brand protection – DeGeorge Law LLC

As you browse through your local store shelves, you may discover some old brands made new by being made old again. So how does that work? Doritos, Pepsi products and long time soap brands such as Tide and Bounce are bringing back the branding of their former selves. http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/pg/47792/.

http://www.tide.com/en-US/article/vintage-style.jspx

Branding attempts to shape the image of a product or service. It has to do with the way the consumer perceives the product or service. Some see this retro marketing as nothing more than an interest in nostalgia, but I disagree. Retro branding is another way to build again on what is already a strong brand. In our down-turned economy since at least 2008, people are making harder choices when it comes to purchasing decisions. By reminding consumers that a brand has been around since the last depression, the real message is the brand will be here through this economy too. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576343202190467300.html. These products are also trying to convey an image of quality. Consumers want quality which translates to value; consequently, browsing turns to buying.

This year, as a tribute to the 150 years since the unification of Italy, Ferrari named its famed F-1 racer the Ferrari F150. The Ford Motor Company, afraid that consumers would confuse a Ford F-150 Truck with that of the Italian F-1 race car, sued Ferrari in Federal District Court in Michigan in January, 2011. According to the complaint, Ford alleges trademark dilution, trademark infringement, false designation of origin, and cyber piracy under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.), including the amendment to the Lanham Act known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. http://www.scribd.com/doc/48577431/Ford-v-Ferrari-Complaint. Not a small affair for the American car and truck giant Ford, who manufactures cars for the blue collar automobile market and trucks for the working class and farm communities. Ferrari must have been surprised when it read that “Ferrari‟s wrongful use of the mark “F150” dilutes, blurs, tarnishes, and whittles away the distinctiveness of the F-150® trademark.” See the side by side comparison here or visit the link to the original article below.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/autos/ford_ferrari_f150/index.htm

Posts Tagged with brand protection

Retro Ads, Cars & Soap; Protecting What Was Once Good and Could Be Again

The real cost of the Ford v. Ferrari F150 lawsuit