Crown's distinctive beige colour has been protected

Crown Equipment Corp has withdrawn an offer to buy a former Visteon Corp automotive parts plant in Connersville, the Palladium-Item of Richmond, Indiana reported on 3 December. Crown submitted a letter of intent in October.

An executive at New Bremen, Ohio-based Crown and municipal officials in Connersville declined to comment on the business decision.
Visteon discontinued production in the 1.6-million square foot (144,000 sqm) factory in December 2007. The plant made vehicle heating and cooling systems and, at one time, employed more than 3,000 people.

About five miles away and also in Connersville, privately owned Crown operates a machine shop that stamps metal components for lines of Crown forklifts.

Ford Motor Co spun off its Visteon automotive systems unit in 2000. On 14 November, the New York Stock Exchange notified Visteon of Van Buren Township, Michigan that the firm's stock had fallen below the exchange's listing standard requiring a minimum average closing price of not less than USD1 during a consecutive 30-day period.

Meanwhile, Crown has resolved a trademark dispute with E-P Equipment Co Ltd of Hangzhou, China and subsidiary E-P Equipment USA Corp of Inman, South Carolina.

Crown and E-P agreed to end the trademark issue, which stems from E-P expropriating a particular Crown-protected beige colour on certain material handling equipment.

Crown has trademarks for the colour in the US, Canada and Australia and has applied in other countries for colour protection.
E-P agreed to stop using beige as a colour on certain material handling equipment and making use of the colour in promotional materials and, by 19 May, to make sure its dealers, distributors and direct customers discontinue using beige in their promotional materials.