1. Attacking Ford for things that were not a problem in the first place
2. Attacking Ford for taking legal action when they are supposed to
3. Disregarding the fact that other enthusiast websites for other brands have had legal action taken towards them as well.
4. Thinking that Mortgaging means lack of ownership. (I guess people making payments on their cars means that they should not have to fix the car once the warranty runs out since they do not own it)
RDS thank you for bringing thoughtful intelligent comments
Borat it is obvious you are truly an idiot.
And the thing about these quotes is Ford is known to protect people from being exposed without the need. Ford has protected a lot of people in the past because they care. You guys are assuming that the information that is given is THE WORST. I am assuming that Ford is protecting these people that obviously did a BOOBOO

I do not think I was the only one on here who had an issue with the Ford bashing. Also we are basing this disagreement on a LLN story, not the most reliable. All my point was that it seems stupid and unreasonable to bash FORD for protecting their property rights and asking for “TRS” to do the right thing based on the law. Again, we as car people may not see it as a bad thing because of the promotional aspect, but obviously something was going on at that site that seperated it from other enthusiast sites using a Ford model name. And with the way LLN posted the story on here, it made it look a lot worse, I think the article originally mentioned ” going after enthusiast sites to make money” or something to that non-sence.

I do see your point and I think we can both agree its not legal what “TRS” did. I was just tired of seeing the usual bashing of a car maker because they did something in their legal right and you were the last post to do it, I was not trying to just single you out.

and btw, I never claimed to be a good speeller . WIthout spellcheck and grammercheck for my job work and school work I have daily, I would be up **** creek!

Oh, and at least I know how to spell defensive…

I think Ford did the right thing.

If I make up a clever name and someone used it, sure I’d be upset. If I took a generic word and made it a brand name, then no, and I’d have no reason to. I’d also be happy if a fan-site used it.

You, sir, are an idiot.”

****

So your idea of an idiot is someone who understands what copyright infrigment and stealing means? Great, you must be on GOV Blagojevich Office staff which also had a very clear idea of what the law means in certain areas!

I don’t think that Ford would have had a problem with the domain name. There are many domain names out there with brand names in them. BUT since they were also selling items with the FORD Logo and the Ranger name on it they are not only ’stealing’ but they could be, by some looking to make an easy buck off of Ford, be thought of as acting as if they represent Ford. If someone had an issue with the website and/or the merchandice they bought from there, they could easily claim they thought it was a FORD website and authorized merchant, right? Who do you think the lawyers would try and go after? A little website with little capital, or a huge multi-billion $ company, who they would figure would settle out of court just to keep it quite, making lawyer and plaintiff some quick money???

And who said it was free? Most merchandise cost money, right? I don’t think that ‘RangerStation’ was selling its merchandice for free, do you? So have fun acting like a fifth grader again and calling names, because that is really productive as an adult right

You see, THAT was my point. You obviously did not read the article and instead get defencive and retort with something that has nothing to do with what the original discusion was about. Good job Golf

If I make up a clever name and someone used it, sure I’d be upset. If I took a generic word and made it a brand name, then no, and I’d have no reason to. I’d also be happy if a fan-site used it.

You, sir, are an idiot.

Ranger has a fan site?

LLN Please have your writers use spell and grammer check. I am just a simple man originally from the Ozarks and I think I can do better! Also, lets keep the comments on the companies well being and cheap shots to the knuckleheads who respond in the comment section.

The other thing that I don’t understand is some of you who just make stupid and unfound comments on here day in and day out. While I get a good laugh at most of them, I truly wonder if it is just ignorance, stupidity or if you really get off on being dicks. Grow up and if your going to comment, please read more then the headlines.

btw, Gofl4me and others: if YOU had your own business with a logo and namesake, wouldn’t you want to protect it? Or are you willing to give me several thousands of dollars also because your just so generous you don’t care if soemone is STEALING FROM YOU!!!!! If someone owns something, whether it be material, logos, copywrited names, etc, it is their right to protect and earn a profit from it. Using something without someones permision is called stealing.

Make it a great day!!!!!!

Thanks for clearing it up for me.

And what’s with this “kind of like the Ranger itself” business? These cheapshots are rather juvenile and unprofessional, regardless of how behind-the-times the Ranger is.

I actually do know the owner of the Honda website was arrested as I was one of the many, many people affected. We were all notified when it happened. This was about a year ago. Based on my experience and others experiences with Honda-specific forums (I don’t own a Ford, nor do I own the Honda any longer, but I’ve frequented all types of forums), I can logically surmise a manufacturer doesn’t target a specific enthusiast website because “it’s desperate for money”, as LLN put it. THAT is the baseless rumor. A forum is free advertising and forum enthusiasts are often your most loyal customers. It doesn’t matter if you have a Geo Metro or an F430, people commute to web forums to congregate and communicate with others with similar interests. As someone in the auto industry who’s worked with forums before, I know for a fact, these are the hardest core of customers; they recommend your product to friends, family, random users looking for information, etc. I could go on and on about the benefits of a web forum in the favor of the automaker, but all this boils down to is, someone “likely” did something they weren’t supposed to do which had an effect on forum users, those users notified Ford, and Ford decided to take action. Mr. Scott’s second statement pretty much tells you everything you need to know without actually telling you anything that hurts Ford’s case.

@2kPlymouthNeonLX,

The stuff on the Honda-related site, you couldn’t see at all. Moderators and the webmaster were stealing user’s credit card numbers from people purchasing stuff from the website itself. They were also getting the numbers from people using their credit cards to purchase “VIP” access to areas of the site hidden from “non-VIP” members. All the VIP members really got for their money was access to deleted threads and conversations about porn. Aside from conversations about porn not having anything to do with a Civic or Fit, part of the legal issue was the website didn’t have a disclaimer for potential users under the age of 18 (it’s a Honda site, there were a lot of them). There were some other major legal problems which escalated to a Federal level (those are still on-going) and that’s what led to the arrests, but you could go on that site now and not know there was anything wrong with it. Again, as Mr. Scott said, often times in cases like this, “there’s more than meets the eye”. It’s unlikely Ford is seeking legal action against a likely perpetrator, it sounds like they just want a ceast-and-desist against the website so Ford doesn’t look like the bad guy for not taking action against the webmaster.

Again, this is speculation, but having dealt with something similar before and knowing others who’ve dealt with similar situations, it’s my educated guess, so don’t put too much weight into it. Nothing, obviously has been confirmed.