The internet has a lot more dumb people than you could possibly imagine
Trademark disputes in the automotive industry are nothing new; it happens everywhere, all the time. But this particular one seems a lot more dumber than some of the already dumb disputes we’ve seen so far. Apparently, PSA thinks Polestar‘s logo is pretty similar to Citroen’s and also of the DS’.
L-R: Polestar, Citroen and DS Automobiles
PSA reportedly dragged Polestar to the court over this issue and although the court initially dismissed PSA’s claim for trademark infringement stating that the buyers are clever enough to not get confused, it eventually asked Polestar to pay €150,000 (to PSA) in damages (Citroen’s reputation, apparently) and stop the sales in the country for 6 months. The 6 months’ time is apparently for both companies to resolve the issue outside the court.
Seriously?
If the news is true, it kinda makes me speechless. I mean, just when you think the trademark disputes cannot get anymore dumber, someone proves you wrong. The logos clearly are different; the chevrons are angled/positioned differently and are not exactly the same either; the Polestar chevrons are slimmer and have sharp edges. There’s no way an individual can get confused over these logos. That said, there are a ton of dumb people on the internet and that’s where it all started. L’Automobile Magazine reports that Citroen referred to several comments from the internet users pointing out the “similarities” and decided to take action.
Just to refresh, Polestar was Volvo’s performance arm, just like what AMG is to Mercedes and M is to BMW. It transitioned into an electrified performance brand in 2017 with the launch of Polestar 1, a petrol-electric hybrid two-door coupe. It launched the all-electric Polestar 2 in 2019.
At the time of publishing this story, the Polestar France website was still functional. Will update this story if Polestar responds to an email.
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