Man Charged for his Converted Fiero-Ferrari

As he is IN Italy, that is a big deal.....

 

that's in italy, where the laws regarding copyright infringment are very different from here...being that purchase owning a fake can result in legal charges....it's been on thier books for some time now, so not really new news in that sense

 

I thought this was a little over the top:

"The finished product is actually quite amazing. The interior, exterior, badging, etc. all closely resemble the Italian supercar so much that only a real Ferrari enthusiast would even be able to tell it isn't the real deal."

The interior screams mid-eighties Pontiac.

 

Well, then he should have tinted the windows.

 

HA...joke indeed.....every part of the car doesn't measure up to the real thing.....IMO he was right to be charged for poor taste & bad judgement!

 

Wonder if the Italian authorities go after all those pirated Chinese dvd's of Hollywood movies that are sold at every town market?

Cheers

 

If those DVD's are Italian drama films or italian porn I bet it's prosecuted with a vengeance! James Cameron or hollywood fluff.. I'm sure that's largely ignored. ;-)

 

Is it really counterfeiting if it's for your own personal use? If someone builds an F model from scratch, is that considered counterfeiting by this definition? How about painting a picture of an F-car?

 

that's a debate for sure (see ferrari crushing...thread)......in this case, the laws in native itlay are different then here, and indeed allow the owners/purchasers of replicas (cars, watches, etc) to be charged "under thier laws"

 

Hmmm... I'm picturing lots of marinara and Alfredo sauces.....


Jedi

 

Surely they can't be serious. There's no way that could be mistaken for a real one. That's one of the silliest things I've read in a long time.

Curious about the laws over there.

 

Was it the F1 badge on the back of a manual car that gave the game away?

 

What? LOL! Stupid guy.

 

Italy hosts many of the world's most desirable luxury brands. Why wouldn't they protect their investments?

It doesn't matter how bad or good the fake is, it's trademark infringement. If the country is part of the WTO, there is legislation available to take action. Fake Rolexes, Louis Vuittons, Tiffanys or Ferraris - all the same legal issue.

 

Right! But I don't think this fake Ferrari is a good one. At first glance, you can really judge and tell that it's not a Ferrari. The quality of the paint and the body, it doesn't look good. What waste of money. Pure Stupidity.

 

The article mentions the owner as being a business man. What does that mean? What's the relevance? If it means he is succesful in owning a business, shouldn't he be able to buy a real 355?

 

Maybe he has priorities. He thinks what are/is need to spend more. Maybe he don't have enough money to buy his wants in life.

 

19 out of 20 people on the street have no idea. Of course we all think it looks horrible (actually the pics look pretty decent)... we're on a Ferrari enthusiast website. It's small, sporty, and red with Ferrari badges. Must be a Ferrari.

 

I was wondering more what 'businessman' implies? I know a baker bakes bread, but what does a businessman do?

Funny story: I was once at a Ferrari dealership with a friend when a man was taking delivery of a new 355 (what a coincedence by the way!)
My friend asked the man what he did for a living, thinking that maybe he could aspire to the same field of work and maybe own a Ferrari one day (we were both still in college back then).
The guy replied: "I'm in business". My friend asked: but what kind of business? The guy gave the same answer but my friend was naively persistent so finally the man said: "look, if you come work for me you will be able to buy your own Ferrari in three months".
I still don't know exactly what kind of business he was in but I could guess it wasn't baking bread!

 

I was thinking the same thing. "Business" = monkey business? Pharmaceutical sales? It's Italy so I guess waste management is less a "business" than "debt collection".. ;-)

 

Seeing some of the fakes and authentic iteams I have bought at the same time on the Ponte Vecchio over years, it seems to me that Ferrari might get a bit more of that copyright protection than some of the other famous Italian luxury brands.

 

I think I wasn't clear in my first post. I agree, companies absolutely should be able to hold their property values and trademarks. It's their intellectual property and I have no problem with that.

I was referring to the silliness of anyone actually thinking that was a real Ferrari. My bad.

I do have a slight issue with going after the guy, though. He made this car for his own personal enjoyment, not to sell or make money off of it. He spent his own time and money to make something that he liked to look at. Everyone knows that he won't be selling it as a Ferrari, or attempting to register is as one, etc. This is a different situation over the fake Rolex, LV, etc. in the sense that those products are marketed as being the genuine article and are made strictly for monetary gain, whereas this isn't, except in a visual sense, and there's no money made of it.

I know that even if no money is made it's still infringement, but that is part of the law I disagree with.

Cheers,
T.J.

 

That needs to be taken as a mitigating circumstance by the judge. Beyond that, I can't see how you can differentiate between fakes made for enjoyment and fakes made for profit. Moreover, any fake can and does have a negative impact on the trademark holder and it is within the holder's rights to push for a prosecution.

If my neighbourhood was flooded with kit car Fakearis, all lovingly made by honest people, they would still detract and devalue from the copied original. I would want them all off the road.

As another mentioned in this thread, many of the general public WILL think this is a genuine Ferrari. The general public have an expectation and a right to see REAL goods and not fake ones.

 

I understand but I highly doubt he built it himself. He probably bought the parts and put it together, so there probably was a commercial interest by the company that makes the fake parts.