Seven Year Legal Battle with Harley-Davidson Ends in Ridley's Discontinuation of "Auto-Glide" Name

Ridley Automatic Motorcycles What's in a name? In this case, an epic legal struggle and a whole lot of marketability.

Harley-Davidson, manufacturer of nearly half the bikes sold in America, duked it out for seven years with the nichey Ridley Motorcycle Company over the Auto-Glide trade name, and a settlement agreement has finally been reached.

Though the full terms of the agreement haven't been released, Ridley agreed to discontinue use of the Auto-Glide name in future models. Ridley's so-called Auto-Glide models, named for their automatic transmission gearboxes, were first introduced in 2003.

The Oklahoma-based manufacturer says that they are still the only U.S. motorcycle manufacturer to offer a fully automatic transmission, and there's no word yet on how Ridley will rebrand the bikes formerly known as Auto-Glides.

(reprinted from About.com)