More Ferrari Litigiousness

The wrap and emblems are crappy mickey mouse and not even a Camaro or mustang owner would approve on their car. Go get a McLaren with its cheap interior if that's what your into.

 

More BS from Ferrari. The owner can do what he pleases with the car. I give props to deadmau5 for actually doing something interesting with his car. It's not the usual lame red over tan generic special.
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Ferrari has to do this to protect its trademarks. I would bet the wordmark with the extended serif on the 'F' is legally protected. Standard procedure for corporations.

 

Well,doesn't trade mark and trade dress all hinge on commercial enterprises and market/consumer confusion.


If this is not being offered for resell or for a commercial enterprise, where is the harm or "market confusion"?

 

well the car was out up for sale recently....maybe Ferrari waited for that to file.

I like what he did with the car, I think it's hilarious; and if he didn't change the logos/script I think Ferrari would have left it alone.

did Ferrari sue Jamaroquai (sp?) over their album cover years ago?

 

What a bunch of Lawyer/Corporate BS. It's DM's car and he should be able to do whatever he wants with it. No way this could be construed as some effort to profit from the Ferrari mark. Total crap!

Whenever I see or hear of stuff like this, it just makes me happier to see people mod their cars away from the mainstream according to their own taste, even if it's poor. I still applaud the move.

Steaming in Arizona...

Hannibal

 

Hilarious, Ferrari needs a sense of humor

 

that is what makes it so funny.. it isn't on a Mustang or Camaro. It's on a Ferrari and it is making fun of chaps like you.

 

Wonder if I could get a letter by dragging some truck nuts around behind my GTB? The snoborosi might just castrate me...

 

Even of legally they could be right, it's a pretty stupid fight and a catastrophic PR move (read comments on Facebook where this story broke 5h ago).

 

I agree that it falls under parody... I don't see how Ferrari has a case here at all, unless they also realize the very same thing and are going through motions in order to make it look like they're aggressively attempting to protect their trademark - which as someone else pointed out earlier, they are obligated to do in order to maintain it.

 

Probably, so what will become of all those unsold new Ferraris sitting on dealers' lots...

 

They are obligated to maintain it. Standard practice for companies with valuable trademarks.

 

Also wonder if Ferrari SpA knew any of the details of the case or just signed off on a legal bill for 'copyright protection'??? Lawyers will be lawyers...

 

If you were the CEO of Ferrari, would you allow this?

 

It is an interesting question.

Historically, Ferrari has been concerned mostly with the unauthorized use of:
- the Cavallino (horse).
- the Ferrari brand name.
- the Ferrari font (with the long line over the letters).
- the Ferrari nose badge (yellow rectangle with Cavallino in it with red-white-green Italian colors on top).
- the Scuderia Ferrari (SF) badge (usually placed on the front fender).
- and any replica car that tries to look like one of its models

In this situation, the only one of the above items that seems to apply is the use of the Ferrari font for the "Purrari" badging on the car.
The Ferrari font is used to spell "Purrari" on both the chrome logo on the back and in the yellow rectangle logo.

The only other thing that adds to the situation is the customization was done on a 458 Spider which is still being sold as a new car by Ferrari. I'm not a lawyer, but I think that helps Ferrari with the "causing confusion in the marketplace" aspect of protecting their IP rights.
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I don't understand why there is even any question... Of course Ferrari was right to serve Deadmau5.

He took a car of theirs.. put some ugly wrap on it. And then changed the logos with a font that is similar to Ferrari's font. So it was a recognizable Ferrari with branding on it that was changed to "Purrari". Notice Ferrari didn't have any problem with it UNTIL he tried to sell it. And he was then selling a product that he rebranded into something else. Clearly creating confusion in the marketplace. Cut and dried.

Of course they sent him a letter. Why wouldn't they?

 

Funny enough, I think Deadmau5 sold this to get a McLaren.

 

Ferrari should have just bought the car back from him and told him to take a hike. Tell him to go purchase a Tesla or prius and wrap it.

 

Funny, that style used to be quite popular ages ago, but I suppose Ferrari really has corned the market on its basic use. Here's an old sign from some 20's fan belts.
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They should have just used their brain and understood there was no malice on Deadmaus's part. He clearly has no intention on starting a Purrari brand. Why feed lawyers when you can just be smart and understand that it starts and ends as a joke?

 

Because... the next guy who uses Ferrari's font in his automotive branding can just point to the "Purrari" branding and argue that Ferrari doesn't own the long-serifed font. A cease and desist letter is cheap; seeing any part of the Ferrari brand fall into the public domain is costly, from an intellectual property perspective.

Apple and Coca Cola are equally or maybe more aggressive in enforcing their trademarks.

Even if no malice is intended and you're just joking around, appropriating some company's trademark is a no-no.

 

But his car doesn't have the F...it just has a looooong P