Ford Goes After Online Communities For Trademark Infringemnt

Brent Wilson
December 10, 2008
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Update: Please read the updates near the bottom. This has been resolved. Thanks to Scott Monty for his hard work at quickly clearing this up and providing a solution that both sides could agree too….. The first instance of an online community being threatened by Ford for trademark infringement has occurred. TheRangerStation.com has been told by Ford (or a law firm claiming to represent Ford) to pay them $5,000 and stop using their name by December 19th, 2008. Ford is claiming the use of Ranger in their domain violates their trademark. A week ago from today I wrote about how Ford pushed Kocky Products out of business for the use of the Mustang and Blue Oval on their t-shirts.

Ford is clearly playing with fire here. These communities are what keep Ford alive. We don’t have to buy Ford Mustangs. We don’t have to buy Ford. A company that is struggling to stay afloat should not be gambling on pissing off their most loyal customers. It’s stupid. You can’t put it any other way.

The timing doesn’t surprise me though. Ford is finally realizing how awesome the internet is. They just recently setup a whole site dedicated to reaching out to customers on a more personal level, TheFordStory.com. It’s like Ford just discovered the internet existed and are now trying to make up for lost time. Kind of like how Ford just realized that they can’t make gas guzzling cars year after year and not plan for the inevitable day that gas reaches above 3 dollars a gallon.

What blows my mind the most is the hypocrisy of Ford using our communities for profit and then screwing us over. Just a few weeks ago, Mustang Evolution was featured by an official Ford website for content we have on here. You can witness it for yourself here: Ford Digital Snippets. They have also featured content from many other Ford Mustang related forums that clearly use the term Mustang in their domain name as well.

I never thought I’d see the day come where Ford went after enthusiast sites. I always thought you guys had more sense than that. Apparently I was wrong and I can only wonder how successful the current Mustang will be with fewer Ford Mustang enthusiast forums on the internet.

Updates:

Scott Monty has commented on this:

I am certainly not pleased about this, as the head of Ford’s digital communications team. There is nothing more important to us than our loyal fans, and the big picture seems to have escaped some people.
Rest assured, I’m trying to get to the bottom of this with our Office of General Counsel. I hope to be able to share more soon.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
We have also found another person who is claiming to have received letters of the same effect for their Ford related websites as well.
You can follow Scott Monty via Twitter. Anything he posts on Twitter new we will update here.
To clarify, we have not received any letters from Ford or anyone claiming to represent Ford. We are only reporting on what is happening with TheRangerStation.com
Scott Monty has just made an interesting update on twitter:

It means we didn’t get the full story from the site owners. There’s a deeper issue in question.
Scott Monty:

I’m conferencing with our legal department about it. There may be more to it than meets the eye.
Scott Monty:

I’m in active discussions with our legal dept. about resolving it.
The law firm has responded and claimed that TRS was selling unauthorized Ford decals, which prompted them to contact TRS.
Scott Monty:

I’m finding that there was counterfeit material being sold on it. Trying to get clarity on the URL issue.
Email From Law Firm:

Ford is not trying to shut down the entire website, just stop the
counterfeiting of its trademarks. If the Ranger Station wants a license it
needs to seek one from Ford.

But I don’t think Ford will license some of the images, particularly the
naked woman straddling the Ford Blue Oval. See attached.

As you can see, the Ranger Station is not telling the entire story while
seeking your support.

I hope that you will post Ford’s position on the various discussion boards.

Thanks,

Gregory D. Phillips
Howard Phillips & Andersen
560 East 200 South, Suite 300
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
801-366-7707
801-366-7706 (Fax)
Looks like we have a better picture of what is going on now. From my standpoint information was left out that would have made this a lot more cut and dry. Jim Oaks has admitted to selling these stickers and with that Ford is well within their rights to request him to stop. We have heard that both Jim and Scott have been in contact with each other, so we can hope that they can come to some kind of agreement that will benefit both parties.
Here is a Google Cache of the store in question.
A solution to this problem has been achieved. For more information, read here: Our (my) Agreement With Ford (remedy).
Scott Monty:

Dear Jim,

Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. Without question, Ford enthusiasts are extremely important to us. Their enthusiasm and loyalty are part of our heritage and part of what’s going to keep us moving forward.

Recently, there was an item posted stating that Ford was requesting TheRangerStation.com to turn over its URL to Ford and pay $5,000. We’d like the opportunity to share some additional facts that might make a difference in how you think about this situation.

In its communications, TheRangerStation.com stated that Ford was making them change the name of their site and pay $5,000. What was not mentioned was that TheRangerStation.com was selling counterfeit Ford-brand merchandise on the site. As a company, Ford has a responsibility to protect our brand and a responsibility to our licensees. We cannot let something like that pass. (The counterfeit goods have been removed from the website since TheRangerStation.com got the letter from Ford’s attorney.)

Please know that Ford takes no joy in pursuing enthusiast sites. Since there are a number of sites out there with Ford vehicles as part of their names or URLs, some people have asked if they should be concerned. Ford has been and continues to be willing to license its trademarks for use by enthusiast groups and enthusiast websites. Requesting a license is done easily by contacting tmgroup@ford.com. To request a license to produce or sell branded merchandise bearing Ford’s trademarks, contact branduse@ford.com.

In short, we are not asking for $5,000 and we would like TheRangerStation.com to keep the domain name. We simply encourage TheRangerStation.com to contact Ford to request a license to continue using the domain name.

We hope you will share this information with anyone who is concerned. We deeply appreciate our fans’ dedication and enthusiasm and want to be able to work together with all of our supporters to tell the Ford story.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company

http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/9624/ scottmonty

I am certainly not pleased about this, as the head of Ford’s digital communications team. There is nothing more important to us than our loyal fans, and the big picture seems to have escaped some people.

Rest assured, I’m trying to get to the bottom of this with our Office of General Counsel. I hope to be able to share more soon.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
http://www.mustangevolution.com/ Brent Wilson

Thanks Scott for following up on this so quickly.
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/2656/ SpectorV

Its a thin line, you see if they don’t protect their trademarks they lose them. They must protect their trademarks…. the companies that do this for them are not Ford, but Ford has the right to tell them to stop since they are working with Ford. Some companies are doing bad things and screwing customers over for a quick buck while using Fords trademarks, thus Ford gets some of the blame and it tarnishes their image.

There are many things that they are doing wrong. A company should NOT be able to use Ford trademarks without approval from Ford as the company that is using them does not own them. With that said Ford needs to realize that the online community and other businesses help them out more than they realize.

Ford needs a way (an easier way) for companies and websites to get access to the trademarks legally… without costing a ton of money or being a huge hassle. Until they come up with an easy to use system this sort of thing will not stop. I hope they come up and put into place a plan soon so these third party agencies that are just trying to make a quick buck prosecuting websites and businesses for using Ford’s trademarks illegally (the only premise) cant do it without cause (REAL cause, such as hurting Fords image).

Just as companies illegally using trademarks can hurt Fords image… these agencies that are working with ford to stop this also hurt Fords image in the loyal fan’s eyes just as much. Its fighting fire with fire.
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/2656/ SpectorV

Another note is that companies that are attacked like this generally can not afford to fight it. They have but one choice… go out of business and pay the fine. This makes the agencies helping them happy as they get paid. This also hurts the community as it puts a negative image on Ford for allowing this and stops fans from being able to obtain items they wish or promote Ford. In my opinion the agencies should be prosecuted for hurting Fords image before local small web sites.
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/9625/ TRSryan

Hi Scott,

I’m an administrator at The Ranger Station and would love to get in touch with you.

You can email me directly at ryan@therangerstation.com

The Ranger Station is the largest Ford Ranger community on the internet with 11,000+ users at the moment. We’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the site this November. The thread that is linked here hasn’t dropped below 300 views yet – it’s been a fantastic outcry. Thanks to Mustang Evolution for linking to it.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Ryan
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/9627/ RPS

Scott, also know there is another Ranger site called Ranger Power Sports (www.rangerpowersports.com) and we’re going on our 11th year in operation. With over 56,000 members we stand behind The Ranger Station. I have not received any emails or letters yet but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Here is the thing to remember. Our members are mostly young males just starting out with their first blue oval product. Over the years, we’ve watched thousands of members move on to bigger AND more expensive Ford products because of what they received from our communities. Is Ford willing to risk losing that lifelong dedication to it’s product?

Jim @ Rangerpowersports.com
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/9626/ SMiTTY

It amazes me how fast things have been moving on this. Great to see all the ‘Ford Enthusiast’ sites coming together.

Hope Scott can talk some sense into someone on their General Council. I see this going bad for Ford if they don’t put the brakes on.

I could certainly see going after someone that is selling Ford products and the likes. But going after what is essentially a car club on the internet? Please.
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/4419/ meteorachick

I don’t think Ford realizes how much their vehicles have become more than just “cars.” To many of us they have become much more of a lifestyle. They should look at us having these sites as a compliment to them, as we keep spending money on THEIR products and for many of us, we continue to buy FORD cars. If they continue to do what they are doing, they are going to take away a lot of people who are loyal Ford owners, and in such a dark economy especially for car makers, if they keep pushing away their customers, its only going to get worse.
http://www.mustangevolution.com/forum/users/9628/ Nathan

Scott,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Please keep us up to date on this. I’m one of the administrators at http://www.F150Forum.com and we are very concerned.

You can email me directly at admin@f150forum.com.

Thanks,
Nathan

Ford Goes After Online Communities For Trademark Infringemnt

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