on line petition for ford

[coopdog21]

here is the link ,for those of you who dont know, ford is going after anyone using the ford mustang name or likeness,which is going to hurt the little guy ,and piss alot of ford supporters off.
http://www.petitiononline.com/65must65/petition.html

[auriansmustang]

1736 Signatures Total

[baddroptop]

1746 Signatures Total

[02BlueStang]

I signed it and posted it on a blog on myspace....hopefully all the mustang people in my friends list will see it, get pissed as I did and sign the thing

[coopdog21]

I signed it and posted it on a blog on myspace....hopefully all the mustang people in my friends list will see it, get pissed as I did and sign the thing

you know it's really sad .i have heard first hand how this is effecting smaller businesses that want to do nothing more than improve on there product. i would sign it a 1000 more times if i could!

[steelfalcon29]

I signed it and I'm gonna post on RS!

[95mustang302]

1777 Signatures Total now

[speedyhank]

1781

[99GTtony]

1828!!!!

[wldponi03]

1834...Thanks for the Link to sign the petition. I am going to Post it on some other sites!!!

[J]

Why dont they just change the name of the business?

[coopdog21]

Why dont they just change the name of the business?

it's not just businesses they are going after there looking at people, say that use the mustang name or even the pony in aftermarket parts as well, so the rsd i have now people would not be able to make for me ,because it uses the name they are also targeting magazines, it is crazy that they are biting the hand that feeds them ,because they can't manage there company

[J]

it's not just businesses they are going after there looking at people, say that use the mustang name or even the pony in aftermarket parts as well, so the rsd i have now people would not be able to make for me ,because it uses the name they are also targeting magazines, it is crazy that they are biting the hand that feeds them ,because they can't manage there company

I see. My bad. Most of the higher up companies talked to ford im sure before getting themselves into this situation.. but it sucks none-the-less

[coopdog21]

I see. My bad. Most of the higher up companies talked to ford im sure before getting themselves into this situation.. but it sucks none-the-less

they will still allow you to use there name , they are just charging 10 to 20 thousand a year, and for a small business thats the end for them

[Frosty]

I still don't see how they can copyright a name that doesn't belong to them. The actual horese was around a lot longer then the car.

[crimsonblack]

My only problem with what Ford is doing is that they are going after people and companies that had previous agreements from Ford to use the Ford & Mustang name - and now Ford has changed their mind. For many of the smaller businesses that have had their name for 10 or 20 years are having to change the names. They are loosing their trademark which will cost them businesses. and people will have difficulties establishing themselves. New catalogs, letterhead, website domain names, advertising will all have to be changed.

I have heard ford will next go after people and companies using the slang names like "Stang" or "5.0". They believe they own the rights to them. How is that?

Here are just a few mustang websites that could be in trouble now or down the road.

gotstang.com
mustangworld.com
motorsportmustangs.com
turbomustangs.com
muscularmustangs.com
stangbangerz.com
mustang.com
Thundermustang.com
sacramentoareamustang.org
mustang.co.uk
turbostand.com
mustangseats.com
mustangunlimited.com
madmustangs.com
50resto.com
mustangcorral.com
mutangpartshouse.com
mustangdepot.com
vintage-mustang.com
cal-mustang.com
fordmustangz.com
canadianmustang.com
restoremustangs.com
stang-it.com
mustangpowercenter.com
mustangproject.com
All of the Mustang club websites and any other site using Mustang or Stang name.

I find it interesting that Ford believes they own the name Mustang, much less a slang name, when they took the name from a horse. Does their copyright only pertain to any car ventures using that name?

The online petitions are a neat thing for the web. However, companies will not take them seriously. Being that my own website is dedicated to televsion and feature films I have dealt with many online petitions and spoke with several large companies and they will not even look at, much less consider, any petition from the internet. Fans are always getting together to save a television show or character being killed off their favorite shows. I have seen petitions with over 100,000 signatures which executives will not recognize.

What they do notice is hard mail. Several petitions had people right in and include and object related to the topic. What cheap item could you put in the your mail? A printed out for emblem or advertisement? One show had a character that always had a toothpick in his mouth. When attempting to save the show, people writing in include toothpicks in the envelope.

The company takes notice because they are receiving the mail and someone, or multiple someones, will have to actually open the mail to see what it is. They will get the letter and the toothpick (a ford ad for this one). Word gets around and the execs get the opened mail. It costs the company money for someone to physically handle the mail. You send an online petition and it's hit the delete key and no one every sees it - doesn't cost anything. Hard copy is noticed the most.

The other huge thing is to affect their money. Do not use their parts department. Stay away from the their service department or body shops and hit them in their pocket book. Stay away from Ford car lots for several months or hold off on purchasing a Ford for a few months. This they feel.

[J]

stang is slang, you cant copywrite slang.

Also, any site that is non-for-profit, is considered a 'fan club'

a .COM is not in trouble. Any business done IS in trouble.

Just like whitehouse.com, you dont think the government has tried shutting down this porn site? lol

You can sell products as a .com

You own the name.

[J]

If your business is registered as Mustang Restro but also have a website mustangrestro.com, the website is not in trouble, its the business that is registered 'Mustang Restro' . It seems as if you dont realize that.

[crimsonblack]

I do realize what you are saying J, but if they are after companies like Mustang Unlimited and others for using the Mustang name in their business title. and they sell mustang parts then it can be "Copyright infringement" of Ford's name. It's a huge gray area and you never know which way the court system can decide. The term "Whitehouse" is not copyrighted by the US Government, which is why they could not take the website name from the company.

Even non-profit sites, like a Star Wars or Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan based websites are NOT safe from these blood suckers. Lucas & Fox went after both types of sites in court and won. They owned the product. Even actors have had the courts take a website name away from its owner and give the rights to the actor/actress.

Amost eight years ago I had just relocated to Las Vegas Warner Bros. Copyright infringement people showed up at my doorstep over an internet website I had and copyrighted material I had in my possession. I had to go so far as to meet with a copyright lawyer to find out what was what. Needless to say I stopped doing what I was doing. It is amazing what a major company might believe they have the rights too.

But I agree with you that they can't copyright a slang name. Ford never sold a car called a STANG or a 5.0. I only read they had mentioned the possibility.

[J]

Alot of the companies where contacted about selling anything with Mustang in their name or SVT but didnt completely shut them down per say... Cant really agree with what ford is doing here... its a shame

[electricgreen]

I think this thing is complete bs, all because they got hosed on the gt40 name. Ok, great, you got screwed on a name-didnt hurt the sales of the gt though...one company got 2 weeks to change everything-for a small business, that's basically a death notice. If your searching for resto parts, would you look for a company with the name of the car you are restoring in it's name? Probably. If they named it brand x resto parts, you wouldnt know what it was for. Mustang resto parts tells you. I wouldnt be surprised if they did begin going after clubs and .coms. good thing my site is so small, lol. If I hear they harass the ymr though, it will only be a matter of time. this has been all over the net, stangnet, bon-generally it seems to have really turned off ford loyals-especially those restoring classics since they rely so heavily on aftermarket vendors for parts. I doubt ford has floor pans or fender aprons for my 73 sitting around. It's just piss poor advertisement for them-maybe they should try to get some maket share back before alienating even more customers!

[baddroptop]

here some more

dfwstang
deadhorsemustang

[crimsonblack]

All the major companies suck for this type of crap. If it wasn't for these after market companies the Mustang would have dried up years and years ago like the Camaro and Firebird from Chevy. Ford doesn't offer much of anything in their parts department. Bastards!

[baddroptop]

are you talking to me ^^^