General Motors is ending its lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. over the use ofa single word:cruise.
The battle started in July when GM sued Ford for copyright infringement saying Ford's name for its hands-free driving system, BlueCruise, too closely resembled GM's self-driving car subsidiary Cruise and GM's Super Cruise, its hands-free driving system that it introduced in 2012 and launched in 2017.
On Sunday night, GM told the Free Press the lawsuit hadbeen resolved amicably, but declined to release anyfinal terms. AFord spokesman said the settlement is still in process, but made acomment thatindicated future use of the word BlueCruise may continue on future Ford cars.
The comments comeafterlawyers for the automakersfiled a notice of settlementwith U.S. District CourtNorthern District California on Friday saying the parties are working outterms of asettlement.The notice requesteda conditional dismissal and the two sides have 60 days toreport back to the courtif they’re unable to come to an agreement.
On Sunday evening, GM spokesmanDarryll Harrison told the Free Press, "The parties have resolved the case and related proceedings amicably and will have no further comment.”
Ford spokesman Mike Levine could not confirm that any settlement terms have been finalized andsaid, "We’re planning to settle the lawsuit with GM and have no further comment at this time."
When asked to clarify GM's statement in light of the fact thatthe terms have not been fully finalized, Harrison said, "Our on-the-record stands."
But a cluethat Ford will be keeping the use of the name BlueCruise as part of the settlement comes in Levine's comments tothe Free Press that Ford willshare more news at a later date about BlueCruise technology coming to additional Ford vehicles.
"In addition, we recently announced that BlueCruise will be available for the new 2022 Ford Expedition and it is already available for Mustang Mach-E and F-150," Levine said.
Ford announced BlueCruise in April, soon a legal battle ignitedin July whenGM filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ford over the name.
In the complaint, GM said it had been in “protracted discussions” with Ford over the name but were unable to come to agreement. GM's Cruise self-driving subsidiary has been in business since 2013.
In August,Ford filed a motionto dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the term “cruise” was“ubiquitous" for driver-assist features, a term that's been in use for 50 years and that consumers associate with many carmakers. Levine has called GM’s trademark claims “meritless and frivolous,” and Ford petitioned the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office asking GM’s trademarks of “Cruise” and “SuperCruise” be rescinded.
On Sept. 10,U.S. District Judge Susan Illston cast doubt over GM's move to block Ford's use of the term BlueCruise during a hearing for GM's preliminary injunction blocking Ford from using BlueCruise.
"I feel like the likelihood of success on the merits is unclear to me at this point. It seems to me thereare validity issues about the idea of using the Cruise designation and the mark Super Cruise since it was -- I think there is substantial evidence it was used before in a -- in a more generic framework, and it seems to me that Super Cruise, for example, is far more generic or descriptive than anything else and ditto with Cruise," Illston said according to a transcript from the hearing.
The judge said evidence ofconfusion over the word "cruise" is lacking.
"I'm unclear about likelihood of success on the merits and that's the primary thing that would incline me to deny the motion," Illston said.
She also noted,"I personally take a jazz cruise every now and then, and occasionally there is a blues cruise," she said. "I'm just saying the words you chose to use as your own are used by other people all the time."
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
