Ford Prevents Production of Chinese F-150 knockoff

[ausrutherford]

Remember this blatant rip-off of a Ford F-150 from a Chinese automaker named JAC? Well, turns out it never went into production. And that’s because Ford has an arsenal of patents in China protecting its intellectual property. On Autoline After Hours last night, Bill Coughlin who heads up all of Ford’s intellectual property, said companies can absolutely protect themselves by properly registering and patenting their IP through the correct agencies in China. In fact, Ford has never faced any kind of copy cat designs in China going into production because it has properly protected itself.

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[T'Cal]

I was watching BBC's Top Gear the other day (the real one, not the horrible American version), and Jeremy and James were in China. He was talking about how blatant and shameless they are about ripping off various products. Jeremy showed rip offs of Ray Ban sunglasses and a fake iPad plus several vehicles including one that looked exactly like a BMW X5. The government looked into these claims of infringement, Jeremy said, and found no problems.

[dzuchowski]

i see nothing wrong with the Chinesse making an F-150. Its really no different then the pc world. I think we should turn autos into a commodity, were you simply buy on price and quality. I would have no problem purchasing a Chinese ford 150. I think we need to get rid of patients and copyrights.

[ausrutherford]

i see nothing wrong with the Chinesse making an F-150. Its really no different then the pc world. I think we should turn autos into a commodity, were you simply buy on price and quality. I would have no problem purchasing a Chinese ford 150. I think we need to get rid of patients and copyrights.

Getting rid of patients and copyrights would lead to disaster. People/companies need to protect their investments so they can make a return on the money and time it took to create it. Its the simplest, easiest, and most fundamental part of capitalism.

[CrunkedRL]

i see nothing wrong with the Chinesse making an F-150. Its really no different then the pc world. I think we should turn autos into a commodity, were you simply buy on price and quality. I would have no problem purchasing a Chinese ford 150. I think we need to get rid of patients and copyrights.

Ford has a significant cache in the F-Series line of trucks. I think by allowing copycat companies like JAC to manufacture their own version of the F-150 it would not only comprimise the brand but also the image of quality and reliability that has been synonomous with the F-150 pick-up. I say way to go for Ford in proactively protecting their assets.

[Shoot]

If you look at JAC's website you'll see design elements from other Ford vehicles in their passenger cars. A lot of money is invested in the design of a vehicle that is difficult to recoup when you have others ripping off that hard work.