[höller]

1. <LI value=2>First there is the issue as to whether or not the Claimants and/or the Defendants have the right to race in Formula 1 ("F1") racing in cars which bear the name "Lotus" or "Lotus" in combination with the word "Team".
   
2. Second (and perhaps less important) is a dispute over a License Agreement ("the License") dated 21st December 2009 granted by the First Claimant Group Lotus ("GL") to the First Defendant 1Malaysia Racing Team ("1MRT") whereby GL granted 1MRT various rights including the right to race in Formula 1 under the name "Lotus Racing".

So this isn´t just a phyrrhic victory for TF imo. He has reached his main goal which was to keep on racing in F1 under the "Team Lotus" badge. The license breach is assumed as superior. And he is the only one to do so because:

36. Before 2011 it is important to appreciate that GL never raced in F1 directly in its own right. At best it can say that it raced through TLL and TLIL from 1960 to 1994 and through 1MRT (it's Licensee) in 2010. There has never been a car racing in F1 under the name Group Lotus or just Lotus (...)
41. Until the 2011 season GL had never directly raced in F1. It is important to appreciate that the entirety of its claim to be entitled to race under the name Lotus and to stop TLL from racing under Team Lotus is based on its claim that it has the goodwill and the Marks which gives it the sole rights in respect of F1 despite that lack of direct involvement in F1 activities both before and after the creation of GL. All racing was done under the name Team Lotus. It was not ascribed to any company formally until an agreement in 1985 (see below) although it was clearly for the reasons above intended to be run through TLL. If the F1 activity was to be regarded as a GL activity it would become exposed to precisely the potential claims which had led to the deliberate creation of TLL. Colin Chapman raced under that name from 1947 but there was no incorporation of a Team Lotus Company until 14th February 1961.

(...) For the Claimants to succeed in claiming the rights not only to Lotus and Lotus Cars but also the use of the name Team Lotus it seems to me they must explain how given that history of use they can assert the right to control it. In my view they fail so to do. Equally their arguments in my view are completely inconsistent with the terms of the 1985 Agreement as I shall show below. I will deal with the other submissions they make in relation to the nature and extent of the goodwill when I deal with goodwill separately in this judgment below.

1. Probably the most important provision is 6.2 which provides:-
   

   "[GL] hereby acknowledges the right of [TLIL] to continue to use the names of "Team Lotus" and "Club Team Lotus" in relation to its business and the right of Team Lotus to use the [Lotus Roundel], with or without the words "Team Lotus" (examples of which are contained in the 6th Schedule hereto) in relation to its business and Team Lotus acknowledges the right of [GL] to continue to use the names "Group Lotus" and "Lotus" and [the Roundel] (a representation of which appears in 7th Schedule in relation to its business."