Automaker Ford wants the US government to remove trademarks from competitors and industry peer General Motors (GM) for self-driving systems in cars.
The automaker is responding to a recent lawsuit filed by GM. In addition, he sued Ford for infringing a trademark on a control technology used for hands-free functions.
Ford has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to remove the trademarks for GM technology called Super Cruise and Cruise so that the entire auto industry can freely use the word cruise to denote steering technology, a Ford spokesperson said.
The patent authority usually does not register words or phrases that are commonly used. For example, when GM trademarked Super Cruise in 2016, the agency initially said the word “cruise” could not be registered on its own because it was merely a description of the car’s function, which is to drive at a predetermined speed.
Still, the agency went for Super Cruise in 2018 and Cruise was trademarked last year. But, according to Ford, GM’s two systems should never have been registered, and several other brands, including BMW and Hyundai, also use the word cruise in their brand names.
