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Au-Tomotive Gold, Inc. v. Volkswagen of America, Inc. | 457 F.3d 1062 (2006)

A functional product feature can’t be trademarked. Can an aesthetic product feature, such as a logo or embellishment, be functional and therefore unprotectable? Au-Tomotive Gold, Incorporated versus Volkswagen of America considers whether aesthetic functionality renders a carmaker’s logo unprotectable.

Auto Gold produced car accessories, such as license plate covers and key fobs emblazoned with carmakers’ trademarks, including Volkswagen’s circular VW logo and Audi’s interlocking circles. Auto Gold didn’t have permission to use the marks.

Separately, BMW won a trademark-infringement claim against Auto Gold for selling products bearing BMW’s trademark. After the loss, Auto Gold decided to ward off other infringement claims proactively.

Auto Gold sued Volkswagen and Audi, seeking a declaratory judgment that its logo-bearing products didn’t infringe on the auto manufacturers’ trademarks. Auto Gold claimed that the manufacturers’ marks weren’t eligible for trademark protection based on the doctrine of aesthetic functionality. It argued that the Volkswagen and Audi marks were functional product features because consumers desired the aesthetic of the marks.

The district court agreed and ruled in Auto Gold’s favor on the issue of trademark infringement. The court reasoned that Auto Gold was entitled to use the marks under the aesthetic-functionality doctrine. Volkswagen and Audi appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

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