Ford sues ferrari

[enzo1]

Here's the official statement..... F-150 is an established and important Ford trademark and the name of the best-seller in Ford's F-Series, America's best-selling trucks for 34 years and best-selling vehicles for 29 years. Through extensive sales and advertising and exclusive use, Ford has earned invaluable goodwill in the F-150 trademark. That hard-won goodwill is seriously threatened by Ferrari's adoption of "F150."

When Ferrari announced the name of its race car as "F150," Ford asked Ferrari to change the name. Ferrari did not respond in a timely manner, leaving Ford no choice but to take legal action to protect its important brand and trademark rights.

[osidak]

I can see their issue

I mean I might head down to a dealer to buy myself a Ford 150 and some how get confused and drive off the lot in a F150 instead........

[Geronimo '74]

^^^+1

The F1 car won't even be on sale, like ever..... (Or maybe to some gazillionaire Ferrari fanboy, who doesn't even know what a pick up looks like)

[Schumi]

The Ferrari is a racing car, not a road car. Porsche couldn't use '901' for what would be the 911 because of Peugeot's trademark of any set of three numbers with a 0 in the middle- but Porsche still used 904, 906, 907, 908, 909 for racing model numbers- and for the 904 and 906 road cars, they were marketed as the Carrera GTS and the Carrera 6.

I think that legal precedent will make this an easy case for Ferrari.

[Pazuzu]

"Ferrari sues Enzo1 for trademark infringement"

They gotta recoup after paying Ford!

[KaptKaos]

It's a game of chicken. Who will blink first?

[doug_porsche]

Not this again.
My case just got settled between that darn Chevrolet Beretta is not the same as Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta issue.

Was wondering why my kid needed a Beretta in the early 90's. When the schools say zero tolerance they mean 0. They said neither was very appropriate for a 13 year old.

I read the the Ferrari F150 handled like a truck in testing, or was it that the Ford F150 handled like a race car. Was really scratching my head when I had read that the manufacture recalled of nearly 363,000 F150 vehicles earlier this month. Could the Pirelli tire test of gone that bad?

now if I can just figure out the toilet water vs eau de toilette thing before next Christmas

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

"Ferrari sues Enzo1 for trademark infringement"

[BeyGon]

Big deal, Ferrari sued GM in 1955 for the front end of the Chevys, looked too much like Ferrari, they lost that one. It's just a game. Sue me, I sue you.

[red-beard]

There is no such thing as bad publicity, especially when it is free!

[VaSteve]

The Ferrari is a racing car, not a road car. Porsche couldn't use '901' for what would be the 911 because of Peugeot's trademark of any set of three numbers with a 0 in the middle- but Porsche still used 904, 906, 907, 908, 909 for racing model numbers- and for the 904 and 906 road cars, they were marketed as the Carrera GTS and the Carrera 6.



I think that legal precedent will make this an easy case for Ferrari.

You mean for Ferarri to lose, right? Ask rennlist why its no longer called Porschelist.

[Neilk]

I hope they change the name. Right now hearing "Ferrari F150" just sounds odd/wrong.

[legion]

I was surprised that it took Ford this long to sue.

Remember when Ferrari sued everyone selling Ferrari parts on eBay, because they claimed no one else had the right to use the name?

My understanding is that if you don't defend this stuff vigorously, you quickly use the right to the trademark. Allowing Ferrari to use F150 opens the door to anyone else doing the same on any kind of vehicle, including another pickup truck.

[VaSteve]

I was surprised that it took Ford this long to sue.



Remember when Ferrari sued everyone selling Ferrari parts on eBay, because they claimed no one else had the right to use the name?



My understanding is that if you don't defend this stuff vigorously, you quickly use the right to the trademark. Allowing Ferrari to use F150 opens the door to anyone else doing the same on any kind of vehicle, including another pickup truck.

Legion gets it.

[R K T]

Ford threatened to sue Porsche in 1955 because Porsche badged the 356's that came to the US as "Continental's".

[sammyg2]

How dare those italians, smearing the name of a decent pick-em-up truck by using a similar name of their F1 race car.

We can't have people getting confused and thinking the ford F-150 is fast or high tech or in any way high performance ..............

(disclaimer, I own a 2010 F-150.)
no, not the $25 million Ferrari race car, the pick-em-up.
See how much confusion this is going to cause?

[herr_oberst]

Fun Fact!

I think I read, or someone told me that Ford sells more F-150's in a year than Ferrari has sold all cars all models ever since it's inception.

Back to the topic, I think Legion is right. You don't even get one chance to EffUp your patent before the floodgates open . . Gotta stay on it.

That hyphen might be wiggle room, though.

[legion]

Even if Ford has no intention of really stopping Ferrari from using the name on their race car, they still need to sue.

At the very least, what they will get is a ruling that says that "F150" is okay to use on a non-street racecar. That will allow them to defend their trademark in all other instances. See, if they don't sue, they have essentially said that they don't care who uses "F150" or "F-150" under any circumstances, and it will be used against them in a future suit.

[Schumi]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Fun Fact!

I think I read, or someone told me that Ford sells more F-150's in a year than Ferrari has sold all cars all models ever since it's inception..

Ford, in recent years, has produced on average around 400,000 F150's per year.

In recent years, Ferrari has been producing between 6000-7000 cars a year.

If we assume Ferrari has always produced 6000 cars a year (they haven't; far far less in the early years), and Ferrari having been a marque since 1947, that puts total ferrari production at around 375K- less than one year of F150.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by Schumi

Ford, in recent years, has produced on average around 400,000 F150's per year.

In recent years, Ferrari has been producing between 6000-7000 cars a year.

If we assume Ferrari has always produced 6000 cars a year (they haven't; far far less in the early years), and Ferrari having been a marque since 1947, that puts total ferrari production at around 375K- less than one year of F150.

Means nothing, it's a name and Ford believes they own it, Ferrari would do the same.