Ford Motor Company

[Speedwagon]

Well, it's no surprise as to why they are having financial problems. I also own a Ford Ranger, and am a member on www.therangerstation.com. Got this email today from the admin over there:

Dear Member,
I appologize for this email. I don't normally email the members but this is an emergency.
Today, (December 9, 200 I received a letter from the law offices of Howard, Phillips & Andersen that represent the Ford Motor Company. Ford is forcing us to surrender the name 'therangerstation.com' to them and stop using it. Ford states that using the name 'Ranger' when used in reference to the Ford Ranger is a trademark violation. In addition they are wanting me to pay them $5,000.
As you may know, The Ranger Station has been around for the past 10 years and has been a valuable resource to Ranger enthusiasts.
If Ford does this to us, where will they stop?
I have 10-days to surrender the name and pay them $5,000. I'm asking that you contact Ford online and ask them to reconsider making us change our name and prohibiting us from using the word 'Ranger'.
You can contact them at:
https://secure.ford.com/footer/contact-ford/contact-us-email?contactMainTopic=PublicAffairs
a sample of what one of the members wrote is:
"To whom it may concern:
I am writing concerning your recent legal attacks on various "fan" websites for vehicles such as the Mustang and Ranger. I am insulted by this careless misuse of our legal system and am reconsidering any further vehicle purchases from your company until you cease and desist from any further legal action concerning this subject. I have been a Ford owner for many years and I had hoped to stay that way. These attacks are morally wrong since they are geared towards your customers, and do not instill the least bit of confidence in your brand. For the sake of your business, I ask you to please reconsider immediately.
Thank you."
Thank you for your support and I applogize for this email.

Are they really that stupid? Oh wait, I suppose they are, and that's why they are asking for bailout money. To actually go after their customer base is about the dumbest move I think they could make though.

[Sortarican]

We have an entire group that does almost nothing except go after trademark infringement issues.
I'm not an expert by any means but I've worked with them.

Ford's trademarked generically covers them for more than just the name.
Say you build a car with a blue oval with the word "Rord" on it, that's infringement.
They're using Fords branding to sell something.

But an enthuthiast site can't be construed as trying to profit from the name.

My guess is that the Ranger site got caught by a generic search for and the letter was automatically sent
with no or little actual human interaction.
If they contact Ford they will probably drop the issue.

If that doesn't work, change the mission statement of the site to being a Ford bashing site.
Then you're protected against trademark infringement issues much like comedy spoofs and editorials are.

[Speedwagon]

We have an entire group that does almost nothing except go after trademark infringement issues.
I'm not an expert by any means but I've worked with them.

Ford's trademarked generically covers them for more than just the name.
Say you build a car with a blue oval with the word "Rord" on it, that's infringement.
They're using Fords branding to sell something.

But an enthuthiast site can't be construed as trying to profit from the name.

My guess is that the Ranger site got caught by a generic search for and the letter was automatically sent
with no or little actual human interaction.
If they contact Ford they will probably drop the issue.

If that doesn't work, change the mission statement of the site to being a Ford bashing site.
Then you're protected against trademark infringement issues much like comedy spoofs and editorials are.

Good to know, thanx!

[dirkterrell]

There was a similar uproar earlier this year with the Black Mustang Club and the Ford lawyers:

http://www.bmcforums.com/showthread.php?t=42681

but they managed to get it resolved:

http://www.bmcforums.com/showthread.php?t=42820

Might be worth talking to the BMC people about the right contacts at Ford. Sometimes I think the lawyers at these big corporations get too focused on the legal aspects of things and don't recognize the public relations disasters they foment.

Dirk

[puckstr]

Shit wait FORD out. They may be gone in 10 days

Screw Ford, they are idiots they killed the Taurus, there highest selling model car ever.

Wow, lets see....how do we boost sales?....Oh yes we should kill our CASH COW.

Yeah like New Coke was a great idea too.

[McVaaahhh]

^^ The weren't making any money on the Taurus because it was mostly being sold for fleet cars at a huge discount. They were selling a ton of them, but a little to no profit.

Very few people were buying them because who wants to buy a rental car. Hence the new 500 which was designed to attract a potential Taurus customer who doesn't want to buy a rental car. Of course, they've since changed the name of the 500 to Taurus, but we'll see where that takes them.

Ford is guilty of the same thing as GM and Chrysler. No forsight. They planned on milking the V8 4wd cash cow for as long as possible never thinking people would stop buying them. Think of how forward thinking Toyota is. The prius is almost 10 years old. They started selling it when gas was $1/gallon.

[Aracheon]

Boy am I glad I drive a Honda and a Toyota.

[Sortarican]

Boy am I glad I drive a Honda and a Toyota.

Traitor!

God Bless America (and her POS cars)!

[dm_gsxr]

Boy am I glad I ride a Honda and a Suzuki.

(Occasionally I'll drive Rita's Subaru but not often).

Carl

[puckstr]

American Cars...Fuck Yeah!!!!

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Ford's trademarked generically covers them for more than just the name.
Say you build a car with a blue oval with the word "Rord" on it, that's infringement.
True.....IF it can be proven that the appearance is SO close as to cause the average person to misconstrue it as an actual Ford product (typface, colors, shape, etc.).

But an enthuthiast site can't be construed as trying to profit from the name.

Patent infringement has nothing to do with profitibility, merely the misuse if the logo (or something similar enough to be misconstrued as the logo) by someone who does not have the rights to or the license to use it.

Oh, and this is funny. Ford, lost the rights to the GT-40 name years ago as they didn't trademark it. That's why they have to call their new GT the "GT" instead of the "GT-40", and the real owner has licensed the name so people can build kit cars as "GT-40's".

Hardley tried to trademark a "v-twin" sound.....even though Indian had a v-twin first. Glad THAT sorry, blatantly greedy attempt by those a-holes failed. Also, Hardley's had generically been known as "Hogs" by the true faithful long before Hardley successfully stole the name as a trademark to sell product. I can't believe they won that one. Usually, as soon as you product name becomes generally used as a noun (Kleenex, Xerox, Weedwhacker) instead of a "Kleenex brand tissue" or "to copy by Xerography", you lose the rights to the trademark.

[bluedogok]

Ford is guilty of the same thing as GM and Chrysler. No forsight. They planned on milking the V8 4wd cash cow for as long as possible never thinking people would stop buying them. Think of how forward thinking Toyota is. The prius is almost 10 years old. They started selling it when gas was $1/gallon.

Greedy shareholders don't care about forward thinking, they want profits now and stock to go up so they can profit take. Shareholder pressure is one of many factors that has affected the US auto industry. Foreign companies live a little bit of a different "investment" environment. If their stock goes down a little bit there isn't all sorts of class-action lawsuits filed by disgruntled shareholders. One think most investors haven't figured out is there is not much difference in buying stocks than there is going to Vegas...and they want someone else to blame when they lose money.

[Keyser Soze]

Oh, and this is funny. Ford, lost the rights to the GT-40 name years ago as they didn't trademark it. That's why they have to call their new GT the "GT" instead of the "GT-40", and the real owner has licensed the name so people can build kit cars as "GT-40's".

Interesting. I knew about the kit cars, but I didnt know about the trademark issue. It was my understanding that the new GT was not called a GT 40 because it was acutally closer to 45 inches tall, as a the GT 40 was only 40 inches tall.....hence the 40.

[Sortarican]

Turns out Ford isn't going after them for the website name, etc.
The site was selling Ford branded items (bootleg) without paying royalties.
Ford is saying they have no issue with the site's name or any enthusiast sites using their name.

http://www.motorauthority.com/ford-a...iolations.html

[McVaaahhh]

Given the current mess Ford is in, still probably not the best time to associate themselves with suing their customers...

[Sortarican]

Given the current mess Ford is in, still probably not the best time to associate themselves with suing their customers...

LOL,
Ford even commented to that point themselves.

Did a little more reading on the story and it seems that it mainly surrounds the site's sale of t-shirts and stickers with the website's name + Ford logo.
The profits sound like they're nominal, but one story mentioned a site logo of a naked chick straddling a Ford/Oval.
Ford might not be too hip on licensing that one.
(Now you know what to get your Dad for X-Mas Brian.)

[McVaaahhh]

LOL,
Ford even commented to that point themselves.

Did a little more reading on the story and it seems that it mainly surrounds the site's sale of t-shirts and stickers with the website's name + Ford logo.
The profits sound like they're nominal, but one story mentioned a site logo of a naked chick straddling a Ford/Oval.
Ford might not be too hip on licensing that one.
(Now you know what to get your Dad for X-Mas Brian.)

Well, he IS a Ford guy...

[McVaaahhh]

Reminds me of the whole Metallica thing.

Were they right, yeah probably. I mean people were stealing music. But they lost a LOT of fans when they started suing them...

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Interesting. I knew about the kit cars, but I didnt know about the trademark issue. It was my understanding that the new GT was not called a GT 40 because it was acutally closer to 45 inches tall, as a the GT 40 was only 40 inches tall.....hence the 40.

Nope, it was 100% a licensing issue. The GT-40 got it's nickname in the first place because it was about 40in tall, but the problem was it became commonly known as the GT-40, and Ford didn't capitalize on it before someone else did. They approached him to buy the name for their new GT, but he wanted too much money, so Ford simply called it the GT.

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Reminds me of the whole Metallica thing.

Were they right, yeah probably. I mean people were stealing music. But they lost a LOT of fans when they started suing them...

Good. Those a-hole "fans" need to realize stealing stuff isn't cool or legal. What gives people this sense of entitlement these days? Just because, digitally, they CAN steal someone else's stuff? And then for them to get all pissy about it when they get caught? "F"-em, they should be doing jail time. I've made backup copies of my disks, and recorded them onto "mix" tapes (cassette), but for my use only and it's legal because I bought all the music I have.