AdRANTs: Ford Slaps Brand Enthusiasts, Returns Love With Legal Punch

http://www.adrants.com/2008/01/ford-...ts-returns.php

How long before BMW does this?

 

Ridiculous, Ford is shooting themselves in the foot.

The car owners should photoshop the branding off and rename the club Black Pony Club or something - who wants to even promote a brand too dumb to know the value of enthusiasts not harming the company in any way.

 

BMW probably took the steps they felt necessary a few years ago when this site had another name.

 

Right, but this would be an opportunity to litigate further.

 

Perhaps their legal minds have more sense than Ford.

 

Manufacturers have done this all over the place when third parties sell items for profit that have their trademarked products in play. What's most interesting about this is that it goes beyond the use of 'Mustang' or 'Ford' or the chrome pony emblem and goes after ownership of the photos themselves. The extension of this concept is broad-reaching and scary. Anybody who has a business that earns a profit from any image of any other company's trademarked product could be at risk. Somehow, I don't think copyright laws are trumped by trademark laws in this case, but we'll see how it pans out

 

I think Ford is going after CafePress more than BMC. CafePress is making money from selling images of Ford's trademarked products.

I do kind of understand corporations not wanting their name in the url/title of a webpage/forum that they don't control. I know when I'm looking for something I'll just type in www.whatimlookingfor.com before I go to Google or anywhere else.

That said, Ford is not doing themselves a favor. GM gave my Oldsmobile club (I know, I know) a pass to print whatever we wanted of our cars, use them in logos, etc - just for asking about it. Ford could easily do the same, just require CafePress to have the release on file and of course first give it to any club that asks.

 

just about as rediculous as the new focus.

 

The lawyers for the Big Three need to go F*** themselves. They've been pulling this "brand identity" BS in the hobby market for the last 10 or 12 years, too. Rather than acknowledge that having enthusiast/hobby items like model cars and calanders and t-shirts available that help promote and advertise their &^&%%$& products, they jump on the people/companies who produce these items and claim that they should be paid for the right to "use the images and logos" of the carmakers' products. Now they want exclusive rights to look at their product??? What's next? We're going to have to shell out cash before we lay out eyes on a Mustang? Oops, sorry, I said "Mustang". Do I now owe Ford (damn, violated again) money for publicly using their trademarked property?

Sorry, but if Ford, GM and Chrysler would build cars that people actually want to buy, thus making money the old-fashioned way, they wouldn't have to shore up their bank balances by sending their slimey snakes after the very people who support their sorry butts. What a bunch of freakin' LOSERS.

 

It's the Ego's of the highly paid marketing guru's being hurt, that's all.

 

ya just as well might make it through litigation.

This gives lawyers, FoMoCo and all "trademarked" laws a bad name. Let's hope someone challenges "Billy Bad ***" Ford in court and cleans his clock.

 

I'm sorry, but I think they're dead wrong. They don't own my photographs, and they don't own the vehicles I drive. I will photograph them all I want and post them where ever I want, and if they want to come after me, fine. We'll see how bad they want that negative publicity!

Total BS!

 

As long as nobody mentions the manufacturer, or the model name, or has said badges on their car in their own picture, or associates with other people who like the same said product, or has any enthusiasim for said product, or participates on forums about said product.... shape up people!!!!

Shakespear said it best: Kill all the lawyers!

 

the manufacturers actually trademark the shape and the detail of the designs. You could debadge it and remove all emblems but if it's recognizable as their product, it's still their IP.

 

BMW has already done this, including with the MINI brand.

At one time, as old-timers here know, this website was called minicooperonline.com. BMW fired off a fusillade of lawyers at this website and several otehrs using mini or cooper or variations in an attempt at gaining control of the name, despite the fact that these sites were not competing in any way, and most were enthusiast sites promoting the cars. Long story short, the website name had to be changed, people looked at BMW as brand ***** (and still do) and neither side came out any better than previously (except the lawyers, as usual, got to take home their extravagent pay.

Many companies will take a hands-off approach as long as there is no trafficking in trademarks that could be construed as company endorsements. It's those companies that cultivate the highest customer loyalty and brand awareness.

 

As I understand the article in the link, photos of the cars are fine, they can't use trademarked art in the calendar itself. Ford doesn't mean photoshop the FORD logo off the cars, they mean the Ford logo (and Ford owned trademarks) can't be used elsewhere in the calendar, like printed next to the month or something like that.

Working in the print and design business, I understand this.

 

I am part of a forum for my motorcycle. Honda said the same thing. No calender as they own the rights to using the photos for commercial use. That was a few years ago. I'm not sure if they ever worked out a deal with them or not.

 

Now this is pretty dumb if you ask me. All the calender would have done is promote the Mustang & Ford brand.

 

I dont think the article gives enough information to be truly upset at Ford. It looks like they updated the article since many might have read it. It sounds like Ford didnt want the club or printer to use copyrighted materials like logos. I can understand this as a precedent. What happens if someone decides to print something entirely inappropriate and the uses the Ford logo and viewers falsely believe that the Ford Motor Company is responsible for the offensive content. I think they are just protecting their brand and name. Here is the update:

Ford Car Communication's Whitney Drake tells us "Mustang (and other car owners) can take pictures of their cars and make calendars and sell them to whomever they like. They can't however use Ford logos in the calendar." She further clarifies, "The club (Black Mustang Club) and cafe press (or another printer) now has permission to print the calendar. Apparently, CafePress misunderstood the intent of an earlier communication from Ford regarding the use of trademarks on other products they sold when it told Black Mustang Club it would not print its calendars.

Sometimes its easy to jump to conclusions and sometimes reporters arent accurate in their reporting. And sometimes I am completely wrong and Ford really is acting like jerks but most of the time it is just plain hard to figure out for sure which is which. My two cents, and worth about much!

 

I understand them wanting to protect their IP. Somehow pictures of their cars on a calender just didn't seem to be a big deal. However having more information clears this up quite a bit.

You are correct that using the brand logos on a calender with inappropriate content wouldn't good. It's my understanding that if a company doesn't actively protect it's trade marks then it could lose them & have them become public domain.

 

This is almost as absurd as the NFL controlling the use of "Super Bowl".

Does it make a difference if we lease or own?

 

I see not everyone is up to speed yet

 

BWAH HA HA HA HA! how incredibly untasteful. that thing is gawd awful. it is cool that it can talk to you and tell you what a poor decision you made. BWAH HA HA HA the new focus!

 

From what I understand of the issue, the request, the over-reaction and the qualifications........

There is no issue whatsoever publishing the calendar full of photographs of Black Mustangs.

There is an issue using the Ford Logo's on the Calendar because this implies that this is a Ford sanctioned or official product.

To put it in NFL terms, there is nothing wrong with you publishing a calendar of photographs that you take at Football games (well actually there are issues with that, but lets say that you avoided photographs of people) and publishing the calendar, but as soon as you use the copywrite logos you need to ask permission.

 

The question I have is that if you are photographing cars (Mustangs, let's say), you are likely going to have a Ford oval or running horse emblem in the shot. If you are allowed to include pictures of the car, then you must be allowed to show the badges that are attached to said car. What if you include a close-up picture of the grill, in which the chrome running horse emblem is the major feature of the picture? Does that now violate their rules? And if that does, then what about a picture from the same angle but taken farther away from the car? Now the whole car is visible (front view), and the horse is still visible, but it's not the main focal point of the shot.

In the 2008 NAM calender, one of the pictures is a close-up of the MINI wings badge. Would MINIUSA throw a fit over that one?