Ford Motor Company sued Ferrari SpA in Detroit federal court, claiming the Italian luxury automaker misappropriated its F-150 pickup-truck trademark for a 2011 Formula 1 racing car.

When Ferrari proudly unveiled the F150, its state-of-the-art Formula 1 race car, Ford said the name was too similar to its F-150 pickup truck, the best selling Ford vehicle for many years. Ford insisted that Ferrari change the name of the car. Ferrari refused, thinking it was odd that a sleek, carbon fiber Formula 1 race car could in any way be linked with a 5,000-pound American pickup truck. Ford sued, filing a trademark infringement lawsuit in federal court. However, even though confusion was unlikely between the Ford pickup and the Ferrari Formula 1 and in many ways any potential association could be considered ridiculous, Ford had no choice but to demonstrate vigilance in protecting the value of its brand.

In its complaint Ford alleged that Ferrari, based in Modena, Italy, adopted the Ford trademark âin naming its new racing vehicle the âF150â in order to capitalize on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed,â and that âFerrari's F150 logo bears striking resemblance to the one on Ford's F-150 pickup truck.â

Ford asked...