BMW (The name BMW is an abbreviation for Bayerische Motoren Werke) is a German automobile company founded in 1916, it also owns and produces Mini cars and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are sometimes used as slang for BMW in the English language and are sometimes used interchangeably for cars and motorcycles. The company’s home state of Bavaria was also to be represented on the company logo. The quarters of the inner circle on the BMW logo display the state colors of the State of Bavaria – white and blue. But they are in the inverse order (at least as far as heraldic rules are concerned, where you read clockwise from the top left). The reason for this inverse order of blue and white in the BMW logo was the local trademark law at the time, which forbade the use of state coats of arms or other symbols of sovereignty on commercial logos.