dieseltaylor Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Ford Motor Co. filed a lawsuit Thursday against luxury sports car maker Ferrari S.p.A. and its American sales arm, accusing them of cyber piracy and misusing the F-150 name. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in response to Ferrari naming its new Formula 1 racing car the “F150.” The Italian automaker has also created a website for the sports car, www.ferrarif150.com. Ford claims the Italian company's name, spelled without a hyphen, is too close to the hyphenated one of the Ford F-150 pickup. The Detroit News first reported on the lawsuit earlier today. On Jan. 25, Ferrari said it would name its new Formula 1 car the “F150.” Ferrari says the name is a reference to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. OK so perhaps the Yanks have a better idea of hpw confused the US population can be. But given the race car is not for sale, and their is no F1 racing in the US, and Ferrari is a good brand you would think Ford might benefit from any possible confusion. Still, stupidity and automakers ..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pešadija Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 What is more, italians deserve some slack for the 150th anniversary. Give them the freakin' name, Ford! There's already bull**** brewin' for them at home, but I won't talk about italian politics given this forum's rules. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 A magnificent example of the extent to which we in the US have become a ridiculously lawsuit-bound society. Does Ford honestly think that some yahoo in the market for a new pickup is going to mistakenly buy a GP car instead? I mean, really? I'd think they'd be too embarrassed to mention this in public. This will benefit no one but the lawyers. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Next! DETROIT/MILAN (Reuters) -- Ferrari said today it will use the full name of its "Ferrari F150th Italia" Formula One car from now on after Ford Motor Co. sued the Italian automaker over the use of the abbreviation "F150." Ferrari's F150 logo was too similar to Ford's F-150 pickup truck, part of the top-selling vehicle series in the United States, Ford said in a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. As of noon local time, Ford said it had not yet received formal notification of Ferrari's plans. "Ferrari has misappropriated the F-150 trademark in naming its new racing vehicle the 'F150' in order to capitalize on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed in the F-150 trademark," Ford said in the complaint on Wednesday. For petes sake! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Being a corporate lawyer is largely about justifying your existence by pointing out the bogeyman in every shadow. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 For petes sake! Not to defend Ford, but isn't there some odd quirk in trademark law that pretty much compels mark holders to defend any breach - real, perceived, or otherwise - that they become aware of, lest letting one go become a precedent for other future cases which would more clearly be a breach? In other words, if Ford chose to ignore the Ferrari because... hey - who the heck is going to confuse one for the other? then a year or so down the track GM could name a light truck F150 and use the Ferrari precedent to tell Ford to go rotate. Not that Ford shouldn't go rotate, of course. Or sumfink. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Not to defend Ford... Similarly, I hate to put in a good word for Ford, but they did make a pretty good stab at putting up a racing team back in the '60s, as I recall. And various Ford engines have powered a number of successful competitive types from Lotus to Shelby, etc. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoolaman Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Yeah this comes up prety frequently these days, often Apple is the bad guy. In this case though I do wonder whether Ferrari was hoping for a little controversy over their name. Apple probably does have some legitimate worries about losing control of its trademarks. iPads and Pods are pretty ubiquitous in common language usage and Apple is not exactly an uncommon or unique trade name. Is three numbers prefixed by a letter even really trademarkable? Seems like they are complaining about the logo not the name. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 but isn't there some odd quirk in trademark law There are plenty of quirks. Back when I worked for Beyond 2000, I was sitting in an airport cafe having breakfast and when my croissant arrived, the little single serve butter thing (for some reason) said Anchor Butter: Beyond 2000 and in a font that was pretty close to our logo. I called our elgal department's attention to it and they eventually decided they couldn't sue because of the lack of difference between our products (butter vs. a TV science show). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.