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Ferrari Loses Trademark for the Shape of the 250 GTO After Ares Design Contest

Ferrari is getting a taste of its own, bitter (legal) medicine: the Italian carmaker has partially lost the trademark to the shape of its iconic 250 GTO after Italian coachbuilder Ares Design invoked the “use it or lose it” argument with the EUIPO.
Only 36 Ferrari 250 GTOs were ever made between 1962 and 1964 28 photos
Photo: Ferrari
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Ferrari is notoriously protective of anything and everything that bears even a remote connection to the Ferrari brand and has, along the years, earned a reputation for being quick to fire cease and desists and even lawsuits against anyone who dare infringe their trademark. Ares Design, a coachbuilder from Ferrari’s hometown of Modena, Italy, is fighting fire with fire.

Ferrari has held the trademark for the shape of the 250 GTO, aka the most iconic Ferrari of all time and one of the most expensive cars in the world, all this time. In 2008, it filed for a renewal of the trademark with the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Protection Office).

That filing was in very bad faith because Ferrari hasn’t been using the shape of the 250 GTOs in any new car for decades, Ares Design claimed in a filing that contested the trademark. In short, Ares Design cited the “use it or lose it” argument, where a trademark can be canceled if the entity owning it hasn’t been using it for a period of five continuous years.

Ferrari fought back, but EUIPO has sided with Ares. As such, the trademark for the shape of the “holy grail” of cars no longer belongs to Ferrari. As of this moment, Scuderia only holds that trademark for car toys and models.

“In the present case, the Cancellation Division considers that genuine use of the contested EUTM has been sufficiently demonstrated for the relevant factors in relation to toy vehicles, scale-model vehicles, whereas no use of the mark or proper reasons for non-use have been demonstrated in relation to any of the other goods in Class 12 (vehicles) for which it is registered,” the EUIPO says.

The irony is not lost here: just this year, the Scuderia invoked the same argument when going after a small Italy charity for daring to call itself Purosangue, which is also the name of its upcoming don’t-call-it-an-SUV SUV. The filing claimed that The Purosangue Foundation hadn’t used that name in over five years (though it had), so it no longer had a right to hold the trademark to it.

Some context needed here, since Ferrari and Ares Design have a storied history. In 2018, the latter announced plans to make a limited-series of reinvented 250 GTOs, using the shape of 250 and styling cues from the 812 Superfast. “It’s a modern reinterpretation, not a copy,” Dany Bahar, chief executive officer of Ares Design, said at the time of the €1 million ($1.13 million) car.

Ferrari wasn’t impressed by the “modern interpretation” approach and took matters (where else?) to court. In 2018, a court in Bologna, Italy, recognized the original Ferrari 250 GTO as a work of art which could not replicated, partially or entirely.
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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