Can't Sell Photos of your Car..............

[David Hawkins]

I got this off another Web Site.

 

Kocky Products, a company that produces Hot Rod themed shirts with various catchy phrases, has been pushed out of business by Ford due to their claim that they hold copyright to the images of the Ford Mustangs that are printed on various Ford t-shirts that they sell. The images of the Mustangs are images submitted by Mustang owners of their cars and not of official images released by Ford. The owner of Kocky Products, Keith Bishop, stated that when they started the business they sought legal advice and were told that Ford does not own the right to pictures of Mustangs taken by their owners. They went on this advice and up until now received no trouble from Ford. However, a collection firm, as he calls them, claiming to represent Ford is complaining that those images of the Mustangs that were submitted by customers violate their copyright because you can see various trademarks such as the running pony and blue oval on the cars. Now they face lawyer fees of up to $38,000 dollars to fight this with no guarantee of a win.

 

This won’t be the first time that Ford has threatened lawsuits on businesses using their names. American Muscle was forced to change their name from MustangParts.com to it’s current name in order to stay in business because of the use of ‘Mustang’ in their domain name. Most recently though, the Black Mustang Club was threatened with legal action due to their Ford Mustang calendars that consisted of pictures of their members Ford Mustangs. They ended up being given permission by Ford to produce the calendar.

 

Kocky Products is set to go out of business by the end of January but some shirts are already sold out due to a buying frenzy, So if you were putting off getting a t-shirt from Kocky Products you should head over there now and see what they have left.

 

 

I have a hard time beleaving that FORD can stop a company from Profiting from Photos of Peoples cars if they were given to them for that reason. I am doing a Book that will have Photos of Mustangs sent to me by the Owners of those Mustangs to be in my Book, which I will then be selling.

 

David.

[RStangsOC]

A VERY similar situation happened about this time last year with the Black Mustang Club because they had calendars with pictures of members cars on them. If I remember correctly (and I may be WAY off here) in order to use the images in the calendars they basically had to give the calendars away for free - they couldn’t sell them and make a profit.

 

 

 

Personally, I don’t understand this mentality. Its owners that help build the brand image and help grow enthusiasm for the product. To go after companies for things like this - to me is totally backwards. About 12 years ago I was into VW's (had a hot square back). I maintained a web site that basically listed all of the VW car shows in the U.S. It has the well know VW logo all over it. About 2 or 3 months after I put the site up - I received a letter in the mail from VW - a cease and desist letter. Rather than try to put up a fight just because or principal – I took down the site.

[STILLEN]

Here was a post on the subject from when it first happened:

 

Ford Slaps Brand Enthusiasts, Returns Love With Legal Punch

 

While brands certainly don't want people using their products, logos and other related imagery to create products of their, own, the hammer that Ford legal dropped on the Black Mustang Club seems a bit heavy handed. Recently the club created a calendar which contained images of club members' cars photographed by the members themselves. Ford didn't take kindly to this and asked CafePress, the service the group had chosen to print the calendars, to kill the project claiming all the images in the calendar are the property of Ford...including the Black Mustang Club logo (this has been clarified in the update below. in actuality, it was CafePress which, based on past Ford trademark dealings, initially refused to print the calendar).

 

COMPLETE STORY

[David Hawkins]

SO...... You don't fully own that Ford you BOUGHT? Once I bought my Car, I should be able to do with it what I want, Emblems & Logos included. If I want to Sell Photos of MY Mustang I should be able to, I feel that the Price of the Car afforded me that RIGHT. I guess it wont be long before Ford and the others will be making the Individual Owners who SELL their Cars and the Buyers of those Cars start paying a Sellers & Buyers Fee similar to what Auctions Charge but Ford will call it a "Licensing Fee".

[kstrong]

SO...... You don't fully own that Ford you BOUGHT? Once I bought my Car, I should be able to do with it what I want, Emblems & Logos included. If I want to Sell Photos of MY Mustang I should be able to, I feel that the Price of the Car afforded me that RIGHT. I guess it wont be long before Ford and the others will be making the Individual Owners who SELL their Cars and the Buyers of those Cars start paying a Sellers & Buyers Fee similar to what Auctions Charge but Ford will call it a "Licensing Fee".

I asked Ford for permission to sell or give away pictures of the Ford Trimotor. I have photo's of Five that are still flying. I was told NO to selling, OK to print for my own use.

I asked about selling photos of my 07 GT500 Vert. Again I was told NO. I asked about selling some posters of other members cars to them, for their own use.

Again NO.

 

 

I imagine a book with owners cars in it would be a NO as well.

[tekheavy]

I have a hard time beleaving that FORD can stop a company from Profiting from Photos of Peoples cars if they were given to them for that reason. I am doing a Book that will have Photos of Mustangs sent to me by the Owners of those Mustangs to be in my Book, which I will then be selling.

 

David.

 

Hope you have a good lawyer!

[stormeaston]

That'a a good way to keep your customers and create new ones, treat'em like . If Ford wants to save money they should start by firing the that thought of that!

[2007GT]

It's the same with stuff on TV. I notice on some of my kids shows if there is a band in the scene, the Fender or Gibson logos on the guitars and amps are pixilated out.

[cobrafan]

Guys,

 

I'm not going to try to defend Ford's position to any great degree, they are capable of doing that themselves. I will say that this is a mine field for them. In order to protect the copywrite, trade mark and registration rights to their products, they have to vigorously defend them from all infractions once they become aware of them or they run the risk of losing those rights to public domain. Don't unnecessarially blame Ford for trying to keep a very valuable asset in tact. They don't have many left.

 

It's fair to say that at some point common sense should prevail. I bought the car. I don't see ford paying me for advertising their product when they put their logo on it.

[kahmann]

This is ridiculous.

[David Hawkins]

Guys,

 

I'm not going to try to defend Ford's position to any great degree, they are capable of doing that themselves. I will say that this is a mine field for them. In order to protect the copywrite, trade mark and registration rights to their products, they have to vigorously defend them from all infractions once they become aware of them or they run the risk of losing those rights to public domain. Don't unnecessarially blame Ford for trying to keep a very valuable asset in tact. They don't have many left.

 

It's fair to say that at some point common sense should prevail. I bought the car. I don't see ford paying me for advertising their product when they put their logo on it.

 

 

I agree with this BUT, once they SELL the Car, THAT Car no longer belongs to them and they should not have any Control over it. To cover the Legal side of it......For what they charge for there Vehicles, it should automatically include any Licensing Fees, that way it would cut down on Legal Fees, Paper Work and they could let go of the People they have on Staff looking for People to go after.

[2008GT500KR]

Ford can KMA if they think they will stop me from taking pictures and selling them of my own car.

 

Until they start taking the huge hit when I sell the ford losing bundles of money each time I will not let them tell me I cannot sell pictures of my own car.

 

For instance they built far more gt500's than they originally said and now the market has completely crashed on them. Even with the economy tanking the cars would be worth far more had they not flooded the market and continue flooding the market with them.

 

I think I will matter of fact make my own calendar. Anyone want to buy a nice Ford, Mercury calendar?

 

I already have my cars on approx 20 different calendars and did not think an issue.

[69dejavue]

I asked Ford for permission to sell or give away pictures of the Ford Trimotor. I have photo's of Five that are still flying. I was told NO to selling, OK to print for my own use.

I asked about selling photos of my 07 GT500 Vert. Again I was told NO. I asked about selling some posters of other members cars to them, for their own use.

Again NO.

 

 

I imagine a book with owners cars in it would be a NO as well.

 

I am curious how Ford could claim the tri-motor as it has been out of production over 60 years and the name has not been used since. I would think they would no longer have legal claim to the name.

[JeffIsHereToo]

Guys,

 

I'm not going to try to defend Ford's position to any great degree, they are capable of doing that themselves. I will say that this is a mine field for them. In order to protect the copywrite, trade mark and registration rights to their products, they have to vigorously defend them from all infractions once they become aware of them or they run the risk of losing those rights to public domain. Don't unnecessarially blame Ford for trying to keep a very valuable asset in tact. They don't have many left.

 

It's fair to say that at some point common sense should prevail. I bought the car. I don't see ford paying me for advertising their product when they put their logo on it.

 

 

+1

 

This is just a fact of business! Ford needs to protect it's brand and trademarks or risk loosing them. No matter how good the cause or well meaning the intent. If you want to sell or make money from the use of a Ford product, logo, brand, trademark, etc., you need permission and you'll need to pay the license fee.

 

That's just the way it is!

[STILLEN]

Ford can KMA if they think they will stop me from taking pictures and selling them of my own car.

 

Until they start taking the huge hit when I sell the ford losing bundles of money each time I will not let them tell me I cannot sell pictures of my own car.

 

For instance they built far more gt500's than they originally said and now the market has completely crashed on them. Even with the economy tanking the cars would be worth far more had they not flooded the market and continue flooding the market with them.

I think I will matter of fact make my own calendar. Anyone want to buy a nice Ford, Mercury calendar?

 

I already have my cars on approx 20 different calendars and did not think an issue.

 

:beatdeadhorse: :beatdeadhorse: :beatdeadhorse:

 

I THINK I can understand the frustration about the number of GT500's Ford built - but as has been said MANY times by MANY posters here - new cars are NOT an investment. Ford is in business to make money - for themselves and their shareholders. They will do what is in their best interest when it comes to marketing vehicles - as they should.

[kstrong]

I am curious how Ford could claim the tri-motor as it has been out of production over 60 years and the name has not been used since. I would think they would no longer have legal claim to the name.

Their "FORD" logo is on every one.

[AFBLUE]

What if you had pictures of mustangs that didn't show the mustang emblem or any other identifying badges, emblems, text etc?

 

You see this all the time in ads where they show a football player in uniform but they photopshop out the helmet emblems. Just curious.

[cobrafan]

What if you had pictures of mustangs that didn't show the mustang emblem or any other identifying badges, emblems, text etc?

 

You see this all the time in ads where they show a football player in uniform but they photopshop out the helmet emblems. Just curious.

AF,

 

At the risk of being wrong, which happens to me ofter, I believe I read somewhere that they can still stop you from using those images. It has to do with the intellectual rights of the design. I know that seems like a stretch, but it would be no different than GM coming out with an exact replica of a GT500 but changing the badging to reflect the new GM "Rattler" rather than a cobra or mustang.

 

Until the laws change, they are what they are.

[David Hawkins]

I asked Ford for permission to sell or give away pictures of the Ford Trimotor. I have photo's of Five that are still flying. I was told NO to selling, OK to print for my own use.

I asked about selling photos of my 07 GT500 Vert. Again I was told NO. I asked about selling some posters of other members cars to them, for their own use.

Again NO.

 

 

I imagine a book with owners cars in it would be a NO as well.

 

 

SO, I am wanting to do a Book on "Aftermarket Mustangs"......what if I GIVE the Book away for Free....... of course I would charge S&H Fees.

 

David.

[ilmor]

I believe that if someone had the time and money to push it, in the end Ford would not win a lawsuit against preventing people from using photos of their Mustangs like they want to.

[FordRocks1]

Well, looky as to what I found....very surprising....In a Mini forums and someone too was told to stop.....read on....

 

http://www.sunshineminis.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18771

[cobrafan]

SO, I am wanting to do a Book on "Aftermarket Mustangs"......what if I GIVE the Book away for Free....... of course I would charge S&H Fees.

 

David.

Sorry, I think they would still probably shut you down even if you gave it out for free. The Black Mustang Club last year ran into this problem to the point where the publisher wouldn't even print it because they didn't want to get into a hassle with Ford.

 

I'd take the bet on Ford winning any litigation. This is actually pretty well established law. I'm not saying it's fair, but again, it is what it is.

[regalt87]

Copy right laws have there place and are necessaryto protect investments, but dis allowing a calender or photo that clearly is not produced by Ford is taking it too far. 2- things, we bought this car, we own it now. And Maybe Ford should should concentrate on more important things like turning there company around.