PCA and Carrera settle logo dispute

The legal dispute between the PC Association (PCA) and newly formed systems builder Carrera SSC over the misuse of a logo has been resolved.

According to the PCA, Carrera SSC had been using the PCA logo on advertisements without subscribing to the Association.

Carrera SSC was formed when Carrera, which was bought by Digital Networks last month, merged with Sight and Sound Computers. The latter was a member of the PCA until June this year, when the company went into liquidation. Digital Networks also bought the rights to the SCC name.

Keith Warburton, executive director of the PCA, which has 130 members paying between £250 and £1250 a year, said the logo has "considerable value in the eyes of consumers". The adverts started appearing last month, he said, following the merger of the two companies.

Customers want to buy from PCA members because "they know our members conform to the Association's code of practice, and that we are there to help if things go wrong", Warburton explained.

"To see [the logo] shamelessly ripped off was particularly galling," he said. The situation was made worse, he added, when a PCA advert appeared adjacent to a Carrera advert, each displaying the logo.

When the advert appeared, the PCA sent a solicitor's letter to Carrera SSC asking the company to remove the logo from its adverts. Warburton said that it would "look for the recovery of costs in pursuing the situation".

The PCA also asked the Advertising Standards Authority to investigate whether there were breaches of the Code of Advertising Practice.

A representative from Carrera SSC said: "We have spoken with the PCA and have come to an amicable agreement. The logo will be removed from future ads." The PCA has been assured that it was a mistake, he said, adding that both companies were now "happy with the situation".

First published in Computer Reseller News