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Mibz
02-09-2011, 05:29 PM
LOL. I hope they win.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=42925


As Formula One attempts to get to grips with the fact that there are two teams determined to call themselves Lotus, the Ford Motor Company has launched a lawsuit against Ferrari over the naming rights of the F150.

In the hours following Ferrari's announcement on January 25 that the 2011 Maranello challenger had been designated the F150, wags were commenting that they hoped the car would perform better than Ford's pick-up truck of the same name.

Now having contacted, Ferrari regarding the matter, and claiming to have had no response, Ford has issued the following 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.

In 1963, Enzo Ferrari came close to selling his company to Ford, indeed, the American manufacturer spent a small fortune auditing the Italian company and carrying out the necessary legal negotiations. However, adamant that the American company would have no say in the overall running of his racing operation, and angry that the deal would mean his cars couldn't contest the Indy 500, Ferrari vetoed the deal at the eleventh hour much to Henry Ford II's disgust.

The American subsequently began negotiations with a number of British manufacturers with a view to building a sport car to take on Ferrari at Le Mans. The Ford GT40, having made its Sports Car debut at the Nurburigng in 1964, went on to take the first three places at Le Mans just two years later. The drivers were Chris Amon and another New Zealander whose name was to become iconic in motorsport, Bruce McLaren.

Any chance Ferrari might rename its new car Lotus

Idratherbsidewayz
02-09-2011, 05:40 PM
LOL, I was thinking this when I saw that thread on the unveiling. Would be hilarious if they won...

AE92_TreunoSC
02-09-2011, 05:51 PM
Hell ford won over the T100 naming but lost over the LS of the LS400 if I recall.

Xtrema
02-09-2011, 06:02 PM
I saw this coming when I read they are naming it F150.

01RedDX
02-09-2011, 06:23 PM
.

Toma
02-09-2011, 06:47 PM
Stupid Ford....

A Ferrari with the same name is an image booster lol.

Hot_Wheelz
02-09-2011, 06:48 PM
Maybe it should be the Ferrari F-Teenthousand.

Mibz
02-09-2011, 06:53 PM
After Ferrari's 2010 season I can't blame Ford :P

nich148_9
02-09-2011, 07:11 PM
Because so many people are going to walk into a Ford showroom, ask for an F150 and then be surprised when it's a pickup truck and not a Formula 1 car.

Idiot Stick
02-09-2011, 07:38 PM
Originally posted by nich148_9
Because so many people are going to walk into a Ford showroom, ask for an F150 and then be surprised when it's a pickup truck and not a Formula 1 car.

I would NOT be surprised if someone did it in America, and claimed false advertisement and sued Ford.

People in the states are generally pretty stupid, or act stupid to get free shit

AaronK
02-09-2011, 07:39 PM
Lol fuckin Ford, cant build vehicles for shit and sue people who can. lol

jsn
02-09-2011, 08:04 PM
Meh, I've seen people sue for less. At least this does have some grounds. I don't blame them. Ford did have F-150 first...

rage2
02-09-2011, 10:28 PM
If Ford doesn't sue, they risk losing the F-150 trademark. I don't think they really care TBH.

AE92_TreunoSC
02-09-2011, 10:39 PM
BMW made infiniti stop using the M trademark as well.

It's business.

spikerS
02-09-2011, 10:41 PM
Originally posted by rage2
If Ford doesn't sue, they risk losing the F-150 trademark. I don't think they really care TBH.

exactly. If ferrarri does something spectacular, and people all over the world start associating the f150 with ferrarri instead of Ford, Ford would have a harder time keeping the name. By nipping it in the bud in it's infantcy, they have a greater chance of winning, and costing both companies less in the long run.

[Yu]
02-09-2011, 10:43 PM
Just domestic hate, on beyond as usual.

Godfuader
02-09-2011, 11:33 PM
How does Ford have grounds to do so? Consumers cannot purchase a Ferrari F150. They are two completely different types of industries.

rage2
02-09-2011, 11:41 PM
Originally posted by Godfuader
How does Ford have grounds to do so? Consumers cannot purchase a Ferrari F150. They are two completely different types of industries.
Ford has grounds because the F-150 name has been a registered trademark for 15 years. Like I posted before, if Ford ignored Ferrari's use of the F150, it sets a precedence for future trademark violations. If GM releases a F150 truck in the future, they could say Ferrari used it as well without incident and ford would lose the trademark.

It's an easy win for Ford IMO, seeing as the F150 is such an established trademark. It'll probably end up as a cheap licensing deal between Ford and Ferrari to both use the name, kinda like how Cisco owned the iPhone trademark and licensed it to Apple, allowing both parties to market iPhone products.

K3RMiTdot
02-10-2011, 12:03 AM
Originally posted by Idiot Stick


I would NOT be surprised if someone did it in America, and claimed false advertisement and sued Ford.

People in the states are generally pretty stupid, or act stupid to get free shit

lmao ditto, would be funny if we saw this on the news too

chongkee_
02-10-2011, 09:51 AM
That didn't take long. Ferrari just rebranded their F1 car.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89384

Godfuader
02-10-2011, 12:11 PM
Originally posted by Godfuader
How does Ford have grounds to do so? Consumers cannot purchase a Ferrari F150. They are two completely different types of industries.


"... never has, nor ever will be used as the name of a commercially available product - indeed there will definitely not be a production run of single-seaters," said a statement issued by Ferrari.

"For these reasons, Ferrari believes that its own contender in the forthcoming F1 championship cannot be confused with other types of commercially available vehicle of any sort 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."

Isn't that what I said :dunno:

Tomaz
02-10-2011, 12:24 PM
They should have just moved the hyphen.


F150 -> F1-50

Which would make a reference to the F1-inspired Ferrari production car, the F50. :dunno:

(If my thoughts are not clear, keep in mind I'm only on my 3rd cup of coffee this morning.)

buh_buh
02-10-2011, 12:48 PM
Well the intent of the F-150 was to celebrate Italy's 150th anniversary of unification, so changing the name to signify something else would not really work.

Sorath
02-10-2011, 01:50 PM
when i saw the thread title i thought it had something to do with this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RNbbDRdvBw

Xtrema
02-10-2011, 04:05 PM
Originally posted by buh_buh
Well the intent of the F-150 was to celebrate Italy's 150th anniversary of unification, so changing the name to signify something else would not really work.

F-Centocinquanta?

EDIT: Now it's called F150th Italia

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/10/report-ferrari-bows-to-ford-legal-pressure-renames-f1-car-f150/

Revhard
02-10-2011, 05:23 PM
Thank heavens that is settled. Hate to see guys in the stands with F150 shaved into their back hair. Save big red the trouble of being compared to a pick-up truck.

The conversation would be funny at the first few races. After spending all of the moonshine money on tickets, it would go something like this:
"Cletus, that shore don't look like no truck."
"Don't be stupid Moe, that there is the RACE version. Of course it don't look like the one your gran pappy drives."


:D

J-hop
02-12-2011, 04:25 PM
Originally posted by AaronK
Lol fuckin Ford, cant build vehicles for shit and sue people who can. lol

lol, well it depends what you mean, you can't compare a ferrari to a ford because they aren't even on the same playing field and aren't meant for the same demographic.

But that being said I think the ONLY place where a ferrari would beat out a ford would be in the looks and performance department. You want to talk reliability or interior comfort for example and a ford will easily beat out a ferrari any day. I can't imagine too many ferraris pushing 300+ thousand kms like our old ford work truck is, but that is just me (could be the way they are driven but I know for a fact the ford 150 can take a good beating)

I think its stupid though for ford to go after ferrari like that. I think companies selling apples (the fruit) should go around suing Apple computers for using the name of one of their products because to me personally ( I know most won't agree) that makes as much sense as ford suing ferrari because ferraris F150 race car has the same name as their popular pickup. To me its comparing apples to oranges :rofl:

tictactoe2004
02-12-2011, 04:47 PM
Originally posted by J-hop
I think its stupid though for ford to go after ferrari like that. I think companies selling apples (the fruit) should go around suing Apple computers for using the name of one of their products because to me personally ( I know most won't agree) that makes as much sense as ford suing ferrari because ferraris F150 race car has the same name as their popular pickup. To me its comparing apples to oranges :rofl:

Precedence > You're personal opinion... what he said:


Originally posted by rage2
Ford has grounds because the F-150 name has been a registered trademark for 15 years. Like I posted before, if Ford ignored Ferrari's use of the F150, it sets a precedence for future trademark violations. If GM releases a F150 truck in the future, they could say Ferrari used it as well without incident and ford would lose the trademark.

4bier
02-12-2011, 05:36 PM
wwf had to change there name to wwe cause they got sued by world wildlife fund

chkolny541
02-13-2011, 10:17 AM
^^ thank for you that irrelevant example

e31
02-13-2011, 01:30 PM
The most relevant example that came to my mind was Intel's attempt to trademark "i586" to block AMD from using the same naming convention for their product.

I think the multi-billion dollar microprocessor market is as close to a case precedent as you can get; but at least Ferrari is smart enough to not get into a war of words with a block headed american company in an american court system.