Girlzndollz

Hi folks,

Following up on the Black Mustang Club calendar/Cafepress/Ford issue, Ford has confirmed the following:

Per Regina Watson from Ford, I can create custom t-shirts to sell to people using photos of their own Ford cars, without removing logos or names, as long as I don't add the Ford logo or trademark to any other part of the design.

Here's my personal disclaimer since this is new territory, I am mere a messenger, and do not assume any risk for your use of this information. All of Regina's contact information is provided, along with our dialog, for you to confirm on your own. I asked Ford, they answered, I shared. That's it for me, after that, it's you. Now I have an email that I am going to print that is my ticket to proceed with glee and without worry!!

I will post the dialog of our conversation here (a licensed logo thread), as well as in my other thread regarding Ford releasing photos under Creative Commons license (this one). I will go ask her about those as well.

What do you think?? Is this good news or what?

PS: I am Girlzndollz for shirts, but Car Deal Connection for this email account, that's me, don't worry, not to be confusing, okay?

__________________________________________________ ___________

From: CarDealConnection(cardealhelp) [mailto:cardealhelp@yahoo.com]Sent: Sun 2/24/2008 3:16 PM
To:
Subject: Black Mustang Club calendar - Allowed to SELL or not? Statement is contradictory, please help!

February 24, 2008

Dear Sir or Mam,

I do not have a clear understanding on Ford's position in the following press release. Please see the bolded statements. One says use of personal vehicles are encouraged, but issues arise with items intended for sale. The later statements say the author applauds the BMC, and she looks forward to "purchasing" a copy for herself.

I would like to make calendars for my own vehicle. This statement leaves me to wonder, can I put them on Cafepress like the BMC, or can't I?

If the Ford employee who wrote this statement looks forward to purchasing one for her own garage, then sale of their calander is condoned by Ford, and so would be mine as well? Correct?

Thank you for further clarification of this issue. Most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kelly

FORD SUPPORTS BLACK MUSTANG CLUB’S WISH TO PRINT CALENDARS WITH OPEN LETTER:
http://www.bmcforums.com/showthread.php?t=42820

My name is Whitney Drake and I work in Ford Communications.We've been watching the discussion online with interest and would like to clarify what is essentially a misunderstanding. We have spoken to both CafePress and the Black Mustang Club and explained the situation about the Black Mustang Club’s calendar to everyone's satisfaction. Ford has no problem with Mustang or other car owners taking pictures of their vehicles for use in club materials like calendars, including the logos as they appear in the pictures of the vehicles. What we do have an issue with are individuals using Ford’s logo and other trademarks for products they intend to sell. Understandably, we have to take the protection of our brands and licensing very seriously. Ford did not send the Black Mustang Club a “cease and desist” letter telling them that they could not use images of their own cars in their calendar. The decision not to allow the calendars to be printed was made by CafePress because we had contacted them in the past about trademark infringements on products they sold. CafePress and Ford will work together to clarify and resolve any future issues. The Black Mustang Club and other Ford enthusiast clubs are encouraged to take pictures of their own vehicles for use in calendars or other materials as long as they don't use Ford trademarks in products that will be sold. Clubs or enthusiasts who have questions regarding this should contact Ford by emailing branduse@ford.com, we are happy to help.

In fact, Ford is contributing to these types of enthusiast programs in forums, blogs and other social media platforms through our Social Media Press Releases at ford.digitalsnippets.com

I think it is great that the Black Mustang Club, and any other enthusiast club, would take pictures of their own vehicles for use in calendars or other materials.

I’m looking forward to purchasing a copy to hang in the garage next to my Mustang (even if mine isn’t black).

Thanks for giving us the chance to have our say.
__________________________________________________ ___

"Watson, Regina (R.M.)" wrote:

Dear Kelly,

I'd be glad to review your submission if you'd like. If you are using photos of club members cars and not using any of our logos or trademarks, there shouldn't be a problem.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Regina Watson
Licensing Manager
Global Brand Licensing Office
(313) 594-3910
(313) 337-9869
__________________________________________________ _________

From: CarDealConnection(cardealhelp) [mailto:cardealhelp@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 1:00 PM
To: Watson, Regina (R.M.)
Subject: Re: FW: Black Mustang Club calendar - Allowed to SELL or not? Statement is contradictory, please help!


Dear Ms. Watson,

Thank you very much for writing. I am not in a club or a owner, but provide a service like Cafepress. I create custom tee shirts. I am a huge fan of the Mustang. I live in a neighborhood where we have quite a few Mustang fans/owners, and being a fan myself, I keep tabs on how they are and their cars are coming along as a few of them are re-building them. The latest addition to the neighborhood is a '67 with a perfect original interior, and only 40,000. The previous owner purchased it new, as a much younger woman obviously. I'll be watching that one as the body comes back to life.

In a side business, I create custom t-shirts. I have been asked to create, for a fee, tee shirts for these Mustang owners.

May I ask a further question, please? When you say not use any "Ford logos or trademarks", do you mean other than the ones already on the vehicle? Is it okay to use the picture of the vehicle as is, without altering it, as long as I don't add the Ford logo or trademark to another part of the shirt? I very much appreciate the answer to this question, and I thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,
Kelly

__________________________________________________ _______


Subject:RE: FW: Black Mustang Club calendar - Allowed to SELL or not? Statement is contradictory, please help!
Date:Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:46:58 -0500
From:"Watson, Regina (R.M.)"
To:"CarDealConnection(cardealhelp)

Kelly,
The answer is yes.

Regina

 

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Chani

Geat work, Kelly! Thank you so much for posting this!

Now we need to see if Chevy and Chrysler will follow suit! I'd love to make Jeep shirts all day long.

__________________
We miss you, Jerry.

 

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Rodney

Hi Kelly, can you contact Regina to make sure it's ok to repost the information she gave you to the forums here.

Sometimes companies prefer to take this on a one on one/case by case basis.

__________________
Rodney Blackwell - T-Shirt Links Directory - T-Shirt Countdown

 

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Girlzndollz

I sure will.

 

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Girlzndollz

This is a copy of the email asking Regina Watson of Ford if I may share this information on a forum I belong to, as requested by Rodney.

Rodney, thank you for asking me to do this. This was the last stone unturned, thank you for seeing it, and I feel very good having the confirmation.

The answer is, I am allowed to share it with you here with Regina's blessings:



From: CarDealConnection(cardealhelp)
Sent: Mon 2/25/2008 3:56 PM
To: Watson, Regina (R.M.)
Subject: RE: FW: Black Mustang Club calendar - Allowed to SELL or not?


Dear Regina,

May I share the information you have given me with friends on a forum I belong to who also make shirts and calendars and such. They also get requests from folks for the same thing, and we always discuss how we turn the folks down because of copyright and trademark issues. I know we discuss, and am excited, may I share it?

Thank you very much,
Kelly


__________________________________________________ ______________


Subject:RE: FW: Black Mustang Club calendar - Allowed to SELL or not?
Date:Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:41:00 -0500

From:"Watson, Regina (R.M.)"

To:"CarDealConnection(cardealhelp)"


No problem

 

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Girlzndollz

Hi Rodney, what's a spambot and how do I avoid them? With a name like spambot, I never want to meet one. Thanks.

 

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Leatherneck

__________________
Creativity is your vehicle, profit the destination.

 

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Girlzndollz

You're welcome, everyone. It's no problem. Please let me know if anyone scores a big sale out of it. That's what I am most excited about, how to open sales up for this.

I am very excited at least to make the one shirt my friend has been asking for since before Christmas. I asked the questions loosely based on him, but was looking at a much bigger picture when getting answers. We now know, with Ford's blessing, we can make personalized items for members of car clubs of their own cars without altering their "babies". I look forward to seeing how much business this can open up. If you get a big sale, let us know how you did it!!

FORD = Fixed Our Real Dilemma !! Happy sales to you all!

 

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Chani

Ha! A new one!

A spambot is an electronic "robot" on the internet that browses sites for any information they can gather like email addresses in order to add that information to their spam lists (all that spam that you get in your email comes from spambots and unscrupulous people who sell your information to spammers).

Some spambots are so "smart" nowdays that they can even read email addresses that are parts of pictures. It doesn't need to be text anymore.

You know on some registation forms they make you read almost unreadable text and type it into another form, and if they don't match they won't let you go any further? The reason for them being so unreadable is that many spambots can read anything that's not horribly distorted.

The reason those "captcha" images are there to begin with is that there are bots that will sign up to forums and shopping carts, etc, just to post spam.

It's amazing how much effort people make to make people mad!

__________________
We miss you, Jerry.

 

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Leatherneck

__________________
Creativity is your vehicle, profit the destination.

 

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tim3560

In accordance with Kelly's request, here is my knowledge and past experience with a local car club. My store is next to a hair salon and one day I was speaking to a gentleman waiting for his daughter to get a hair cut. He mentioned the name of a local car club and that they've gotten shirts done in the past. I gave him some bus. cards and later heard from another gentleman in the club that was ready to get shirts done. He gave me a disc that had the club's logo, not the manufacturer's, and several pictures of members' cars on it, told me which ones he wanted pics of and I cut out the cars, cleaned up the logo of the car club, not the manufacturer's, a bit, and had someone dtg print them for me.

If you are producing shirts or other tangibles in this manner, you'll be fine. It's a picture of someone's personal property, and meant to show that off, and all of the money/hard work that they've put into it. It's not meant for personal gain on the ford, chevy, or any other logo. If I went to a Mopar convention and sold t-shirts that only said Mopar on them or just had artwork centered around the logo, that would be illegal if I didn't have the proper liscensing. That would be meant for me to make a personal gain on the logo itself and all of the hard work that the car companies have put into advertising and brand recognition.

__________________
Hard labor kills, make t-shirts instead.

 

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Girlzndollz

Quote: Originally Posted by tim3560 In accordance with Kelly's request,

You're too funny, Tim!

Quote: He gave me a disc that had the club's logo, not the manufacturer's, and several pictures of members' cars on it, told me which ones he wanted pics of and I cut out the cars, cleaned up the logo of the car club, not the manufacturer's, a bit, and had someone dtg print them for me.

Now Ford is allowing use of personal photos to be used like this without altering the person's image of the car in anyway, like removing the Ford logo off the car in the photo. The car image can be used as is. You cannot add the Ford logo or trademark to any part of the shirt or to the design, at all. This wasn't always the case.

Quote: If you are producing shirts or other tangibles in this manner, you'll be fine. It's a picture of someone's personal property, and meant to show that off, and all of the money/hard work that they've put into it.

Well, at this point, Ford is the only company giving the go ahead for using folks personal images of their cars this way. It is hoped other mfg's will follow suit. PS: If anyone has confirmation that another mfg is allowing this, please let us know.

Quote: If I went to a Mopar convention and sold t-shirts that only said Mopar on them or just had artwork centered around the logo, that would be illegal if I didn't have the proper liscensing. That would be meant for me to make a personal gain on the logo itself and all of the hard work that the car companies have put into advertising and brand recognition.

That is correct, and Ford is not allowing this kind of work either.

You cannot add and use the Ford logo or trademark or words. Ford is only confirming that decorators can use people's personal photos of their Ford vehicles and make custom shirts, etc, from that image without removing Ford logos, names, etc from the car in the photo, which is in itself, wonderful news!

 

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Girlzndollz

Trying to contact GM on the matter. Not as easy as Ford was. I'll let you know.

 

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Girlzndollz

I have not heard back from Chevy at this time with my request for similar permission. If anyone finds another company doing this, will you let us know? I will try again with Chevy, bc I would love to see this happen with them as well.

 

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Girlzndollz