Edmunds.com Protects "True Cost to Own®" Trademark; Prevails in Litigation
Edmunds.com Protects "True Cost to Own®" Trademark; Prevails in Litigation
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — April 30, 2010 — Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, announced today that it has prevailed in litigation with a newly-formed competitor that infringed on the company's trademark True Cost to Own®. This trademark is the name of Edmunds.com's free tool that projects model-specific, regional average vehicle five-year ownership costs, consisting of depreciation, financing, taxes, fees, insurance premiums, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs for new and used vehicles. It is one of a suite of trademarks that use the phrase "True Cost" to denote Edmunds.com as a source of automotive data.
The defendant agreed to permanently cease using "True Cost" as a mark and to pay Edmunds.com an undisclosed sum of money.
"We take the protection of our trademarks very seriously. This situation illustrates our commitment to vigorously defend against any attempts to inappropriately capitalize on our strong brand equity," asserted Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
About Edmunds
Edmunds publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value®, is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Edmunds is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.
