Business and Economics

Ferrari has taken control of the Facebook page from a fan

The boy created a Facebook page dedicated to Ferrari, and over time, it became the official fan group of the company. However, the creator was left with nothing and now wants $ 11 million in payment for the thousands of hours spent in front of the computer.

Boyish dreams of the world's most famous brand, Ferrari Prancing Stallion. Passion nurtured on the pages of a social network. And after the legal war and shattered ideals. All this is in the story of Sammy Wasem and his Facebook page about Maranello's house. There was also room for fierce debate over intellectual property rights, the protection of brands and the use of new means of exchanging information.

The official Ferrari Facebook page.

Bloomberg, an American agency, described how Sammy Washam created a Facebook page about Ferrari when he was only fifteen. Now, six years later, two parties were involved in the lawsuit: Sammy and his father Oliver filed a copyright infringement lawsuit after the Prancing Stallion took control of their site. In turn, representatives of Ferrari accused the family of illegally using the brand: for example, in advertising products not related to Ferrari, as well as in using the brand for personal purposes, such as sending invitations to Sammy Washam's eighteenth birthday.

"They have no conscience, they had the guts to destroy boyish dreams"Sammy said in an interview. "The problem is not with Facebook or our fans, the problem is with people seeking to make money on the Ferrari brand," answered Maranello. However, the Watham family did not make money on the site and did not sell anything online.

Bloomberg emphasizes that the approach of the car home in this case, its participation in the lawsuit, is the opposite of the Coca-Cola decision, which in a similar situation chose to attract fans who created web pages. In general, it’s worth starting with the fact that according to Facebook rules, participants can create fan groups of their favorite brands, while the official pages must be managed by the company. Father and son Watham (who, by the way, are also amateur pilots) received in March 2009 the first letter from Ferrari: Maranello House congratulated them on their success in activities on a social network, where in just a year they managed to attract 500 thousand subscribers. The Italians wrote there that "unfortunately, legal norms force us to formally assume the rights of the administrators of the fan group." According to the independent lawyer Joris van Manen, who consulted with an American agency, no one has the right to select a site in this way.

 

However, Watham agreed to make his page the official Ferrari page. But then Maranello decided to appoint other site administrators, without the knowledge of the creators. In exchange, they made an offer of eternal membership in the Club of Scuderia and the provision of the right to use logos. For four years, father and son continued to work and develop the page without signing any documents, even financial ones. As a result, they lost the right to manage the page and in February 2013 they filed a lawsuit against Ferrari demanding compensation for 5500 hours of work on the page, which is no less than 11 million dollars. But, according to lawyer van Manen, their mistake was that they did not sign the contract - with financial details, before agreeing to make their page official. The lawsuit is currently pending before the Geneva court.

Watch the video: Ferrari 430 Scuderia Killer Take off-Rev (November 2024).

Popular Posts

Category Business and Economics, Next Article

Val d'Orcia Valley
Sienna

Val d'Orcia Valley

Extending over 18,500 hectares, the Val d'Orcia Valley is an amazing, fabulous place in central Italy, recognized as one of the most picturesque corners of the planet. No wonder its landscape, preserving the pristine beauty in our days, inspired the Renaissance artists to create magnificent landscape paintings.
Read More
Siena Attractions
Sienna

Siena Attractions

The sights of Siena are interesting because many houses, palaces and temples have been preserved in their original form. Many of them were even pardoned by the bombing of World War II, which destroyed many architectural masterpieces. That is why there is no doubt that every stone in the historical part of the city, every house and temple is not the skillful work of restorers, but a real medieval rarity that has come down to us through the centuries.
Read More
Piazza del Campo - the main square of Siena
Sienna

Piazza del Campo - the main square of Siena

Campo Square (Piazza del Campo) in Siena has an unusual shape and a complicated history. History of the square The mention of the square in written sources dates back to 1169. At that time, Siena was a sovereign republic. Wool traders and bankers provided her economic power, Siena denarius was an important European currency.
Read More
San Gimignano - a city of 14 towers
Sienna

San Gimignano - a city of 14 towers

The medieval open-air museum is the name for the tiny town of San Gimignano, located in central Italy, in the province of Siena (Provincia di Siena). The city was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1990. It seems that the destructive power of time was powerless in front of this fabulous corner of Tuscany.
Read More