International Law

Hummer Deal (Almost) Officially Dead

By Stan

China?s Ministry of Commerce rejected Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.?s application to acquire General Motors Corp.?s Hummer unit, the Beijing Youth Daily reported today, without saying where it got the information. The ministry rejected the application because Tengzhong didn?t say if it was buying Hummer?s brand or its technology, the newspaper said. (Bloomberg)

This remains a rumor at the moment, but the result appears to be the one everyone has been expecting for some time. Hummer just isn’t the environmentally-friendly symbol of modern China that the government is trying to project globally.

There is also a style issue here as well. That bit about the application being rejected because the local company did not specify whether the deal was for a trademark or a patent/know-how? WTF?

I’ve known some unsophisticated clients in my day when it comes to IP, and by all accounts, Tengzhong is not exactly experienced in these sorts of things. But I think this excuse sounds a bit weird.

In my experience, if your application for anything in China is defective, you get a chance to cure the defect and resubmit. But let’s face it, that excuse is hard to believe either way.

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Full post as published by China Hearsay on September 09, 2009 (boomark / email).