#UnitedStatesPatentAndTrademarkOffice

Honda has filed to trademark ADX with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), presumably so it can use the name for an upcoming luxury model. While Honda has previously sold vehicles with alphanumeric monikers ending in the letter X, that’s literally Acura’s entire lineup and it’s supposed to be delivering a few new models to round out its rather limited selection.

Ford has filed a trademark application to register “Black Diamond” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. General Motors previously manufactured models using the name to denote limited edition models, such as the CTS-V Black Diamond Edition, which incorporated an especially sparkly paint color.

While the same could be true for Ford, there’s another possibility. The term is frequently used to denote a particularly rough patch of mountain trail or extreme ski run. The Blue Oval could adapt it for use on specialty off-road vehicles.

Ford is currently on the road to electrification. Right now, the manufacturer is working on an electric crossover based on the Mustang and a new hybrid powertrain. But it hasn’t been particularly forthcoming when it comes to sharing its industry secrets with the public.

Fortunately, an application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office could give us a glimpse into what Ford’s cooking up. While technically filed in July of 2018, the document was officially published just last week and quickly located by the patent-sniffing dogs from our sister site, AutoGuide, showcasing a “twin motor drive system” for hybrid vehicles. The accompanying diagram clearly shows the system mated to a V8, but the filing seems to suggest that the setup could operate with any engine that’s mounted longitudinally.

Ferrari has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a “device for the amplification of the intake sound” of an internal combustion engine. The system is a little different than the “Active Sound Design” populating many of today’s modern performance vehicles — a setup that involves piping in engine noises via the car’s sound system (à la BMW), through a speaker attached to the firewall (e.g. Volkswagen), or by redirecting some intake air through a diaphragm and into less-insulated areas of car (Porsche).

For Ferrari’s new system, the last solution seemed to be the best fit. But rather than running noise through a singular valve and pipe, the Italians want to use each runner of the intake manifold — presumably to create a richer and less-artificial sound. The patent request even states that the amplification pipe produces a noise that is “very pleasant to the human ear.” Filed in April of this year and clearly written by some super-intelligent automaton that’s obsessed with human ears, the system looks pretty complex.