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Ford Takes Ferrari To Court Over The Use Of F150 Name


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#1
ndrifter

Posted 10 February 2011 - 02:45 PM

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Ford takes Ferrari to court over the use of F150 name



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.
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#2
ndrifter

Posted 11 February 2011 - 02:13 PM

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Ferrari changes reference of 2011 F1 car to F150th Italia



Seems that sometimes, if you make your point clearly everything can be resolved, and quickly at that. Helps somewhat if you go to court too. The Ford-Ferrari issue over the F150 nameplate looks to have been settled.

Ford had filed a lawsuit against Ferrari about the latter’s F150′s moniker for its 2011 Formula 1 car, stating that it was simply too close for comfort to its F-150 pickup, which is one of the best-selling vehicles in the US.

Reports have it that, faced with the lawsuit, Ferrari has backed down and announced that the racecar will now be called the F150th Italia, a name it says has been the official designation of the car all along. As of now, it will use the full description for the vehicle.



The Prancing Horse boys don’t really know why Ford is getting so hot under the collar over the name given to its racecar.

“Ferrari believes its own contender in the upcoming F1 Championship cannot be confused with any other types of commercially available vehicle whatsoever, nor can it give the impression that there is a link to another brand of road-going vehicle. Therefore it is very difficult to understand Ford’s viewpoint on the matter,” the company said in a statement.

Ford’s response was to say it never thought anyone would confuse its muscular truck with a F1 racecar, but the motive behind the action was about protecting the brand from being diluted. Think F-150 in any form, hyphen or not, think a particular truck and nothing else, not even a flash drive, that’s what the blue oval wants to retain.
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#3
ndrifter

Posted 11 February 2011 - 04:24 PM

ndrifter

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side by side? who will win?


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#4
tpl

Posted 11 February 2011 - 06:10 PM

tpl

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itu la.. when u say F150 previously i straight away ask u whether is Ford F series F150... lol now they kena la
2012 NMT President

#5
ndrifter

Posted 16 February 2011 - 08:43 PM

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QUOTE (tpl @ Feb 11 2011, 06:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
itu la.. when u say F150 previously i straight away ask u whether is Ford F series F150... lol now they kena la


fuh!!!!
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#6
tpl

Posted 17 February 2011 - 06:24 AM

tpl

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tei sei..
2012 NMT President