It should be told here that from my return from Germany back in September 1992 I had eventually got back into making my Viper Cobra kit in the UK even though I knew that I would be facing competition from Busbridge and his direct copy that he was selling. This meant that it was impossible for me to get back to the heights of the old BRL business because every car/kit he sold was one I lost out to.
I could take no legal action against him because until my case against Chrysler was finished I only owned the Mark under Common Law and that meant it was too difficult for me to take legal action to stop Busbridge-I had to wait until the Chrysler case was finished and won. Very frustrating and it completely stopped me from ever being able to build up my business again, as you will see. I was able eventually and by the end of 1995 to at least make a small living at it. I just had to wait until that Chrysler hearing in 1998.
About early 1993 started a copyright action against Busbridge.In copying my chassis he broke copyright laws. In those days you could still get Legal Aid for such matters. Now you have to only be a criminal and your covered. Wonderful World we live in, this Great Britain. Great Farce if you ask me!! Anyway the action kicked off and my solicitor soon asked me to approach Cyril Malem the bloke who had worked with me to get the Jag chassis designed. I called on him and he immediately went off into a tirade about how he had lost money on the making of the jigs etc and also when I moved the work off to someone else. It seems it completely escaped him as to why that happened. Anyway it was now blackmail time. Give me £500 and I will sign a statement confirming what work I did. I also asked him to provide me with the name and address of the old geezer who had drawn up the drawing of the chassis with all the measurements, as the copyright was in this drawing. I paid the £500 and he signed a statement that had been made up by my solicitor, but in the end I never got the address of the draughtsman. It never ceases to amaze me how many low lives there are in the UK.
It was all for nothing as later on my solicitor in 1996 told me that as EU laws said that you got only 10 years copyright protection and as it was now 10 years since the chassis was designed, end of story! Well I do not know if he was telling the truth, but by then after three years of snail like progress and him being a useless wimp, I had had enough of this action. Trouble is with legal aid (or was) is that it only attracts the third rate lawyers. I could not afford to take on shit hot lawyers so was having to put up with someone who was obviously only milking the legal aid. So it came to an end.
One other event happened during this time which was of enormous significance to my whole case and argument about civil servants and their incompetence. In 1993 Busbridge went bankrupt and this should have changed things for the best. But not on your life as things are so crappily run in the UK that nothing ever goes right. I spoke with Kings about this bankruptcy as it should have had certain ramifications over the Busbridge application to also register Viper.
Firstly the application had been made in the name of R & M Busbridge Trading as Cobretti Engieneering. Both were now defunct and bankrupt so it should have meant that the application was now null and void. The application is an asset and that should automatically have belonged now to the Receiver. Kings agreed and said he would notify the Patent Office.
Of course Busbridge just carried on trading as if nothing had happened. Same product, same premises. same assets etc etc. Just a name change to Autotrak Ltd. Much later I was to learn more of all the slimy things Busbridge did to protect his arse, but one thing I know he did do and that was to, some months before the bankruptcy move all the Cobretti Engineering assets into this new company. I will comment further and in depth on this and future criminal acts.
Later on in this period I rang the Patent Office over something to do with the evidence that Busbridge had put into the Chrysler evidence. I asked how they could allow evidence from a bankrupt? From what they told me they said they had no idea he was a bankrupt. I wrote them on the subject as did Kings, and over the years right up to the current date, I have banged on about this fact. This being:- THE PATENT OFFICE HAVE KNOWN BECAUSE THEY WERE TOLD MANY TIMES THAT BUSBRIDGE WAS A BANKRUPT AND THAT THE PARTNERSHIP HAD BROKEN UP AND THEREFORE THAT THEIR APPLICATION HAD TO BE NULL AND VOID. EVERY TIME THEY JUST IGNORED EVERYTHING I SAID AND TO THIS DAY I HAVE NEVER BEEN GIVEN ANY EXPLANATION WHY THIS WAS.
Of course we all know that useless incompetent civil servants NEVER admit to mistakes. But this mistake has cost me dearly, and you will see over time just how. I will return to this and many other examples of their total and complete uselessness and this blog is not one so that I can revel in my history and involvement with a sexy product, but one where I want to bring it to the attention of the Public yet another example of how the Great British Public get treated in this country of ours. How in the case of Intellectual Property everything to do with the Patent Office looks like a scam to me. Certainly when it comes to Trade Marks it seems to me that people just do not get protection. Again more on this later. In the meantime there is loads to tell you as it is far from all over, and I am now at the point where I get into Court over my challenge to Chrysler.
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