Ford Wants GM's Cruise Trademarks Tossed Out

GM fired the first shots in a legal battle against Ford when Ford named its driver assistance system BlueCruise. GM has been calling its driver assistance system SuperCruise and has a trademark issue on the word "Cruise." However, the trademark didn't stop Ford from naming its system BlueCruise, leading to GM filing the suit.

While General Motors may have started the trademark war, Ford is fighting back. Ford has petitioned the courts to throw out GM's trademark rights to the word Cruise and Super Cruise. Currently, Cruise is the arm of GM that handles its autonomous cars, while Super Cruise is the automaker's hands-free driving technology. Ford believes that trademarks should have never been granted.

Ford spokesperson Mike Levine has stated that the terms should have never been registered and that Ford and the industry overall can freely use the word "cruise" to describe their driver assistance technologies. GM has fired back, stating that it was the industry's first "true hands-free" driver assistance technology noting that it has been on the market since 2012 and had an established commercial presence as early as 2017.

GM says it will vigorously defend its trademarks and offered no further comments. Ford feels that the trademark infringement lawsuit GM filed against it is frivolous. Levine and Ford make a good point that the word " cruise" has been associated with driver assistance technologies for decades before GM picked up the name.

Drivers have been familiar with the term "cruise control" for maintaining speed without having to press the throttle pedal for decades. Just about every manufacturer out there offers cruise control on their vehicles. Ford decided on the name BlueCruise in relation to its evolution of a feature called Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control. GM's suit is seeking monetary damages and an injunction against Ford, forcing it to stop using the name BlueCruise.