From the club’s forum:
 Avert your eyes! You’re violating Ford’s trademark by looking! |
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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.
The publicity over this numskull action is taking off and pissing off Ford loyalists.
Ford is hurting; they have slipped to #4 in vehicles sold in the U.S.
My own informal research (browsing “The Web”) has pointed out that this action is costing them PLENTY in “Customer Loyalty”. In fact many staunch Ford supporters are now saying (paraphrasing), “If this is true and continues, I”m going to dump my (Mustang, F150 SuperCrew, 6.0 PSD, insert model name here) and buying a (Challenger, ’09 Camaro, Ram Quad-Cab, Tundra Crew-Cab, Cummins Turbo-Diesel, DuraMax Silverado HD, insert competing model name here) because they’re being @-holes!”I repeat, Ford is now no longer part of “The Big Three”; having been supplanted by freakin’ Toyota and relegated to the #4 slot. They need to re-establish their position in order to not achieve “junk-stock” status. SOMEBODY at Ford has to figure this out – or at least listen to what their market is saying.
If not, well…..
I read this blog via RSS, and I knew right away what the story would be about just by the headline – crybaby lawyering.
This is pathetic, Ford. Going after your own fan base is suicide. Just ask Metallica.
That and not putting out a good product for several years.
Woo, the similarities between Ford and Metallica abound.
You watch, cars will be the next thing that you don’t really own, but only pay for the right to use. Just like software, music and movies, cars will be intellectual property of the manufacturer, unable to be modified, souped up, photographed or maybe even painted without the permission of the manufacturer. After all we wouldn’t want, say Ford, to be embarrassed or put in a bad light by what we did to their car. It will happen someday, probably soon.
Maybe I’ll switch to Honda or better yet, my wife owns a Mini Cooper. Maybe I’ll just switch to those as a play car.
Owner of a nice looking 95 Mustang GT Convertible.
#3 – You don’t own your car. The state owns it.
Hey, how about a nice big BRDDA or UKKMA for FORD (Fucked On Raw Deal). I mean one would think this might count as advertising for them, flattering images of their shitty cars looking sexy. But, no, these guys just want to go out of business.
When I think of the fact that these same asshats wanted a loophole in the energy bill so that they could avoid the CAFE restrictions if they could claim financial hardship, I get sick. These guys deliberately engineer their own financial hardship at every step of the way.
How about making quality fuel efficient cars that people want? (Don’t tell me about the Escape. It could get much better gas mileage if they made a car body for it. And, it’s not an off-road vehicle, look at those suspension parts waiting to bottom out on a rock. There’s no more ground clearance on the Escape hybrid than on my ’92 Camry. But, at least they make better NYC taxis than the uber-crappy Crown Vics.)
Ah, tradition….. Henry Ford Sr. was a friend and proud admirer of a certain German dictator that shall remain nameless. These Mustang owners need to be taught “old school” respect for authority.
Sadly this is not limited to Ford. Several years ago a forum I run was served notice by then Daimler-Chrysler (DC) that we had to remove all their legal marks from our forum. This consisted mostly of member’s avatars which had DC legal marks and photos of the member’s own cars. It turned a lot of DC lovers into DC haters. We all know what happened to DC.
Now I guess it’s Ford’s turn to lose the support of the fans they so desperately need right now.
DRM for cars!!!
Didn’t you guys read the EULA when you purchased the vehicle?!?!?! It was in the shrinkwrap!!!!!
I didn’t know SONY bought out Ford!
F.O.R.D.:
Factory Ordered Road Disaster
Fails On Rainy Days
Failure Of Research & Development
Fast Only Rolling Downhill
First On Recycle Day
First On Rust and Deterioration
Fix Or Repair Daily
For Off Road Death
Forced On Reluctant Drivers
Ford Owners Really Dumb
Ford Owners Recommend Daimler
Found On Redneck’s Driveway
Found On Road Dead
Frequent Opinion: Really Disappointed
Fucked Old Rattling Dump
Fucker Only Rolls Downhill
Fumes and Odors Readily Detectable
and backwards –> Driver Returns On Foot
any more?
I’m calling bullshit.
This doesn’t make sense. Ford knows that the cars are in the public domain. Anyone may use those images. Yet there is no mention of this anywhere else and cafepress.com still has many pictures of Mustangs available.
http://www.cafepress.com/blackmustangs
This is the only mention I can find of the letter or Ford’s policy. Cafepress.com only states “Product not found”. I think (no proof) cafepress.com just has a hard time printing the calenders and are looking for an excuse.
But it is always so much easier to just scream Big Bad Lawyers !!!
I’d join a Ford club just so I could beat the car with it.
All Fords are shit, what kind of an idiot would buy a car from a British company anyway. Only get a car from a German or Japanese comp.
The solution is simple. If Ford feels left out, print the Club Calendar with pictures from Toyota, of course with the disclaimer that substitute pictures were used from a manufacturer that allowed owners to publish pictures of their vehicles.
For that matter, isnt that the main reason many have switched to Toyota in the first place? Toyota cared enough about its customers, it decided to build them in the United States. Of mostly American Made Parts. What a novel concept.
If only the old Big 3 really knew how to lean their processes by cutting costs at the top, their business model would not be in the toilet today.
Customer loyalty is earned.
Henry Ford knew this.
I own a car from a british car company… and it’s VERY nice!!
http://lotuscars.com
british? are you retarded?
ford is an AMERICAN motor company
dont try and blame us brits on it, sure weve had our motoring cock-ups but none quite so profound as ford
I dont think Ford is the culprit here cafe press is a bunch of morons. My friend is a big star trek fan and made an LCARS poster (it looked like a computer screen from star trek ) it didn’t say star trek on it any where, he also had a gaming clan called BOD (Black Operations Division) that used a logo with a BOD over a chest piece like they guys used on TNG ,both items were removed by cafe press claiming paramount called them. My friend contacted Paramount and they told him they never spoke to cafe press and didn’t care if he used the material as long as it wasn’t direct copyrighted material from the tv show or movies i.e. photos or screen captures but cafe press still had the material removed and refused to put it back up
Fast Or Rapid Depreciation.
#8 – GaryInMiami
“Sadly this is not limited to Ford. Several years ago a forum I run was served notice by then Daimler-Chrysler (DC) that we had to remove all their legal marks from our forum. This consisted mostly of member’s avatars which had DC legal marks and photos of the member’s own cars. It turned a lot of DC lovers into DC haters. We all know what happened to DC.”
Yeah. A German company known for respecting the buyers of their vehicles merged with a POS lawyer-dominated American bunch of losers. The outcome was shocking, shocking, I tell you!
Unlike so many Americans, the Germans quickly realized they had hitched their wagon to a sinking ship – having been sold a bill of goods by other typically American bullshit artists – so they bit the bullet, took their lumps and went back to where they could resume building cars instead of looking for people to sue.
I was contacted by Cafepress over a year ago, they threatened to yank my entire paid site for having MY custom painted Honda Civic on a T-shirt. Cafepress read me the official cease and desist letter over the phone ( 7 or so pages ) from Honda, they didn’t agree with Honda but yet neither one of us had the money to fight it either.
I do believe this story, it happens….and I dumped my Honda Line of the Internet as well as the Club I belonged to.
As somebody that was thinking about getting one in a couple of years (I was torn between a Mustang and the new Dodge Challenger which I have yet to see), I think I’ll just pass on it. Which means I hope the Challenger is just as good and fun as my ’71 Challenger was.
Here’s a recursive acronym…
Ford Owners Renounce Driving
Fucked Over Rebuilt Dodge
I would assume some hyper pitbull lawyer on retainer to protect copyrights for Ford went off half cocked without any consultation with Marketing or Management.
Would also assume that the Marketing folks are not happy with the results.
Best to keep your attack dogs on a short leash.
Are these companies out of their collective minds? Threatening to sue a FAN CLUB over the use of their logos and images of their cars. They must REALLY hate making money.
It’s not like they are going to be making and selling their own line of cars using their logos. This is just plain asinine, and who can we point the finger at for this idiocy?
Lawyers! What a mess.
Don
#21 – Don’t bet on it.
THC
Chrysler was actually on the upswing when the merger occurred. Thats why it was billed as a “merger of equals”
The germans then proceeded to bleed Chrysler dry until it was a worthless husk. Now they may never recover – business or PR-wise.
Wheres Iaccoca when you need him?
You should see what has gone on with railroad fans! Makers of models, calendars, etc. after decades and decades of promoting Union Pacific and its merged roads were subjected to a licensing ordeal a few years ago. The result? No 2008 Southern Pacific calendar on my wall because nobody made one. There used to be several.
Oh, and the thing with Chrysler is not new either. I remember them going after folks for using the word Mopar over ten years ago.
Stupid corporate fucktwits!
All these clubs out there and only this one was given notice? Plus Cafepress is still selling Mustang images?
#8, Gary,
Do you still have that letter?
#20, RedPaw,
So did you ever see a copy of the letter?
This is a hoax. I don’t know by whom or why, but the only reference to it comes from blogs all referencing the same club.
found on the road dead