According to a report in the super soar-away Sun, BMW has filed a lawsuit against a South Carolina amusement part for copyright infringement, after a cease and desist order from last November apparently went unanswered.
The Round About roller-coaster ride is one of the top attractions at the Myrtle Beach based Freestyle Music Park (formerly Hard Rock Park), and there’s no denying the six-seat carriages bear a striking resemblance to BMWs MINI. However the operators of the theme park insist it all just a misunderstanding.
Under a previous incarnation as the Hard Rock Park, each carriage bore a logo similar to the MINI emblem, however these were removed as part of a recent relaunch and rebranding as the Freestyle Music Park. Steve Baker, president of park owners FPI MBE, said in a statement:
As of our last communication with the BMW representative in November 2009, we had not signed an agreement to use BMW’s trademarks and discussed our new investors coming on board in early 2010… We suggested signing the agreement to use BMW’s trademarks once the new investors came on board… We plan to rectify this misunderstanding and look forward to working with BMW in years to come.
MINI followers in the UK may be very familiar with tales of BMW’s chasing down of copyright infringements. During the early part of the last decade, many long established small businesses felt hard done by when BMW decided to enforce their copyright protection on them, bringing about many name changes and a great deal of bad feeling among the Mini community.
Photo courtesy of and © Caonbie Fan
