RE: TT "Q" Dumb Question

[Don Muirhead <dmr@kwic.com>]

Thanks to all who responded but my question was:

Is Quattro a patented system.  We all know it is a trademark but I wanted 
to know if it was also patented.

I decided to do some digging...

Audi has filed 289 Patents since 1976.  None refer to any application 
pertaining to the Quattro system so either they didn't bother to put a 
patent on it; couldn't get it; somebody else actually owns it and Audi 
was/is licensed to manufacture and market it.  Another possibility is that 
it was invented prior to 1976 and they have made absolutely no 
changes/modifications to the original design.

Haldex Group have filed 23 Patents of which includes their Haldex AWD 
system.

Searching under "All Wheel Drive" the database has over 8,000 patents 
registered.

I did find that Audi have patented a new multi-cylinder engine 
Pat#5,622,143 a very interesting read if you want an idea of what they may 
offer us in the future as a host of other tidbits.

To access this site http://164.195.100.11/netahtml/search-adv.htm This site 
provides you with the Abstract,  Claims and Background of the Invention.

Don

-----Original Message-----
From:	Don Muirhead [SMTP:dmr@kwic.com]
Sent:	Thursday, September 09, 1999 12:49 AM
To:	Quattro (E-mail)
Subject:	TT "Q" Dumb Question

Thanks to those who responded and advised me that the TT Quattro isn't a 
true Quattro system but a Haldex system.  I checked and read <yawwwn> what 
I could on the Haldex system and have concluded that the Haldex is an apple 
to orange and not an apple to apple "q" comparison.

So my dumb question is...then why is the car called an Audi TT Quattro?  Is 
Quattro a Registered Trade Name (yes) an active Patented System (don't no) 
or both?  Keyword being Patent...

Don
'99 A4 Quattro
'96 S6 Quattro
'86 CGT Non Quattro
'86 CGT Stripped and Unknown