TRS is being attacked by Ford Motor Company!

[map]

Who's next? The pinto guys?

http://www.therangerstation.com/foru...ad.php?t=32801

[bomelia]

Seems they have bigger problems these days than doing this crap. Hold out, they may be out of business in a few months.

Mike

[Ron61]

What about all of the Mustang sites and the other Ford name sites. Thunderbird Club of America, Fairlane Club Of America and so forth. If Ford has money to waste on this , then they should be excluded from the tax payers hand outs.

But on the other hand I wonder if there is more to it than is shown in the posts. It seems that with car clubs of all makes out on the net, Ford would pick that one to shut down unless there is something more to the story than we are seeing.

Ron

[427 S/O]

Ron, It is spreading..........

http://www.michiganmustang.com/fordattacks.html

[Ron61]

Perry,

What the heck is going on with Ford all of a sudden. Don't they know that those places are the best advertisement they can have. Are they trying to say that you can't buy a Mustang part now? I wonder what idiot thought this stuff up. It is going to cost Ford a lot more than they can hope to gain as the parts places that use the Mustang name for their parts sure aren't costing them any sales. But this crap will certainly cost them dearly.

Ron

[427 S/O]

I don't know?, one guy mentioned changing the various sites to 'clubs'. I don't know if that will help?.

[Ron61]

Perry,

From the way I read it, Ford wants them to stop using the names of anything Ford basically. Like Mustangs unlimited which is just a parts place to order Mustang parts from. How can them using the Mustang name possibly hurt Ford in any way? I guess if you buy a new Ford the first thing you had better do is remove all emblems that say what it is. Ford is going to make sure that GM survives by removing themselves from the picture if all of this is true.

Ron

[imagine2frolic]

This is what I sent in........LOLOLOLOLOL

GEEZE,

You are are really hitting bottom, and will only distance yourself from your loyal customers. You need to leave alone all Mustang, Ranger, and any other site that actually promotes you without charge to you. No wonder the public is willing to turn on the big three. All we see is excess on your behalf that only matches your petty greediness.....i2f

[427 S/O]

That's good and right!, Like most of you, I want to know 'why' their pulling this stunt?.

[wtm442]

I guess you did not see the Ford press release where Carroll Shelby was appointed the Ford Brand Manager.

[mrmustang]

I had a similar email sent to me about three years ago about my user name (go figure), I sent it to my attorney who sent out a certified letter to the law firm in question with some legalese. Letter was signed for, never heard back from them again.......Was it legit, who knows, but it does seem to be happening more and more these days.......


Bill S.

[VRM]

Hired gun lawyers trying to make a quick buck using some scare tactics...They probably pay some kid $.50 per site for anything having to with a Ford trademark word. Then they send a C&D and see what happens.

A few years ago a 13 year old British girl was sued by Ford for having a site about Jaguars (the big kitties, not the cars), and Ford wanted her to give up the site because they said it infringed on their Jaguar trademark.

I'd be interested to hear Jamos (or any other lawyers) take on this.

[Ron61]

Steve,

I would be interested to hear Ford's answer to this. They don't even make parts for the older cars any more and this is the best advertisement any company can get is having clubs of whichever car or truck brand they own. This is not like the Shelby deal where replicas are involved. There are clubs for every kind of car or truck made for crying out loud and they pull this sh*t while they are in Washington with their hand out wanting the tax payers to bail them out. They can't even claim the use of the name in a club site costs them anything and the Mustangs Unlimited is one of the places I have ordered from quite a bit as Ford no longer makes parts for any car over 5 years old I don't think. I know the local Ford dealer won't even talk to you if you go in and ask for a part for a 1974 car. Something about this whole thing just doesn't seem right.

Ron

[427 S/O]

I agree Ron, I can't even imagine why?.

[VRM]

Ron, the law is not always right, but it is what we have. I've done some research on this, partly because of interest in the Shelby/replica battle, but also for restoration purposes.

Most of those original sponsor stickers did not have any copyright or mark on them (and I have a small collection of originals), and they would have expired by now even if they did. So if I recreate one of those stickers to put on the side of that race car does that constitute infringement? And what if that sticker does not have a current company trademark on it (copyright and trademark are very different things)?

I had a lengthy battle with Kinkos about printing up some replacement stickers for the Garner AIR Corvette that was auctioned this summer. They refused to print them because I did not own the copyrights to the originals, even though the companies no longer exist. They should qualify under educational (history) fair use clause of the laws.

This case with the forum could also be exempt as they are making no profit and they might qualify under the nominative aspect of the law in the same way that reporters do when they use the trademarked name to describe the thing.

It's tricky stuff in some cases - product confusion plays into it, as does profit motive.

[Ron61]

Steve,

I don't think this has anything to do with emblems or that kind of stuff. It seems from what I have read that Ford wants to stop all car sites and magazines from using their car names. As I stated above, I would like to hear Ford's side of this before making any wild conclusions. I haven't seen GM or Chrysler complain about any sites that are specific to one of their cars. The Corvette, Viper, 55/56 Chevy, and 57 Chevy sites come to mind right at the time. Is GM going to start telling the clubs they can't use Corvette in their names because GM owns that name? I doubt it. I just think there must be something more to this that we haven't seen or heard about but if there isn't then ford may wind up with a lot of names and no cars on the road.

Ron

[HI Cobra]

Heck, at the rate these companies are going, they won't be around
to complain that much longer anyway!

[Mark IV]

And now for the rest of the story....

http://jalopnik.com/5107035/ford-not...-big-blue-oval

Trademark protection is a tough area. If you do not defend a trademark that you were aware of being used or pirated, you default on the ownership and it may become public domain.

Sure Ford has been heavy handed sometimes in defending trademarks, but they must protect the I.P. they have. God knows somewhere in China a backdoor factory is churning out trademarked items that will end up in commerce here in the US.

And I have been told they story of Boeing being sued for a young child choking on a small die-cast model of a Boeing jetliner. Boeing did not authorize its' production, knew nothing of its' existance, but because "Boeing 707" was cast on the toy, Boeing was enjoined in a lawsuit for damages. I have no proof this story is true, but it fits the legal mood that exists today. Ford could be held responsible for a part with the "Ford" trademark on it even though they didn't make it, sell it or know of its' existance!!!

[Ron61]

Mark,

Thanks for the post. I felt there had to be more to this than just Ford suddenly trying to shut down all sites that use any of their car names. Those sites shouldn't be trying to sell parts that are marked with the Ford trademark and they are in the wrong.

Ron