Chadmark Industries incensed General Motors with its line of body kits that make golf carts look like popular vehicles.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published November 15, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Each day, at a small business off U.S. 98, ho-hum golf carts are transformed into mean-looking machines - a cherry red 1950s hot rod, a silver luxury sedan or even a gold Hummer. The cost: a mere $3,500.
The man behind the magic is Chad Moore, 31, owner of Chadmark Industries. Over the past three years, Moore has sold more than 1,000 of his golf cart costumes to people as far away as Texas and Ohio, and to residents of Tampa Bay area nudist resorts.
But the eager young business owner's advertisements have also caught the eye of the world's largest vehicle manufacturer.
General Motors Corp. filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Detroit, accusing Chadmark of trademark infringement by using the design of GM's 1947 Chevy truck, 1957 Chevy Bel Air, the Chevy Monte Carlo and the Cadillac CTS, among other models.
General Motors, like other car manufacturers, licenses companies to make golf carts and even toys such as Hot Wheels that resemble their cars. But Chadmark Industries copied GM models without a license, taking advantage of the automaker's prestigious reputation, GM spokesman Brian Akre said.
"When they try to use our likeness, they're benefiting from the equity and goodwill of our brands that have been developed, sometimes over a hundred years, through sales and marketing," Akre said.
Moore has spent much of the last two weeks on the phone with GM attorneys trying to settle their differences.
He admits to copying and selling a handful of GM models. But most of the golf carts and bodies Moore now regularly sells only look like GM models, he said.
His 1957 President looks like a 1957 Chevy. But he says it's modeled after the 1957 Studebaker. Chadmark's 1949 Dodge truck also looks a lot like a 1949 Chevy.
"When you're being picky, you can see there's a lot of differences between the models," said Moore, a former premedicine student and emergency medical technician who doesn't care for golf. "We're not totally innocent here; we definitely owe (GM) something."
Moore got into the golf cart business as a University of South Florida student with a grand scheme to avoid university parking and tickets.
In his 20s, he bought a golf cart, covered it with USF stickers, drove it on campus and regularly parked it anywhere he wanted.
"I didn't have to pay for parking because everybody assumed I worked there," Moore said with a mischievous grin.
The Odessa native sold the golf cart for $200 more than he paid for it because he needed rent money. Then he bought and sold another, making another $200.
When his golf cart business outgrew his small Tampa apartment, Moore decided to set up shop in Hernando County, since most of his customers lived in the county's gated communities.
About three years ago, Moore, his old college roommate and a friend with golf cart experience decided to expand the company into "body kits," producing thermal plastic ready-to-bolt-on hoods and rear ends to dress up golf carts.
They sell about 40 kits a month.
Chadmark has a license from DaimlerChrysler to make Dodges and one from AM General to make Hummers.
The company molded and sold about seven 1957 Chevy models and two Monte Carlo models without permission, Moore said.
Also, a mold for a Cadillac CTS lies boxed up in a warehouse loft but was never sold.
General Motors filed its original trademark infringement lawsuit against Chadmark in January but dropped those charges in September. The newest trademark lawsuit was filed Nov. 5 and is nearly identical to the January claim.
Moore said the company's attorneys will be paying a visit to his business in December.
For his part, Moore said he is excited about the lawsuit and considers it a mark of honor to have irked the behemoth GM.
"I can't say that it's not unnerving, but I'm excited about GM suing me," said Moore, who hopes to develop a relationship with GM to legally use their models. "It means I'm doing something right."
