Filed in U.S. Federal District Court, the lawsuit contends Aston Martin – through Kelly IP – committed civil extortion by sending Fisker a “threatening letter” that called for him to either change the design of his upcoming Force 1 supercar or not display it at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Fisker was the Chief Designer for the Aston Martin DB9 and the V8 Vantage. Fisker teased a sketch of the vehicle last month, with plans to start producing the sub-$300,000 supercar in April this year.
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The suit claims civil extortion, asking for punitive damages of $100 million, and requests that the court declare whether the design of the Force 1 infringes on any of Aston Martin’s trademarks.
Allegedly, Aston Martin made the demand based exclusively on the teaser sketch and threatened to sue Fisker if he failed to comply.
Aston Martin’s letter to Fisker, which was included in the suit, makes the claim based upon a single, pen-on-paper sketch of the concept released last month ahead of the release, and compares Fisker ‘s design to their own DB10, “James Bond Car”, a one-off model featured in the film “Spectre”, released last November.
Henrik Fisker and Aston Martin really have it out for each other.
The animosity between Aston Martin and Henrik Fisker is finally boiling over as the noted automotive designer has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the British luxury marque. As Automotive News, the leading automotive industry paper, commented, “Aston Martin has put the brakes on Henrik Fisker’s return to the auto industry'”.
“We believe that in an effort to protect itself from further market erosion, Aston Martin and their three executives who run the company, conspired and devised a scheme to stomp out Henrik Fisker’s competitive presence in the luxury sports vehicle industry, ” explained Michaels.
Fisker believes his former employer is trying to intimidate him to prop up “their own flailing company”.
Jonathan Michaels, Fisker’s attorney, told Automotive News that the cars exhibit “vastly different” proportions. Or does Fisker’s Fisker look like an Aston Martin, whose stylistic underpinnings look to be influenced by Fisker, at the very least?
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In recent years, though, he has been more famous for entering into a lot of quarrels with his former employer, Aston Martin Lagonda Limited. “Because of the threats they laid out in their letter we opted to play offense in regards to Aston Martin’s transparent and nefarious motives”. No details have been revealed about what’s under the hood, although Fisker claims The Force 1 will benefit from one of the world’s highest-output naturally aspirated engines.
