delusionofgrandeur

World famous struggling car manufacturer Ford has brandished the proverbial shotgun and taken careful aim at it’s foot.

Ford has sent a legal notice to the Black Ford Mustang enthusiasts club who took photographs of their own cars and then made a calendar, using said photographs, via the CafePress platform.

Ford are quite literally claiming that because they own the design of the Mustang, they therefore own the rights to photographs that owners take of their own cars. As far as I know this wouldn’t wash in the UK or other EU states as any artistic inclusion of a car’s design in a photograph would be ‘incidental’. I would like to hear from anyone who knows whether Ford’s position is actually legal within the USA.

Still, it never ceases to amaze me how large corporations are so ready to attack their own loyal customers. If I were a Mustang fan, I might be considering buying a Toyota or Nissan now in protest.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Automotive.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.