₦airaland Forum

@Ajanlekoko

I just read an article by someone at the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode that patents granted in Nigeria are only examined as to form and not substance. Although, I can’t say that I’m surprised as patent practitioners in 9ja are not subject matter experts but a practice like that makes patent prosecution a waste of money and time.

The movie industry is growing and has a real potential of generating substantial foreign exchange and tax naira to the government. However, it seems that the lack of enforcement coupled with the incompetence of the government have made copyrights holders unwilling to assert their rights.

When Kunle Afolayan came here to premier his movie “Figurine”, I asked him about what he as a producer is doing to protect his films from being shown freely on YouTube, he said by delaying the release of the film to DVD. I was a little puzzled because I couldn’t understand why someone in his shoes wouldn’t want to go after YouTube. I understand that the legal landscape in Nigeria makes it impossible to sue the Alaba boys, but shying away from asserting your rights in the US against a major player? You can view almost any 9ja movie freely on YouTube.

My conclusion was that Nigerians, at least those in the movie industry, don’t believe in intellectual property rights. I think the movie industry will make a great test case for strengthening/enforcing the copyright laws because it doesn’t involve any technical knowledge.

With regards to the MNCs, all it is going to take for them to wise up is for someone local to patent an improvement of their machine or article then asserting the patent against them in a US court.

I only wish that Nigeria will have a government that understands the employment and financial gain that could result from proper policing of intellectual property rights. The situation will be a win-win for the government because that will result in taxes, development, investments, and employment.

Sometimes, I wish I can just have an audience with the powers that be!

The practice of intellectual property law, especially patent law, is almost non-existent in 9ja but I can only imagine that businesses come up with innovation. How are companies protecting/asserting their rights past Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)?

It may be true that the country as a whole is not fully industrialized but the oil and banking sectors are on par with that of western nations. Is everything just treated as trade secrets?

Based on other cars, the price will probably be between $60k- $105k+ plus the cost of the car. Cars like this find most of their buyers in the US and the middle east.

The break down is as follows:

1. Body kit - $20K
2. Brakes (BBKs)- $5k
3. Wheels plus tires - $10k+ depending on the kind of wheel material
4. Suspension - $5k
5. Interior - $10k
6. Engine (depending on what was done to it) - $10k to $40K
6. Installation - $15k

You can find out more info by searching for "Lumma CLR X650" on YouTube and google.

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Interior

Side Profile

It is called CLR X650.

Here are more pictures:

If you're mostly concerned about power, I would say that you should go for the 2011 X5 as the power on paper increased by 50HP and 100 lbs ft of torque. IRL, the difference between the XDrive48i and the XDrive50i will be night and day! But I'm sure that the deals to be had on the 2010 are going to be crazy which will make them hard to pass up. But keep in mind that the 2011 will be more desirable in the future and that will unreasonably depress the price of the 2010.

My only hope is that the High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP) issues that have been plaguing the N54s have been resolved in the N55s because the HPFP will probably be the same as in the V8TT. But I've not yet heard horror stories about the V8TT. Regardless, I will be getting the XDrive50i and I will be modifying it past X5M power levels.

I drove the Q7 when it first came out and wasn't impressed. My guess is that some of it had to do with it being a full size SUV and the X5 being mid-sized.

I don’t like the fact that the new Cayenne got smaller and is now looking like a Hyundai (nothing against Hyundai’s). I guess I have to wait to see it IRL.

@Siena - Did you get to do the test drives? I stopped posting a few days ago because my post was tagged as spam and I'm too lazy to go back and read all the posts.

@Siena - since you like Audi so much, how do you think the RS5 is going to fare against the M3. They’ve had about 3 years to come up with an M3 killer; do you think they can pull it off? I’ll give you one thing though, the A5 line is "pretty"; hopefully, the RS5 is more masculine IRL:-)

Gifo:
@ Wallie: Jeremy of Topgear doesn't hate everything German. His review of Audi A8 and Volkswagen Touareg were topnotch some years back. I don't share your view there.

Bottomline is that folks tend to be emotional about what they like and their opinion. The Audi Q7 has authority.

It is widely known that Jeremy only favors British brands. I only watch him because of his wittiness and he's not as biased as Best Motoring in JP. Find me a video of him not saying anything negative about any model within German brands even after initially praising them.

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Siena:
Note the Q7 is one of the fastest and most unique of SUV's - the 6,0L V12 has the worlds most powerful turbodiesel engine, and the only 12-cylinder turbodiesel fitted to a passenger car, power output is 500 PS (370 kW; 490 hp) and 1,000 N•m (740 lb•ft). The 0-60 (mph) is 5.5 seconds, a figure most would attribute to a supercar!

The Q7 V12 is fast but not as fast as the X5 M.


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platinumnk:
^^ He wasnt Biased, he traveled to different places, tested the suspension, even said the place was cramped back there, you just want to glorify that ugly Car


That car has no definite shape, and a car should NEVER be "get used to" You are supposed to like your car as soon as you buy it!

Even when my Oga Inspired Sold one, I still told him I thought it was ugly. 

I wasn't just talking about the X6, he even hates 3 series. I think he might be ticked off because Tiff is always praising BMWs and he figures he might be better off going against the grain.

platinumnk:
See A PROFESSIONAL REVIEW: He says  "WHAT WERE BMW THINKING WHEN THEY ALLOWED THEIR INTERNS TO PLAY ON THEIR LAPTOPS?"

Watch it and weep- enthusiast my foot

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Roger that.

FYI: Jeremy hates everything German! Rarely does he comment on a German car, especially BMW, without saying something negative. I still like him though!

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Gran Coupe

I guess I could do the CLS but I'm waiting for BMW's version, the Gran Coupe:-)

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X6 by Lumma

Mercedes don't have anything that excites me probably due to my bias towards BMW.

C63 vs M3 - I will take the M3
ML63 vs X5M - I will take the X5M
S63, CLS63 - too heavy to be sporty and connotes an old man
E63 Vs M5 (not yet out) - I would take the M5
SLR ---Hell yeah but too expensive

Plus, I hate automatics with torque converters which is all MB has. So for sedan and SUV, I will only buy BMW and for a sport car, Porsche.

I'll re-attach the pics once I re-size them.

If you're into aftermarket customization. Here's a design by Lumma

harakiri:
Not much.The most outstanding features that differ them are the seating arrangements (X5 seats 5 and X6 seats 4), aerodynamics/performance (the X6 is geared towards an exhilarating drive).You have to be an auto enthusiast to appreciate the X6.Those people who call the X6 ugly don't even know what beauty means.

Every other thing is identical (almost)

Close but you forgot that there are differences in engines available to both. The X5 available now only comes with the naturally aspirated XDrive30 and XDrive48i while the X6 comes with the twin turbo XDrive35i and XDrive50i. But for 2011, the 2011 X5s that people will be taking delivery on in a week or so will have the same engine as the X6.

Although you could argue that the engine in the X6 XDrive50i is the same as the engine in the X5M (4.4L twin turbo), there are major differences in the design of the intake and exhaust that gives the X5M 155 more HP.

By the way, the engine in the E71 XDrive50i is the same engine in the V8 E53 X5 but turbo charged. The same is true for the XDrive35i when compared to the E53, E46, E70 and E83 BMWs.

harakiri:
Same way SUV was coined up as a marketing term.And thanks, i know Jeep is a brand that's why i typed the words "jeeps" (notice the quotes? tsk tsk)

Cool. Can you explain the differences between the X5 and X6 without using the acronyms SUV & SAV?

harakiri:
Dude,

Google BMW X6 or go to their website and if you ever see anywhere that the X6 is being referred to as an SUV, you can then tell me to shut up!

Let me break it down for you again :

SUV = Sports Utility Vehicle
SAV = Sports Activity Vehicle

Decades ago, all people knew about were cars and "jeeps".Yesterday was SUV's, today is SAV.

Read up about it.Ain't nobody talking about platforms and body parts.

Read up!

Maybe you should read up. SAV is a marketing term that BMW coined. Kinda like how they are calling the concept "Gran Coupe", a 4 door sedan, a "coupe" which implies 2 doors. MB is a little more gracious and they marketed the CLS as a "four door coupe".

Jeeps and SUVs are only used interchangeably in Nigeria. Jeep is a brand that just happens to make the first 4x4 vehicles. Read up.

FYI: I almost bought the X6 twice but couldn't get past the four seats.

Differentiating the X6 from other SUVs in this thread by saying that the X6 is a crossover SUV does not really say much because it is build on the same platform as the X5. The X5 is built on the 5 series car platform, hence the word “crossover”.

Almost all the SUVs being considered are built on car platforms.

X3 – 3 series
X5, X6 – 5 series
ML, GL – same W164
Cayenne, Touareg – A6
Audi Q7 – Group C6 (same as the new Allroad)

Traditionally, real SUVs are truck based which is why they don’t drive as good. Almost all SUVs are now switching to car platforms (crossover) because it makes the SUV more fuel efficient and more fun to drive. Range rover sport/LR3 might be the exception to this new trend which is why they are too heavy and too slow.

platinumnk:
I forgot what the clone of the X6 is, I think Honda has one, and its still an ugly car lol
Uncle Femm. Forgive me oo, I know Audi Rules, I just know they came from the same molding family. Forgive me but the X6 is comparable to the new Toyota Hatchback the Versa or something,Both Ugly cars. . .
Who be designing this?

They need some more hip people

The X6 is an acquired taste kinda like your first taste of beer – you just need to look past the rear.

I do agree that BMW designers (Bangle’e era) missed the boat on the X6 and it needs a new design. But Bangle was ahead of his time and even though his style was very controversial, other car manufacturers now implement his design elements.

platinumnk:
You can never get used that shape. that car is Ugly mehn. the Porshe Caynene looks way better and Im not a fan.
I hoping that BMW will realize that barely anyone likes it and will scrap that yucky design.

Cayenne is the quintessential way of how not to design a frontend especially since it’s just a rebadged Touareg. There is no way the X6 is uglier!

wyt:
pls talk on bmw maintainance. i just don't ML

BMW X5’s maintenance is not too bad as long as you change the oil religiously with full synthetic at about every 7k miles. Also, the transmission tends to have problems around 100k miles especially if the fluid was changed as recommended.

Apart from that, window regulators also crap out for some reason. Make sure you ask for the service history when you buy one just to ascertain if you have a trouble maker on your hands (a problem that requires multiple fixes is a bad sign, and so is too many little problems).