Ford going after fan forums

[RayW]

Hey folks,

Got an email from therangerstation.com, which is a forum much like this one for fans of the Ford Ranger.

(I know....didn't know the Ranger had any fans either until I went looking for help when I was working on a friend's Ranger)

Anyway.....it seems that the billions in bail out money isn't enough and Ford is coming after all the internet forums that use one of their product names in the address.

here's a link to the site's discussion on the matter. Clicky

I don't know if other manufacturers will follow Fords lead but thought I would post here as a heads up.

Ray

 

[cota95]

Holy crap...does it get any lower than this? :angry:

 

[Checkswrecks]

Mama Yama is a Jap company and typically they are pretty loyal to their customers, as well as having been a sponsor and not seeking sponsorship, but it is something to watch. If I were that Ford Admin I'd tell them to reconsider before filing suit, as it would be ALL over the press. Then change nothing. What's Ford going to do, spend bail-out money to hire lawyers to prosecute people trying to be fans? Remindds me of this old story:

There came a day when God saw Satan strolling by and looking a lot happier than he'd been in a few million years. Puzzled, God said something like "Hey Satan, why the happy face?"

Satan said "Oh, we got ourselves an engineer."

The Lord was still confused, saying that there were a number of them in heaven, so what made this one different?

According to the devil, the engineer had figured out how to vent out the sulfur fumes, air condition the place, and even installed flushing toilets.

The Lord was infuriated. Hell was supposed to be a place of misery and obviously the devil had gotten a good person to do these works of improvement. God said "Satan, hand over that engineer immediately. He shouldn't have been there in the first place."

The devil just gave God an evil smile and said "Or what?"

God again said to hand over the engineer, or He would sue.

And the devil asked quietly "And just where are You going to find a lawyer?"

:lol:

 

[wfooshee]

As a loyal Ford customer for quite some time I was very unnerved by this, and sent a note to the public-relations contact that was linked in that thread.

These forums are nothing more than the electronic equivalent of a car or bike club, like {hometown-name-here} Mustang Club. Are they going after those guys, too? How stupid would that be? Yet a domain name on the web poses some kind of threat to their business?

 

[RayW]

As a loyal Ford customer for quite some time I was very unnerved by this, and sent a note to the public-relations contact that was linked in that thread.
These forums are nothing more than the electronic equivalent of a car or bike club, like {hometown-name-here} Mustang Club. Are they going after those guys, too? How stupid would that be? Yet a domain name on the web poses some kind of threat to their business?

heh...can't wait for Fairlaner to see this one...maybe he'll switch to a Nova or something.

I think I saw in that thread where they were going after a Mustang site too.

Not a good way to reward customer loyalty if you ask me.

Ray

 

[Ignacio]

I wouldn't worry about it for this forum. If/when something like that happened you can imagine we would deal with it.

What they're likely referring to at the other site is probably a "DMCA take-down notice". The admin seems to be freaking out...and that's understandable getting one of those letters with big corporate letterhead is scary and intimidating, but we also clearly don't know all the details. As a David to a Goliath they might want to look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and do some homework. DMCA is a topic they're well versed in and I've seen various responses (usually by attorneys with some style) to these notices that make the the big, scary suits do lots of homework before they try and intimidate well-intentioned volunteers.

Another good site is Chilling Effects.

That said, it could be related to the nature of the website. It seems the website in question has a commercial side. Maybe it's infringing on Ford in some way we don't know about. They seem to actively accept sponsors and have ads.

We don't by the way. From the outset we've remained ad-free and not reliant on sponsors. The forum doesn't profit anything. This forum is exclusively for and by FJR riders and owners and will continue to do be that way.

And, folks...a special request. Please, please keep this thread on topic, avoid temptation to soapbox for other societal ills, be careful about judgements of "theys", "attorneys", and....of course...politics.

Thanks.

The Management

 

[Warchild]

This is COMPLETELY insane!!!!!!!!!

How can anyone with two synapses still firing believe it makes good business sense to enrage that very customer base that helps keep the company alive?!

Holy fookin' crap, these forums **PROMOTE** the very product these customers make!

This is simply beyond crazy.....

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Being a Mazda P.U. (AKA, Ford Ranger) owner, TRS is a valuable site for me -- as is the FJR Forum. I hope TRS is able to weather this and remain viable.

I'm no legal pro -- but, I have heard that it's important for companies to vigorously defend their copyrights and registered trademarks.

As GM (Global Menace) has always said, "You can't kill a good name."

 

[kurt]

This is COMPLETELY insane!!!!!!!!!
How can anyone with two synapses still firing believe it makes good business sense to enrage that very customer base that helps keep the company alive?!

Holy fookin' crap, these forums **PROMOTE** the very product these customers make!

This is simply beyond crazy.....

It might explain their current fiscal predicament. More than likely they are interested in cutting off the discussion of negative issues. I don't have any proof, but I'd guess the stink raised on Maximum-Suzuki over the piston issue with Bandits killed off the sales of the bike in the US and tarnished Suzuki's reputation as a whole.

 

[RenoJohn]

This is COMPLETELY insane!!!!!!!!!
How can anyone with two synapses still firing believe it makes good business sense to enrage that very customer base that helps keep the company alive?!

Holy fookin' crap, these forums **PROMOTE** the very product these customers make!

This is simply beyond crazy.....

It might explain their current fiscal predicament.

My thoughts exactly. With brains like that at Ford, it is no wonder they're getting their ass kicked by Japan and others. ....and in their current situation, you'd think they'd have a few other things to worry about?
These fools deserve to fail and this bonehead move is just more proof of the ineptitude.

Insane doesn't begin to describe how stupid this is on Ford's part.

 

[2WheelTiger]

Hardley Dorkinson did the same sort of thing several years ago, claiming they were protecting their copyrights and brand identity. Certainly there were lots of products out there with the brand name even though no licensing agreement existed, but Hardley went a bit over the top.

They seem to have backed off quite a bit, but nowdays I won't even bother to type the name of the brand correctly.

 

[RiderCoach Lar]

[SIZE=12pt]Okay, all you guys who are just recklessly throwing the name of the subject car company around, I'll have you know that I'll be collecting fees from you all and will be forwarding them onto the company (minus MY service fee, of course) so you may continue to utter the name without fear of legal recourse. I'll also be suggesting that the company start charging anyone who drives one of their vehicles a fee for displaying the company name anywhere on that vehicle.[/SIZE]

All of this is part of a master plan to get the company to charge anyone who even THINKS of the name of the company a fee for doing so! :blink:

Have a nice day :****:

 

[Geezer]

That site does have an ad for magazines on the front page. I wonder if that makes it look more like a business than a source of information.

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

There must be more to the story.

Where's Paul Harvey when you need him?

 

[AVGeek]

I read through a bunch of the pages on TRS, and from what I could gather, its less Ford and more the doing of the lawfirm that sent the site owner the C&D letter. Apparently, the lawfirm in question uses this as an extortion tactic rather frequently.

 

[wfooshee]

Well, extortion was the first thing that came to my mind, and I also wondered if it might be a scam by somebody "claiming" to be Ford.

It can't be fiscally motivated. How many sites would they have to extort $5000 from the be of any help at all???!?!

 

[Bounce]

Hardley Dorkinson did the same sort of thing several years ago, claiming they were protecting their copyrights and brand identity. Certainly there were lots of products out there with the brand name even though no licensing agreement existed, but Hardley went a bit over the top.
They seem to have backed off quite a bit, but nowdays I won't even bother to type the name of the brand correctly.

they did it for a long time; going so far as to threaten suit against some old grandma for making oven mits with the hd badging on them. when they tried to patent/trade mark their exhaust note, it was clear they had jumped the shark.

 

[L2M]

Sounds like that law firm needs to be cut as part of the bailout restructuring. Paying people to piss off your customers falls somewhere between lunacy and total insanity.

 

[wfooshee]

The site has posted a resolution.

Turns out he was selling decals with Ford and Ranger logos on them to help pay the site's bills, and that's what Ford was really after. He was selling their trademarks.

He has agreed to stop, and he further agreed not to allow ads for competing motor companies, some other conditions, and Ford has agreed to allow the site to continue operation.

He also asked that threads about the situation be locked to stop the flow of ire to Ford.

Clicky