Ford Continues To Slap Down Enthusiast Calendars, Saying You Can't Sell Photos Of Your Own Car
from the seems-like-a-stretch dept
Back in October, Ford got itself into some hot water over plenty of negative attention after it forced a Jaguar enthusiasts' group to stop selling calendars made up of photos of the cars they actually owned. You would have thought that the folks at Ford would have learned from the negative publicity surrounding that debacle. Apparently, they learned nothing, because they've now done the exact same thing to a Mustang enthusiasts' club, and it's getting even more attention than the last time around. What possible rationale does a lawyer give for suggesting slapping down an attempt by a car company's biggest fans (by their own admission!) to celebrate how much they love their vehicles by promoting them to others? Some may claim that you need to enforce your trademark or risk losing it -- but a situation like this is unlikely to be seen as something that needs to have been enforced. No sane judge will rule that allowing enthusiasts to display a calendar is the equivalent of giving up your trademark rights.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: enthusiasts, fans, trademark
Companies: ford
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Hopefully money will be lost
I'm confused as to why Ford would even think they have a case. We're talking about free advertising and fair use of a person's own property. This would be like Campbells suing Andy Warhol for painting their soup cans - utterly stupid.
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Re: Hopefully money will be lost
"This would be like Campbells suing Andy Warhol for painting their soup cans - utterly stupid."
I thought they did. Can anyone confirm this ?
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Re: Re: Hopefully money will be lost
The same here - Ford would never get damaged by this calendar but could indirectly help interest people in their products without any cost to them. Instead, they're suing and potentially losing themselves some of their best customers while doing nothing would cause them no damage...
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Hmmm, I say Hmmm
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Fans?
This is exactly what you get when you let the legal department run loose/run the company.
Shortsighted maroons.
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Re: Fans?
Hehe...maroons...
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hahahahahahaha
Both situations lead to the complete corruption and eventual dissolving of the company, but the lawyers end things too quickly for that long chuckle. The sales and marketing folks take forever to do what the lawyers can do in just one year.
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Only thing I can think of...
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Re: Only thing I can think of...
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Re: Only thing I can think of...
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Re: Only thing I can think of...
http://www.bmcforums.com/showthread.php?t=42402
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Re: Only thing I can think of...
I think you're making stuff up now.
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Re: Re: Only thing I can think of...
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The next big lawsuit...
"We sold them the clothes, but we never gave the OK for them to put themselves AND our clothing on so many magazine covers!"
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Re:
Why is it when I try to link to the rvb page (www.redvsblue.com) it comes up as "Http://www.techdirt.com/www.redvsblue.com"?
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Trade Mark not being violated?
So if you actually own a genuine Ford vehicle and choose to either drive it, sleep in it, take it to a fan club show or make a calendar out of it I don't see how you are infringing the Trade Mark even if they consider the mark extends into other areas?
There is no condition that you are sold the car for the sole purpose of driving it is there? So my point is as long as it's what the maker (Ford) produced you can do what you dam well like with the car - even heaven forbid crash it!
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I've suggested that some of the major model builders - one fellow gets about $15k for his finished kits - start contacting the companies to get money from them or leave those sponsor decals off.
Dr. E.
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Re #5
It is peolpe who love their cars.
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slashdot
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hate to say it but...
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Re: hate to say it but...
Who's supposed to pay for that?
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Insane Judges
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real stupidity
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Trademark?
It's just easier to "dress" the street with cars from companies not so anal retentive.
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A new law would help - how about one - where, when a consumer buys something... it's THEIRS.
Ford better get on suing the movie companies too.
That's ok - I'll keep in mind that I can't take pictures of my own car if I buy a Ford - and I'm buying in a couple months.. I figured with how their stock is doing, they would be more friendly...
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Ford Fiasco
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A sane judge might rule that enthuiasts can't SELL calendars though. That is what the suit is about, not displaying.
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Re:
You left out the "in" and misspelled "enthusiasts". Here, let me fix it for you:
An insane judge might rule that enthusiasts can't SELL calendars though.
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Car Companies easier to understand...
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Ford
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Re:
Many of the collector car community may choose to challenge
that freedom en masse.
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Let'em die off...
I'll never buy another Ford, aside from supporting a lying thief, they can't (or won't!) make a car that has what I consider to be good gas mileage. In fact, Explorer sales are down 26%, while Prius sales are up by at least the same amount.
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I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!
WAKE UP FORD...the corporation with the most Collectible Automobiles on the planet. Why can only Carroll Shelby and Jack Roush depict your products in every publication in the US?
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If Ford lets that slide, then I could see the calandar company having a legit case to sue Ford for not protecting the license they paid for. And if the fan club is allowed to sell their calandar, can another fan club sell keychains too? Where do you draw the line?
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Re:
So? What's wrong with competition?
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Personally I own a ford, I have always owned fords. I work for another medium and heavy duty manufacturer and we promote things like this. We want to see what the customers are doing to THEIR own vehicles. We have sold untold amounts of parts to customers when they bring a picture in of a truck and say "make it look like that".
But if Ford wants to tell me that I can't make money off of the truck that I own, I will be asking for royalties back for me to stay loyal...
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It's a constant reminder of the direction that society has been headed down for quite some time, "when in financial difficulty, seek legal sources for income". It's no different for companies as it is for individuals.
As a major US corporation, you need to pick and choose your battles wisely, after-all, you have a reputation to maintain, right? This perhaps, will undoubtedly cost the company far more than the "few" enthusiasts that were directly effected.
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BMC Calendar Approved
Please read this thread:
http://www.bmcforums.com/showthread.php?t=42820
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Re: BMC Calendar Approved
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Mustang enthusiasts
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