Most liked posts in thread: WTF Was Ford Thinking

Do you remember when Edsel Ford tried to buy Ferrari back in the mid 60's? They thought they had a deal & at the very last second Enzo reneged on the deal. Ford built the Ford GT & whooped their butts at Le Mans.

Time for Ford to try & stick them again I guess. Ferrari should have called their new GP car the Prancing Pinto.... rrr:

 

Exactly........just one more way to poke the finger in Ferrari's general direction.

The Ford exec's are probably doing the happy dance right now. ut:

 

You would have to admit that the logos are a little too close though...





I don't like defending Ford, but they were only asking $100,000 which would probably cover legal fees if it went to court. I do think the graphics dept at Ferrari could have done some homework and probably avoided the situation to an extent. How do you say 'google' in italian? Probably google.

And I don't think that anyone that is buying a Ford will change their mind because of this.

 

Most good old boy F150 pickup owners & buyers could give a rats azz about what Ferrari calls that race car. Now if Ferrari was in NASCARP that might be another matter.

Ferrari F150 HD Edition, now that's sweet. :crazy:

 

Good for Ford.

 

As ridiculous as they are trading on the pickups good will sounds, Ford has every right to protect their trademarks and as mentioned; they aren't asking for huge damages...

Does anyone remember when Ferrari sued the producers of Miami Vice when they were using a kit car Daytona? Good for the goose good for the gander....

 

What? That wasn't a real Daytona? :cryin: I feel so cheated.

 

It works both ways. My first reaction was WTF was Ferrari thinking? They could have incorporated 150 into the name some other way.

 

It wasn't even a real, polyester pastel neckless t-shirt under the white not-real-linen-sportcoat. Unreal.

This sort of patent protection is standard issue mega-corporation brand protection. Sometimes it can be a real boon for those being pursued by the corporate lawyers: anybody remember what it did for the sewing site?

 

It is very petty of Ford but I do think they need to protect their trademark. Why couldn't Ferarri pick a better name. I also remember when whomever made the Beretta auto go sued by the gun manufacturer.

 

Them girls out in Nevada just put out a tip jar today for legal defense of the Mustang Ranch.

 

Memorializing the 150th anniversay of Italian unification?

With an F1 car?

THAT sounds like a bit of a reach to me....

I don't know what Ferrari were thinking, but I seriously don't believe they were trying to trade on the goodwill of the Ford pickup's name. OTOH, I also don't believe they don't know what a Ford F-150 is either - it's just too well known and has been around for way too many years to claim ignorance of the brand.

I guess this just comes under "any press is good press".....

 

Brand protection is A#1 responsibility for legal teams. If they get free press while doing it, all the better. The Ford buying masses aren't the same demographic as the Ferrari buying handful. It would be nice to see Ford spin it into a commercial for their trucks though. Maybe make it a throwback commercial bringing up the Ford GT and the last time Ferrari tried to "mess with" Ford.

 

They should just use an F150 to haul around the F150...

 

Perfect!!!

 

Hey, I'm a Ford guy. I love the Mustang and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come-up with as far as smaller cars (Fiesta & Focus).

That being said, Ford sucks when it comes to copyright crap. They actually tried to sue various Mustang & Ford forums along with ANY aftermarket parts company using the word "Mustang" or a running horse logo without "legal" permission. It was utter crap.

Heck, I'm a member of the Black Mustang Club and Ford tried to sue us for putting out a calendar of members cars saying we didn't have Ford's permission to use the images of OUR CARS! Total BS.

None of these things came to pass however. Ford saw the PR nightmare coming.

I can, however, tell you the EXACT reason why Ford is eager to sue over things like this. In late 2007, seeing a need to accelerate thier development programs in the US, Ford leveraged (borrowed money on) everything they had, including the Ford Brand (inclusive of model names, blue oval logo, etc...). This move would later save them from having to take Federal money during the automotive crisis. However, because of this the banks and investors must protect thier interest and ANYTHING that may infringe on the value of the brand (which value is determined by public perception, ANY perception) and they sue first and ask questions later. This isn't speculation it's just fact. You will continue to see this activity until Ford can finish repaying the capital laid out in 2007.

So, it sucks. I don't like it. It was dumb they did that with Ferrari. It doesn't diminish the smile I make when I hear 302 with a nice exhaust light off though.

 

I love the sound of a 302 with aftermarket exhaust. One of the most identifiable exhaust notes for me.

 

I read somewhere that if a company did not defend their copyrights they could lose them. It is a crazy lawsuit happy world we all live in.

If Ford had managed to buy Ferrari those many years ago what would things be like today? I shudder to think of such things.

 

Fordarri?
Ferord?