This post has been updated and corrected – Ford Motor Co. – Trademark Bully — NOT!
A group of Ford Mustang enthusiasts, make that black Ford Mustang enthusiasts (I think the “black” refers to the car, not the enthusiast) have a little community here. They decided to produce a 2008 calendar of their cars.
Along comes Ford… I’ll let the forum speak for itself:
I got some more info from the folks at cafepress and according to them, a law firm representing Ford contacted them saying that our calendar pics (and our club’s event logos – anything with one of our cars in it) infringes on Ford’s trademarks which include the use of images of THEIR vehicles. Also, Ford claims that all the images, logos and designs OUR graphics team made for the BMC events using Danni are theirs as well. Funny, I thought Danni’s title had my name on it … and I thought you guys owned your cars … and, well … I’m not even going to get into how wrong and unfair I feel this whole thing is as I’d be typing for hours, but I wholeheartedly echo everything you guys have been saying all afternoon. I’m not letting this go un-addressed and I’ll keep you guys posted as I get to work on this.
I’m sorry, but at this point we will not be producing the 2008 BMC Calendar, featuring our 2007 Members of the Month, solely due to Ford Motor Company’s claim that THEY own all rights to the photos YOU take of YOUR car. I hope to resolve this soon, and be able to provide the calendar and other BMC merchandise that you guys want and deserve! This thread will remain open for you to comment however you wish, and I’ll update it as needed. (source)
I’m not convinced that Ford’s position is correct.
This is my ever-so-bad-ass 2000 Focus. I keep it real.
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The Legal Satyricon 
My name is Whitney Drake and I work in Ford Communications.
We’ve been watching this discussion with interest and I’d like to clarify what is essentially a misunderstanding.
Yesterday we spoke to both Cafe Press and the Black Mustang Club and explained the situation (about the Black Mustang Club’s calendar) to everyone’s satisfaction. Ford has no problem with Mustang or other car owners taking pictures of their vehicles for use in club materials like calendars. What we do have an issue with are individuals using Ford’s logo and other trademarks for products they intend to sell. Understandably, we have to take the protection of our brands and licensing very seriously.
Ford did not send the Black Mustang Club a “cease and desist” letter telling them that they could not use images of their own cars in their calendar. The decision not to allow the calendars to be printed was made by Cafe Press, because we had gotten in touch with them in the past about trademark infringements on products they sold.
The Black Mustang Club, and any other Ford enthusiast club, are free to take pictures of their own vehicles for use in calendars or other materials as long as they don’t use Ford trademarks in products that will be sold.
I think it is great that the Black Mustang Club, and any other enthusiast club, would take pictures of their own vehicles for use in calendars or other materials.
I’m looking forward to purchasing a copy to hang in the garage next to my Mustang (even if mine isn’t black).
Thanks for giving us the chance to have our say.
[…] class="comment even thread-even depth-1 alt" id=comment-4624> Whitney Drake Says: January 15, 2008 at 4:27 pm My name is Whitney Drake and I work in Ford Communications. Weve been watching this discussion […]
Today i recieved a link to a post on my mustang enthusiasts website about the ford motor company going after another enthusiasts website TheRangerStation.com. According to what is being stated, for is asking the owner of the website to give ford the site name and pay them $5,000.00 dollars. Now, this site doesn’t sell ford parts or material, it is just a site for enthusiasts of the ford ranger pickup truck. So my question is, how is owning a site (10 years) a violation of trademark? Ford has done this before, but they went after sites that sold ford parts, and used the mustang name in their website name, but this is different since they don’t sell anything. It is just a place for people to hang out and talk about their pickup trucks. I am not a lawyer and i am really have trouble understanding how this is a violation of any law:
[QUOTE]Ford is making me change the name of The Ranger Station and pay them $5,000. I have to sign an agreement as well and they want it all by December 19th, 2008.
Ford feels that we are infringing on their trademarks and violating their intellectual property rights because we use ‘Ranger’ in our name.
Apparently it’s ok for Ranger Boats, Polaris Ranger and the Lone Ranger.
The question is, where do we go from here?
How are we possibly going to rename the site and still be able to attract Ranger owners, when Ford doesn’t want us using their name.
To clarify:
Ford wants $5,000 AND therangerstation.com domain name. [/QUOTE]
Here is a link to the current thread http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32801 , and i know how chicken sh*t ford is that they won’t post out in the open about how they bully website owners around, but come on, this is getting rediculous. This site isn’t hurting ford, nor are they making any money off of the ford name.
Please look at this and let me know what your thoughts are.
doug
Ford is not an innocent player in the trademark game. Look at all the sites they go after, it is not just Ford ones, but also Volvo and others.
They hire an outside firm with Gregory Philips and send nasty letters to those that may even have any connection to one of their trademarks.
They have gone after online sites that use the term Mustang, Ranger, Volvo … knowing that these sites are not cofussing to the consumer. I was in a shop the other day buying a wheel and asked about the old snake centercap, they said that the wholesaler no longer does this due to Ford. My replica ones do not even look like the ford ones!!
I saw online that they requested back profits from a volvo site. It is not like they are asking people just to stop, they are going for a money grab by throwing their considerable weight into it.
Here is a solution — just build a better car. Ford was passed up by Toyota and Chrysler as they did just that.
Ford the best car :)