Shelby’s Cobra IP History Teaches Lessons in Trademark Protection

With the recent release of the Ford v. Ferrari movie, it brings Carroll Shelby’s Cobra back into the limelight and highlights the winding path Carroll had to navigate in securing and protecting the intellectual property rights associated with the iconic car.

Urban Legend Says Shelby’s Cobra IP Name Was Bought From Crosley for $1

As we look back at Shelby’s journey to protect the Cobra brand, many car enthusiasts would first bring up an old myth about whether or not Shelby bought the rights to the Cobra name for just a dollar. 

Carroll Shelby began his racing career in 1952, near the time that the Crosley Corporation, later known as Crosley Cars, was entering the sunset period of its reign.  Active from 1939 to 1952, Crosley was a small, independent American manufacturer of compact cars, some cars being so light and smart that they were considered microcars.

Even today, long after Crosley has faded into the past, car enthusiasts still revere the name Crosley, sponsoring a number of car clubs across the world.  Crosley fans enthusiastically note that Crosley was first to introduce many important features to American automobiles.  For example, Crosley has been credited with coining the term “Sports-Utility” back in 1947 as well as for being the first to introduce to the masses: overhead camshaft engines; disc brakes; and the first post-war sports car.  Notably, Crosley was also well known for its CoBra engine, which was originally developed for military use aboard PT boats and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, and then later transformed for automobile use in 1946. 

As Crosley’s use of CoBra predated Shelby’s use by almost two decades, many assume that Crosley’s use influenced Shelby’s decision to name his iconic car the Cobra.  And as Shelby’s ascension into fame coincided with Crosley exit of the car scene, the timing further fueled rumors that Shelby was able to purchase the rights to the CoBra name for a mere dollar.

Securing Trademarks Rights: Shelby’s Cobra IP Endeavor 

While Shelby himself has denied that Crosley’s use ever influenced him, stating that he found inspiration for the name from a dream instead, Crosley enthusiasts have decried this story as Shelby salesmanship.  Although both camps are unlikely to ever agree on where the inspiration ultimately came from, Shelby did admit that he did run into significant difficulty when he eventually tried to secure rights to the Cobra name.  

In his journey to secure the name, Shelby had to trace the Cobra name through 9 different companies that held some IP claim or other to the Cobra engine or name after Crosley disbanded.  Ultimately, however, Shelby was able to find that Cobra was no longer being used in trade by any of the successors, and as such, Cobra was no longer considered a valid trade name by the U.S. Trademark office.  Many car enthusiasts still take issue with this version of the story, however, stating that it was actually Ford Motor Company and its legal team that did the actual legwork to secure the name and give Shelby the final go-ahead to use it.

Securing Federal Trademark Protection in Shelby’s Cobra Design 

Regardless of how the name came to rest in Shelby’s hands, it is notable that Shelby ran into more intellectual property difficulties when he did not move to trademark the iconic design until 1998, decades after the iconic car design gained fame.  As such, because Shelby had waited so long to move on protecting the design, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office chose to deny the application, citing that Shelby had allowed thousands of replicas to be made without ever objecting to their use of the design.

While Shelby has been open about his disgust for the replica business, likening them to “barnacles,” the replica business has firmly stated that Shelby can thank them for keeping his iconic design alive and highly visible as replicas have allowed for the design to reach wider markets. 

Lessons to Learn From Shelby’s Cobra IP History 

The manner in which trademarks and copyrights can be used to protect important brands and iconic designs is always important.  Brand owners should be aware that:

• timely filing of intellectual property applications is important;

• fan use of intellectual property can actually boost the visibility of a brand;

• analysis should be done to determine the line between policing intellectual property and alienating fanbases; and

• proper tracing of the lineage of intellectual property should always be undertaken.

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