Ford Motors sues Ferrari over F150 brand name
Ferrari has abandoned 'F150' as their brand name after Ford Motor Company raised the issue in a Detroit court on Thursday.
Ferrari has now officially declared that their car will be named the F150th Italia and not F150 anymore. The Scuderia Company named their new Formula 1 car the F150 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification. However, the name is almost identical to Ford’s F-150 truck series.
Ford filled a petition on Thursday saying, “Ferrari has misappropriated the F-150 trademark in naming its new racing vehicle the 'F150'.”
Ferrari has officially sent a letter to Ford stating that, “it has always been the case in the history of Scuderia names that they represent the nomenclature of a racing car project and are linked to a chronological order with a technical basis.”
They also stated, “This year, the decision was taken to dedicate the car name to a particularly significant event, an event of such great importance that the Italian government has declared, for this year only, a national holiday.”
Ferrari certainly did not want to start the Championship hunt with a name that resembles one of the commercial products of Ford. The company also wants to avoid being dragged into court right now, so that they can concentrate on the upcoming Formula 1 Championship.
The Ford and Ferrari rivalry dates back to 1960 when the American based company tried to buy out the Italian car maker at Le Mans.
Not only did Ferrari back away from the deal, but they also managed to win the Le Mans Championship over the next five years. In 1966 Ford’s GT40 brought the victory back home as they managed to take the first, second and third positions to effectively end Ferrari’s long run at Le Mans.
Ford’s wish has been granted as Ferrari has decided to stop using the name. However, with regards to Ford’s other demand over some unspecified damages that Ferrari’s website has cost them is still yet to be resolved. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari responds that issue in the next few days.
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