Investment of 130,000 euros: Formula E acquires intellectual property rights to the W Series

Around two years after the end of the W Series, the first formula racing series for women only, Formula E has secured the rights to the intellectual property of the racing series. This was reported by Formula Scout. Whether and how Formula E will utilise these rights in any way is still unknown. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds also has no clear plans as yet.

In 2019, the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) launched the W Series in an attempt to establish a formula series dedicated to promoting female drivers in male-dominated motorsport. The category was cancelled in 2022 after three seasons (no races were held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) due to financial problems. British driver Jamie Chadwick won all three championship titles in the racing series, which was initially held as part of the DTM and later as part of the Formula 1 World Championship.

As part of the winding up of the W Series, Formula E Operations (FEO), the company behind the FIA Formula E World Championship, secured all intellectual property rights to the racing series back in March, as has now been revealed. This includes registered trademarks, trademark registrations, social media accounts and internet domain names. The purchase price was 110,000 British pounds (equivalent to around 130,000 euros).

Dodds: "Material acquired on good luck"

"What we've been really honest and open about is that we're very focused on bringing more diversity into motorsport," explains Jeff Dodds, CEO of Formula E. "We think Formula E is an excellent framework to do that."

"That doesn't necessarily mean gender diversity, and it doesn't mean we're trying to attract more women as drivers. Although I would love to do that," admits Dodds. "But we also had disabled driver Robert Wickens (drive a Formula E car) in Portland. So we just want to give different people the opportunity to try out cars and realise their potential in motorsport. I think the W Series was a really brave attempt to do that for women's racing."

"It didn't work," the Brit continued. "They have great visuals, great intellectual property, great brand recognition and a great reputation. We wanted to acquire the material on the off-chance that we could use it in some way in the future to promote women in motorsport. We may never use it. We could do something incredible with it, but for me it felt like a good opportunity for the price of ownership."

"Not yet thought about what we could do with it"

However, the acquisition of the intellectual rights to the W Series does not mean that Formula E is also planning a junior series for women. "We have 'Girls on Track' as a huge campaign to try and get more young women into STEM subjects and into motorsport," he describes. STEM stands for maths, IT, science and technology - an area in which women are currently still significantly underrepresented.

"So we could try to use the branding of the W Series for something like this. It doesn't necessarily have to be on the race track, but it could be on the race track. We haven't really thought about what we could do with it. I just thought it was a good opportunity to have those rights because we're focused on getting more women into motorsport," said Dodds.