Ford has settled its lawsuit with against luxury automaker Ferrari for trademark infringement of its popular F-150 pickup.
The automaker filed a notice with U.S. District Court in Detroit on Thursday, 3rd March, 2011, asking the judge to dismiss the case three weeks after suing Ferrari. The notice didn’t disclose any additional details.
"We are pleased we were able resolve this issue amicably," a Ford spokeswoman told The Detroit News. "This resolution ensures that Ford's famous and distinctive F-150 trademark will be protected."
Earlier, In the second week of February, Ferrari had officially renamed its new Formula 1 car to the original name 'F150th Italia' from 'F150' to avoid confusion with Ford F-150, since the American car company was going to the court over what it claims to be a trademark infringement.
Ford's F-150 pick up truck is a top-seller in the United States and the car manufacturer believe that Ferrari had breached its trademark in naming its new challenger the F150.
According to Ford, Ferrari had used the name "in order to capitalise on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed in the F-150 trademark".
Ford F-150 Pick up Truck Logo
Although Ferrari had decided to rebrand its car, the F1 team says it does not understand why Ford believes there is any confusion.
"On the subject of the name of the new Ferrari Formula 1 car, the Maranello company wishes to point out that it has sent a letter of reply to Ford, underlining the fact that the F150 designation (used as the abbreviated version of the complete name, which is Ferrari F150th Italia) never has, nor ever will be used as the name of a commercially available product - indeed there will definitely not be a production run of single-seaters," said a statement issued by Ferrari. In fact, 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, or in exceptional cases, to special occasions. This year, the decision was taken to dedicate the car name to a particularly significant event, the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, an event of such great importance that the Italian government has declared, for this year only, a national holiday. For these reasons, Ferrari believes that its own contender in the forthcoming F1 championship cannot be confused with other types of commercially available vehicle of any sort whatsoever, nor can it give the impression that there is a link to another brand of road-going vehicle. Therefore it is very difficult to understand Ford's viewpoint on the matter.
Ferrari has indicated that from now on, the car will become officially known as the F150th Italia.
"To further prove it is acting in good faith and that it operates in a completely correct manner, Ferrari has decided to ensure that in all areas of operation, the abbreviated version will be replaced at all times with the full version, Ferrari F150th Italia," it added.
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