What’s in a name? Well, a lot, it seems, and if you thought the Lotus versus Lotus do has been the height of it this season, in comes another one to join the fray.
According to reports, the US automaker has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Detroit against Ferrari and its US sales arm over what it says is a violation of its trademarked F-150 name.
The Italian company seems to have stepped on Ford’s toes in naming its new Formula 1 car the F150, and Ford said the chosen name is too close to that of its pickup, hyphen or no hyphen. The blue oval has been using the F-150 moniker on its pickups since 1975, and trademarked it in 1995.
Ford is looking to block Ferrari from using the F150 name in the US, and this would include the importation, manufacturing or selling of any F150 products in the US.
The lawsuit also states that Ford wants Ferrari to surrender any profits earned in the US through the use of the F150 name. Elsewhere, in relation to the website Ferrari created for its racecar (www.ferrarif150.com), Ford is seeking US$100,000 in damages under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which prevents the creation of website domain names that can confuse users about products available.
Ford said in its suit that Ferrari is utilising the F150 moniker “in order to capitalise on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed in the F-150 trademark, and in order to trade off of Ford’s famous and winning trademark.”
Earlier, Ferrari announced that its 2011 Formula 1 race car would be called the F150, named in reference to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
