In So-Cal... my friends business has been known as "Rudy's Jaguar" for 30+ years...! Jaguar threatened to sue him..., so the name is now "rudy's JAGUAR repair"...! This happened shortly after Ferd became involved with Jaguar! Mark
Is "H.A.M.B" copyrighted? If not lets get on it Ryan before "Ho's And Monkey Bones" decides to take it, or maybe "Ham And Mayonaise Burgers" or maybe .....
I thought it was "Hairs Around My Ba.." Chrysler went after JEEP's Bar in Alpine Wy. a few years ago. JEEP finally won but it cost him years of frustration and a ****load of money to defend himself. On the other side, all those great car models we built as kids went away when Chevrolet & Ford went after MPC, Revell and the others. I can see copyrite being a good thing for a band with a record or a car company that doesn't want cheap overseas parts miss represented as their product. That only makes sense. But when the singer dies, the copyrite should go with him. Car companies shouldn't squeeze model makers for use of their logo. Corporations buying up copyrites and trademarks to milk royalties forever in areas of business the company or artist was never involved in should never have been allowed in my opinion. The way it is today, if Johnny Ace paints a Rat Fink in a Model A, Ford lawyers could sue him for infringement and if he makes that Model A look funny in a way Ford doesn't approve of, they'd nail his *** for defamation and damages too. Even tho Ford hasn't made a Model A or even a part for one in 70 years and they've never been in the painting business. Do royalties for Beatles records go to the surviving beatles? Or to the record lables that made the records? Nope, they go to Michael Jackson and the RIAA because they bought the rights. I don't think the rights should have ever been allowed to be for sale. And the idea that a company can own a word like BOSS is a sad comentary on how far the liberals and lawyers have manipulated this country of sheep.
Lets not forget that Pontiac used the GTO badge name after they stole it from Ferrari and their Gran Torismo Omolagato because they did not have it copyrighted. Let alone the GTO went on to make a great name for Pontiac and was one of the original muscle cars. There is also currently a rodeo company in Texas that stole the bucking bronc logo that the state and University of Wyoming have used since the cavemen. They said it was an abandoned logo, but are currently in litigation. Too many lawyers, greedy businesses, and people wanting to steal recognizable icons to gain a business edge (damn rodeo company). How About More Beer?
[ QUOTE ] Volkswagen is the worst! They made everyone in the aircooled VW mags stop using their emblem, said it was infringment! [/ QUOTE ] Yeah VW really got a bug up their ***(pun intended)when the National Lam**** magazine ran a phony VW ad.If you remember when VW was running their ads touting the fact that their cars were so watertight they'd actually float? Well this was about 1970 and the Chappaquid**** Incident(where our friend Teddy the K offed a certain person)was still fresh in a lot of minds and the Lam**** runs a pic of a half-submerged VW with the caption:"Poor Teddy! If he'd been driving one of these he'd be President today!" The suits went ******* and sued them for millions and made em take all the magazines off the stands.I think that was the birth of political correctness in this country.
[ QUOTE ] You know I was going to say that Harley Davidson is way on the other side of this. They let everyone throw their name around for as long as they wish. That has to be part of the reason for their success. You can be a Harley guy and be proud of it. Get an HD tatoo, does HD make money? No. The tatoo guy does. Does HD go after him? [/ QUOTE ] Yeah right! Unless you have "Hog" in your name, then they're coming after you. Just ask the guys at the "Hog Farm" http://www.the-hog-farm.com/shop-wins-hog.html They're just as bad as the next corporate *****.
[ QUOTE ] Ford is just pissy cuz they finally got "Boss" back...they wanted to use it in the early 90s when I worked there and Eureka had a lock on the name for it's (hee hee) VACUUM cleaners! I remember one engineer being all pissed off about it..."How DARE they slap the name "Boss" on a VACUUM cleaner!". The right company has the name now...Ford ****S!!! [/ QUOTE ] actually ford is prolly pissy cause they got ****ed on the "new" GT-40....uh, i mean GT. guess they weren't thinking ahead on that one, and they weren't willing to pay the asking price.
Thanks for the comments guys, both the good and the bad. Funny thing, I have a scan of a 1963 issue of R&C, and it has Ed Roth on the back cover, and he has the word Boss as an adjective in the bold copy...it was a very popular word, found all through the pop culture at the time, well before they bought it in 1968.... It's not so much damn the man, as it is fighting for what should be mine. I have invested a bit into the Boss Ride adventure, including a vast portion of last year's tax return for the trademark application. To do it right and protect myself first...ha. The wife & kids, and I sure could have used that money for something else if I knew I was going to have to jump through all these legal hoops...I did the trademark search, and scan, and according to them, it did not conflict with anything...but you have to post it for opposition, and that's when Fords sub-contracted law firm picked it up, delaying me with all the available time-staller motions they can file...this won't play out until late 2005, after which, if by some crazy chance I was to win, I'm sure they would file an appeal, blah blah, blah. Funny thing is, they have provisions to prohibit companies from having a monopoly on a word, which is basically what Ford has, under a section called "fair useage". This has provisions for me to justify my using Boss as a non-market confusion causing adjective to describe everything from 70's snowmoblies with hemi's to g***ers...it was a common adjective. Ford used it for a perfomance package for a car, and unless you are directly tied to their cash, like Boss Performance, you can't have the word boss for squat. It would be like Honda making an "Awesome Accord", and trademarking it, and then having dogs chase down everyone using awesome. Fair useage... But I am me, and they are Fords sub-contracted law firm with years of experience and a billing department that won't quit, so we will see that if here in noble America, truth and logic prevail, or cash. Wish me luck, and I will build another site soon with 3 times the showrod pictures, I had just been gearing up to update the site...
Absolutely right about the Hondas ElPolocko. For years we have taken the wife's Civic to a Honda repair shop. The guy had to change the name of his shop to not include the word Honda only thing is, they could not make him change HIS name which is Rick Acord (one "C"). A number of years ago Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine ran a contest to build the new Batmobile model. The model company who produced the kit pulled the plug on the name, "Build the Batmobile Contest". So, along with a pic of the new Batmobile, the new name was "Build the Kit No. ######## Contest" There is always a way around it I suppose. Unfortunately, Karl's Custom VW here in Phoenix had to drop the VW in his shop's name recently. Pretty much the only game in town for strictly VW air cooled stuff so the locals know what they sell anyway.
[ QUOTE ] Lets not forget that Pontiac used the GTO badge name after they stole it from Ferrari and their Gran Torismo Omolagato because they did not have it copyrighted. [/ QUOTE ] Don't forget Mitsubishi's contribution to GTO by the way this has always made me sick. http://english.auto.vl.ru/catalog/mitsubishi/gto/
[ QUOTE ] Looks like Muscle Car ****. Who gives a **** about Muscle Car ****? [/ QUOTE ] Well, I do. They're fun, fast cars. What else matters? I personally don't see where one's appreciation for traditional rods & customs hinges on one bashing everything else that isn't exactly that.
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Looks like Muscle Car ****. Who gives a **** about Muscle Car ****? [/ QUOTE ] Well, I do. They're fun, fast cars. What else matters? I personally don't see where one's appreciation for traditional rods & customs hinges on one bashing everything else that isn't exactly that. [/ QUOTE ] Thank you! Well said! And good luck Hemi. I hope you did'nt mind me posting this on here but I liked your site and am very tired of these corps. thinking they own every damn thing. I guess now they can start going after everyone that has a tattoo of their logo on their body!
did ford actually DO anything to make you close the side down? or just send threatening letters and bog you down with legal responses? their lawyers can send some pretty scary looking stuff that is more or less powerless. i would keep the site up, make sure there were NO mustangs, and corrospond with them no further. then see if they actually DO anything. but then i don't know the details of your situation. maybe its not a big deal to you.
Man Hemi, I wish i could've seen your website before they put the kybosh on it...post what you're calling the new site when you get it up and running...i wanna see a snowmobile with a Hemi in it....
Pacer was an Edsel in '58 and an AMC in '75. did the name rights get sold? There's a Mishimushi being sold now with a Dodge model name from the past (but it escapes me at the moment). Or does Dodge own Mishimushi? Ford built a "Custom" can they claim all the web sites with the word in the ***le? Chevy sold a "Deluxe" have they h***led CK Deluxe yet? There was a Japanese car called the Sopporo a couple decades ago, is it a beer can? I think the use of Boss as a noun is the only way they should be able to *****, but they have the money to keep going to court till the day you die....
[ QUOTE ] Or does Dodge own Mishimushi? [/ QUOTE ] Actually, yes, they are affiliated. Mitsubishi eclipse = Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi 3000gt = Dodge stealth, etc...
CadillacKid, here ya go: and actually it's a 351 Windsor, but you could put a hemi in it... Here's the caption: "1969 Rupp Super Sno Sport, dual tracks, with a Hillborn Fuel injected 351 Windsor Ford and makes 525h.p.@7500rpm. built by Jim Head and driven by Mickey Rupp himself - this endangered species is 1 of 1 ever made!" and tell me this thing isn't boss?
Wow, that thing's a bad muther****er! I'm not into any snow sports (not really any summer ones either, except CARS), but if i had to have a sled, it'd damn well fer sure hafta be just like that! Thanks Hemi...the second one's damn cool too!
The Jalopy Journal
