In what appears to be a clear case of fiddling while Rome burns, Bernie Ecclestone has applied to the European patenting authorities in an attempt to trademark the term "Grand Prix".

Ignoring the fact that this is an Englishman attempting to trademark a French expression, the implication is clear; Bernie wants to 'own' "Grand Prix" so that the Grand Prix World Championship would have to be re-named, and potential rivals would be unable to host non FIA Formula One World Championship events and call them "Grand Prix".

Previously, Ecclestone has attempted to fully trademark Formula One, F1 and just about every other derivative, making all manner of threats to publishers, both in print and on the internet. Famously, he lost a long drawn out, and expensive, battle over the domain name F1.com.

Recently we reported how Ecclestone had attempted to claim total ownership of all results, times and even fixture tables.

Furthermore, it remains to be seen how the organizers of A1 Grand Prix will react to the news. Previously, Ecclestone had given his blessing to the series, but perhaps its rapidly increasing credibility is giving him cause for concern… and rightly so.

At this time there is no proof that Ecclestone is considering trademarking "parade", "rip-off", "boring", "Schumacher wins in..." or "Stuff Silverstone".

Unconfirmed reports suggest that, with good reason, Michael Schumacher and Ferrari are both (separately) attempting to trademark the expression "World Champion".