they did."

Perhaps this indicates that Fernandes is lobbying for control of Group Lotus with the Malaysian government?

Sure Lotus Group will not like then what is going on. Looking back, Lotus was NOT just a civic car manufacturer.

One could say that, by allowing 1Malaysia F1 Team to enter the 2010 Formula One World Championship under the Lotus Racing banner, Group Lotus were actually in breach of Team Lotus Ventures' rights.

In my opinion GROUP LOTUS lost golden opportunities to be ay F1
When genuine TEAM LOTUS retired at the end of 1994 season....what did GROUP LOTUS to keep the heritage?.....NOTHING
Perhaps they should have rescued the Team or at least TEAM LOTUS name
TEAM LOTUS name was not used from 1994 to 2010.....what did GROUP LOTUS to get back the rights?.................NOTHING
In those years they could have bought TEAM LOTUS rights from Mr.Hunt, but the did...........................................NOTHING
Perhaps at GROUP LOTUS were busy "designing" infinite limited editions of the Lotus Elise/Exige....
If Tony Fernandes had the balls and the commitment (as well as the money)to bring back TEAM LOTUS name , GOOD FOR HIM and BAD for GROUP LOTUS
In Spain we have some words to relate the situation "CRY AS A WOMAN WHAT YOU WERE NOT ABLE TO DEFEND AS A MAN" (dedicated to GROUP LOTUS RIP. F1 PROJECT.....if once existed)
GROUP LOTUS now should concentrate money and technical resources in developing a proper GT2 or GT3 Lotus Evora, instead supporting no sense projects as KV Racing in IRL or GP2 and GP3 next year
As "LOTUS" fan I disagree GROUP LOTUS politics

I believe David Hunt certainly felt that way but he chose to not rock the boat as the team did show respect by avoiding the 'Team Lotus' name and all other branding like the crest roundel that was used by the old Team Lotus

Btw, Hunt did race the team in 1994 after purchasing the team from administrators. The team raced under his ownership in the European, Japanese and Australian GP of that year. The following year he licensed the name to the Pacific Grand Prix team

Why? So that we can have the same shoddy services that AirAsia is famous for at Proton?

I will stick with Nadzmi over Fernandez any time of the day.

From what I have read so far, Team Lotus and Group Lotus are two (2) separate entities. This issue will be resolved in an English court by both Proton and Fernandez.

Group Lotus' objectives become a little bit clearer:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87050

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87051

Looks like they're making a simultaneous push into global motorsport. They've got the deal with ART Grand Prix in GP2, GP2 Asia and GP3; now they're expanding their Indycar operations to sponsor a second car and developing an ICONIC package, and they're building an LMP-2 prototype. I very much suspect that they're making a play for the Lotus name to field a Formula 1 team now - because then they'll have Formula 1, Le Mans and Indycar all covered. They'll be represented in each and every major motorsport category short of the WRC and touring cars.

The end-result may very well be that they Fernandes will have the right to use Team Lotus name and Group Lotus the Lotus name, so we might see Team Lotus and Lotus at the same time, no matter how ridicilous it will be.

Screw this team. New LMP2 coupe, and Evora GT2 project as well!

How confusing. I've lost track of this Group Lotus, any other Lotus nonsense.

You may be right. At the end of the day, Fernandez may have the right to "Team Lotus" name while Proton could have "xxxx Lotus xxxx" name for as long as it is not "Team Lotus".

How long do you think Fernandez could keep his "Team Lotus" afloat without the back-up of a major sponsor in the years to come. At least Lotus Group could bank on the support of Petronas, who owns a piece of Proton and Lotus.

"I am the NEW Colin Chapman!! "

"NOOO!! I AM THE NEW COLIN CHAPMAN!!!"





"I will paint my cars in British racing green, with a yellow stripe"


"NNOOOO!!!!! I WILL PAINT my cars in British racing green, with a yellow stripe"

Actually, my money would be on Fernandez. Obviously, Group Lotus has big plans. Unfortunately, there aren't enough sales of Lotus cars to support such a diverse racing program. Not without generous sponsors and the Lotus name doesn't mean squat when it comes to raising sponsorship. The downfall of the original Team Lotus makes that painfully clear. So we have a itty bitty car company trying to become a racing giant without actually selling many cars...Sounds like another Spyker to me. And since its part of Proton (which isn't doing too great either), they have to show some fiscal responsibility. Banking on Petronas money would be a big mistake. Malaysian companies work in very mysterious ways. Stewart had Tourism Malaysia money while Sauber raced with Petronas funds. A few years later, Yoong and Visit Kuala Lumpur were at Minardi while Petronas was still at Sauber. And when Fernandez started his Racing Malaysia team, the Petronas money went to Brawn/Mercedes. So the only thing you can be sure of is that Petronas will not be sponsoring Group Lotus.


Meanwhile Fernandez seems to be both a businessman and a genuine racer. And he has the support of the Chapman family. As long as it makes sense to him, he will continue.

So they have a problem with Proton as I was saying in the other thread.

Huuummmmm.....they forgot to include NASCAR, PIKES PEAK, TRUCK RACING..........
Too many ambitious projects.They´ll need tons of millions to support all that racing programmes
I would gibe GROUP LOTUS an advice:
"Please be realistic, FIRST set up a proper GT2 GT3 Evora on track that help to sell cars, then go into more ambitious projects, step, by step..."

Seems a bit sudden, I don't get why they ever let Fernandes have the Lotus Racing name if they had all these intensions. That was their mistake, it wasn't like Fernandes was gonna go away once they have the team running. When they let him have the Lotus Racing name and put all the huge money and effort into it, the Group Lotus should have understood that to go to F1 on their own would seem very weird.

Ahhh but you see Group Lotus's CEO, Dany Bahar, is 'young, modern, full of innovation and ideas' (thank you Google). You may remember him as Ferrari's 'Vice President for Brand Management', which I'm not sure means anything.

If he's as nu-capitalist as his previous career suggests, then you can bet Group Lotus's legal action (and sudden expansion) will be bordering on the suicidal.

Group Lotus are claiming their heritage in motorsport: http://www.grouplotus.net/mediacentre_pressreleases/view/545

Btw, they look to be trying to differentiate themselves from Team Lotus by adopting a double yellow stripe design:

Lotus ART GP2 render

This is getting very interesting.
Who owns the Lotus legacy? Group or Team?



http://www.grouplotus.net/mediacentre_pressreleases/view/545

Proton doesn't owned 'Team Lotus'. So what's the fuss?

Do they owned Lotus 1-2-3 applications too?

David Hunt picked up the claim to the Team Lotus name when Team Lotus went into receivership and was liquidated back in 1995. Proton dispute that; they claim Hunt never had the rights to the name and was in no position to sell them on to Fernandes. They seem to believe that the Team Lotus name should have defaulted back to Lotus Cars. They've no doubt got some kind of legal precedent for this claim - I'm guessing they've gone over the liquidation of the original Team Lotus looking for inconsistencies to invalidate Hunt's claim to ownership - otherwise they wouldn't be making it at all.

Proton have claim to the Lotus Cars name. Technically, Feranndes' Lotus Racing entry is run under their banner because Fernandes got permission to use their name. He then moved to purchase the rights from Hunt, and claims to have done so. Proton withdrew permission to use the Lotus Racing name, so Lotus has technically defaulted to the same organisation that was Team Lotus, which has been dormant for fifteen years. By blocking the Team Lotus name and refusing permission to use Lotus Racing, Proton are trying to put Feranndes between a rock and a hard place. If you look at the press release, they've got GP2 (and GP3), Indycar, Le Mans, GT2 and GT4 programs lined up. Not to mention the Type-125 track day prototype, which draws clear inspiration from Formula 1. With such a broad, simultaneous push into multiple disciplines, it's pretty obvious they want Formula 1. It's the missing jewel in the crown they're trying to fashion.

How will this affect F1 next season?

Will Tony Fernandez's team be legally barred from using the "Team Lotus" (or any other Lotus) name and have to resort to using another name like "Team Air Asia"?

Assuming Group Lotus manage to buy an existing F1 team, could there be 2 Lotus teams running around the gird while all this is being sorted out in the courts?

Most the Lotus Racing's sponsors are Tony Fernandez companies (if I'm not mistaken), but will the other sponsors leave if the Lotus name can't be used?

Mike Gascoyne to stay with Lotus Whatever at least until the end of 2015:

If they are forced to drop the name, they will have to adopt another name or probably sell. Fernandes may command Air Asia, but airliners rarely post a consistent and significant profit. The team may not be able to sustain itself, because if Proton stop them using the rights to the name, Lotus Racing will probably lose the support of the Malaysian government.


No. Proton are moving to block the use of the Team Lotus name, and have revoked permission to use Lotus Racing. The FIA will not acknowledge two teams with similar names, and will support the team with the rights to the Lotus name. If the issue is tied up in the courts by the begining of the 2011 season, Lotus Racing will be able to go under the Team Lotus name because they're innocent until proven guilty of using a name they have no claim to. If Group Lotus still want to enter for 2011, they will have to go under another name, like Proton.

Good

He's a good guy to carry on the team as it goes forward.

Seems that Tony Fernandez is serious about "TEAM LOTUS" plans for future.
He is already using the classic TEAM LOTUS logo on his planes livery


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

He (believe he) has the rights to it.

check out the introducing line on this website:

Clark, Senna, Andretti, Moss, Mansell, Hill, Fittipaldi, F1, IndyCar, Le Mans. Lotus and motorsport go together like fish and chips and jelly and ice-cream.


putting the names like Clark and Senna in a same sentence with fish and chips.... that is super classy from the proton boys

i wish that some judge somewhere in the world could stop this rape of the Lotus heritage

Actually, the mention of fish and chips came in the sentence after Clark and Senna.


Yes, because the period from 1991 to 1995 was such a shining beacon of motorsport. Shouldn't someone be trying to make up for that dismal period?

Amen to that. Those years were some of the darkest for Team Lotus in terms of performance. Tony and Mike have my full support since they're the ones making the impression in F1

The announcement coming from Group Lotus on expanding their racing activities made a whole quarrel but more bitter than what it was. I was thinking that it will resolve without harming each other at some point, before the announcement.


Now, the only way to resolve this will be to merge two into one, and to give the one with higher achievement in motor sport a crown.


Battle on 'borrowing' identity from the foreign two parties... Group Lotus even have some latin origin name involved... Get the act together. It is all too laughable. Very bad habit.

That's not an option. Ferandnes might be open to it, but Group Lotus' passive-aggressive approach suggests otherwise.

Good post, but my feeling is that they DON'T want to go into F1, and actually are going to withdraw a lot of their ideas the moment they have squeezed out money out of Fernandes. Proton doesn't have the money for what they are trying to do (tick all the boxes?), but I think they want to make 'feasible' for a judge they are still a motorsport-company...

In short: Group Lotus is setting up a court case.

True, and comprehensible, I can completely agree.

Terrible thing is that Malay government almost 'own' both, and they will not be to patient about it. At this very moment they are damaging the image of the nation, let me put it this way. It is a risky business to quarrel on the world wide platform.

Strange thing is, it is more than logical to 'wish' to race under Team Lotus Banner as long as you are racing under Lotus name. At the Formula One plat form Team Lotus is the true name Group Lotus is not. So I donno why Group Lotus has to be offended if and when Fernandes and a whole team wished to race under th Team Lotus name. Group Lotus could have celebrated and say that now the Lotus is reconciled...

They're not asking for money. They're not suing Fernandes for misuse of the Lotus name. If anything, they're asking him to cease and desist using their intellectual property (I know the Lotus name doesn't consitute intellectual property, but it's as close as I can manage for a metaphor). It's likely that they plan to sell the rights to the name if the courts agree with them, most likely to ART. I find it extremely telling that a) ART Grand Prix wanted to join the grid, but backed out when they failed to secure a budget, b) Lotus cars is sponsoring ART in GP2 and GP3, and c) Lotus Cars developed the Type-125 track day car, which is clearly inspired by Formula 1. In short, I believe they are attempting to secure the rights to the Lotus name so that they can sell them on to ART to run a new Formula 1 team.

Sir, I stand corrected. Your thesis is much better than mine. But one point keeps standing up: Group Lotus don't want to race or start a F1 team. They want to capitalize (is that spelled right?) the name Lotus.

Yes. They view the Lotus name as an asset, a brand. One that can be sold. But take Virgin Racing, for instance. It is not owned or run by Virgin. The entry was given to Manor Grand Prix. Virgin bought the rights to name the team. It is likely that if Proton acquire the Lotus name, they will sell naming rights to ART Grand Prix. ART have been successful in every season of both GP2 and GP3, and Lotus clearly believe that a Formula 1 team run by ART will be a better owner of the Lotus name than Fernandes; I'm guessing Proton are unhappy that Lotus Racing is not competitive. ART will benefit from the arrangement because the Lotus name would help secure sponsors.

Having been on to Companies House and the Intellectual Property Office, I've searched to try and find out the status of Lotus at the moment.

Group Lotus is a holding company. Within which we have...

Team Lotus Ltd. - The nature of business is listed as "other service activities" and the company was formally Lotus Marketing Services until Lotus renamed it in 2007.
Team Lotus International Ltd. - This is the old company, which sold on the racing team and naming rights in 1990. It still exists but doesn't do anything.

In 1990, the team was sold on to a new company, Team Lotus Ltd (Not the same one as above!), which was the company which went into administration in 1994. The racing team and naming rights were sold to David Hunt's company, Paintglossy Ltd, which was subsequently renamed Team Lotus Ventures Ltd. This company still exists and still holds the naming rights.

Team Lotus Ventures Ltd. own the trademarks 1338435, the Team Lotus logo, and 1337455, "Team Lotus". In 2002, Group Lotus filed for revocation of these trademarks on the grounds of non-use with no proper reasons for non-use. The finding was that David Hunt was trying to get Lotus back into Formula One, and that with Formula One being a closed shop, the non-use was for reasons that were unique to the series. The trademarks were upheld, but had any usage outside of Formula One revoked.

David Hunt legally holds the right to use "Team Lotus" in Formula One. Group Lotus are throwing money and lawyers at it because they are annoyed that they didn't think of buying the rights first. They have a history of trying to acquire the rights via the courts rather than by buying them back from the rightful owner.

To be honest, I suspect Group Lotus simply suspect they might make more money by selling the naming rights to ART....

ART may well have been successful in every season of GP2 and GP3, but running an off-the-shelf spec car is a fairly different animal to building up a design team and doing it all yourself- unless they're planning a buy-out of an existing team to achieve their ambitions....

...and if we take the line that the Fernandes operation doesn't have any legitimate right to claim the heritage of the original 'Team Lotus', then I really don't see how painting a Sauber or Toro Rosso green and yellow would give Group Lotus/ART any more right to that heritage...

Bell to group Lotus.

I'm no lawyer, but at first sight that looks pretty decisive- if David Hunt and Team Lotus Ventures have sold or granted the rights to Fernandes, then I'm guessing the ball should be firmly in Fernandes' court....?

If the ball is my court, I am responsible to kick it out, yes?

So the ball is in Group Lotus court, no?

I'm curious how much money Group Lotus is planning on investing through all these motorsport activities. Between the LMP2, IRL, GP2 & GP3, it's got to be a sizable financial commitment.