- Any time we're talking about Ferrari, James,
you start off anti-Ferrari-
- Yeah
- And then by the end, you're fully on board.
(groaning comedically)
- Evil it starts comin' out of me!
- Literally every time we do this.
- I pretend to be good! But I am a heel.
- Ferrari has a reputation for three things: making
expensive cars, racing expensive cars, and suing the
crap out of people. A lot of folks don't like Ferrari
for this reason, but are they really in the wrong?
Today we're gonna take a look at some of the prancing
horse's most egregious legal battles and decide
for ourselves. And at the end,
we're gonna see if we can get Ferrari
to send us a cease and desist of our very own because
apparently Max thinks it's a great idea to try and get
us sued.
- You didn't tell me that.
- I'm James, he's Nolan, and this is the show where we
put random car crap on trial!
The D-D-D-D-D-List.
- Thanks to Cove for sponsoring today's video! Give it
to me, Nolan!
- Augh, I want to listen to music in the kitchen!
- I wanna listen to music in the shop, Nolan!
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Okay, all right, stop. Stop. I think I know a way
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All right, Nolan, on the count of three we drive.
Then we'll have two Bluetooth speakers. One!
- Two.
- (Nolan and Jerry in sync) Three!
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- Probably the most famous Ferrari dispute ever was
over Deadmou5's Ferrari 458. Also known as the Purrari.
On the Gumball 3000, which is where a bunch of rich guys
drive their stupid cars really fast on old brick roads.
- Oh, that's great.
- Basically, Deadmou5 wrapped his 458 with an ancient meme
from like 10 years ago called 'Nyan Cat'.
To go along with the cat theme he also added rebranded
prancing cat logos.
- Hmm.
- Then, after the Gumball 3000 was over, he listed it for
sale on Craigslist. But Ferrari did not like this,
not one bit! Ferrari has a rule book, and anyone who
buys one of their cars is required to sign it, and Deadmou5
broke two rules! Number one: no tampering with the prancing
horse logo. Number two: you can't sell your Ferrari without
giving the dealership first dibs.
- Hmm.
- So Ferrari issued a cease and desist, and Deadmou5 removed
the wrap and took down the ad, and then ended up getting
a Nyan Cat 'Lamborghine-machine' instead. So Nolan, how
do you feel about this? Do you think Ferrari is in the
right or in the wrong for suing Deadmou5?
- You know, this is a classic case of immovable object,
unstoppable force. You know, like, Deadmou5? Very famous
for being, like, a troll-type figure. His personality
coming against, like, Ferrari's infamous legal team.
- Mhm
- There's just no way that this was going
to be a good situation.
- I think, who gives a crap what you wrap your car in?
- Well, I mean, they didn't care about what the car was
wrapped in, it was the logo. - It was the logo.
- And, like, the floor mats were, like, a big piece as well
cause he had them re-stitched. Yeah, that's infringing
on their intellectual property. I mean, that's kind of
the thing here, you let one person get away with it,
that gives the next person legal precedent.
- Right.
- And then it just- then they lose their copyright!
- Yeah, you actually have to sue people. If you copyright
something, if someone recreates it, and you don't sue
them like you said? It's legal precedent for someone
else to do it. So you are required by law to sue them. So.
Ferrari, I hate to say it, was in the right. And Deadmou5,
I don't get it. I don't get you. I don't understand.
(laughing)
- So Nolan, this next example doesn't involve tampering with
a car at all.
- What?
- Okay, but it still managed to get Ferrari's Italian
'trousies' all twisted up like a bunch of licorice.
A German fashion designer named Philipp Plein posted a
picture of his shoes next to a Ferrari 812 Superfast.
The shoes are green, the car is green, I guess he thought
it would be a cute picture, okay? But, you know who
didn't think it was cute?
- Mhm.
- Ferrari.
- Ohh.
- So, according to Ferrari, Philipp was using their
trademark to promote his own brand. They said the
Instagram post tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari's
brand and causes Ferrari further material damage.
Ferrari sent Philipp a cease and desist letter, but
he did not cease nor did he desist! He went to Italian
court against Ferrari, where... he lost.
- Oof.
- He now owes Ferrari over 350,000 dollars in compensation
and isn't allowed to ever post another image of a Ferrari
ever again. Look at any of our videos, listen to any
of our podcasts, I am not one to defend Ferrari.
- No.
- Okay? But, I think in this particular instance, because
he was selling his product-
- Mhm
- And he put it next to the logo, that's like if a brand
posted, like, their product with a picture of you.
- Mm... mhm.
- And used it for, like, monetary gain. You wouldn't
be that happy about it, right?
- No, no. I think this is also a case just to counter your
stance a little bit, James. The Ferrari mindset, or
philosophy of, like, choosing your customers and, like,
making sure that their brand is associated with the right
people, this is where it also comes into play because
Philipp Plein's brand is kind of opposed to Ferrari's brand.
I'm gonna go fifty-fifty on this one, sure they're
protecting trademark, kind of, and protecting that-
- I think he was implying a collaboration, I'm going
full Ferrari. I'm gonna give them extra credit, okay? Yeah,
you owe us money, but also you're not allowed to post a
picture of a Ferrari. Ever again.
- Yeah, yeah I think that's pretty far.
- No, that's sick. That is sick. That is spiteful
and that is dope, and I love stuff like that.
I love it.
- Anytime we're talking about Ferrari, James?
- Yeah?
- You start off anti-Ferrari, and then by the end, you're
fully on board.
- And the evil starts comin' out of me!
- Literally every time we do this.
- I pretend to be good! But I am a heel.
- Ugh, I like your sh*t, man. I think it's cool.
- It's one thing to sue DJs and fashion designers, but
Ferrari also recently sued a non-profit charity called
the Purosangue Foundation. Purosangue translates to
thoroughbred, which is a fancy horse. And Ferrari really,
really, really wanted to use that name for their new
crossover SUV. So they're an anti-doping organization
that keeps runners from using performance-enhancing
drugs.
- Okay...
- But, because this charity trademarked the name, Ferrari
couldn't use it. So, they did the completely normal thing
that anyone would do, and they sued the charity that already
had the name. Let's hear it from our legal expert how they
did that.
- Hey, it's Joe the legal beagle here! Woof love, haha.
Look, I'm not an attorney, okay? Not even a little bit!
In the case of Ferrari versus Purosangue Foundation, the
charity trademarked the name in 2013, and blocked Ferrari
from using it for their new SUV. But even though the charity
was active, Ferrari claimed it did not make sufficient
commercial use of the name within a five year period.
And therefore was not entitled to exclusive use of the
name. I've got a cousin named Purosangue, on the other side.
- [offscreen] Other side of what?
- You're asking too many questions, okay? As of right now,
it's not immediately clear if Ferrari's gonna use the name
or not, but I've seen some pictures of this SUV, and boy,
oh my god, it's great. But one thing's for certain, why
are you fighting over such a dumb name? Back to you,
gentlemen!
- Lawsuits have been described to me as, like, you both
stick a, like, a double edged sword into each other,
and then you walk towards each other until someone says
'give'.
- Yeah, yeah.
- And Ferrari has a way longer sword than pretty much
anybody, you know what I mean?
- Mhm.
- So, I think it's kind of a dick move, and I've got to
go with Purosangue.
- Purosangue is just not a good name for a car.
- Or an anti-doping company.
- The five year trademark law I mentioned goes both ways.
The same law was used against Ferrari in the trademark
battle for the Ferrari 250 GTO.
- Ohh, interesting.
- A company called Ares Design wanted to sell modernized
replicas of the 250, but, if you learned anything about
Ferrari in the last few minutes, you can probably guess
that they did not like this.
- I mean, what could go wrong trying to sell Ferrari's most
famous car?
- Ferrari went to court, and declared that the 250 was a
work of art, giving it the same replica protection rights
as the Mona Lisa. In other words, Ferrari would be the only
ones with the rights to distribute copies of the car, just
like the Devinci's are the only one's who
are allowed to say, "Yeah, you can make a counter with the
Mona Lisa on it." But these Ares Design guys, they were
like, "Dude, Ferrari. You haven't done anything with the
shape of this car in way over five years. So-
- They flipped it.
- Yeah, they flipped it, reversed it.
- Wow.
- And Ares design won the lawsuit!
- Whoa!
- And now, they have the rights to sell their extremely
expensive, coach-built 250 replicas, and Ferrari can't
do a damn thing about it. This more than any of the other
ones, I'm surprised that they were able to do this.
- Like, every other year one of them goes for like, 30
million dollars. Like, the most expensive car to ever sell
at auction is a Ferrari 250 GT. So, that just makes it
extremely surprising.
- That some court was just like, "Yeah, you can go ahead
and make them."
- Mhm.
- I mean, this is like essentially, like, fake Jordan's.
- Sure?
- Like, that's not legal?
- Yeah, yeah.
- I'm really surprised that these Ares guys got away
with this.
- I think Ferrari did the right thing to protect their
legacy and all that.
- How are they not gonna?
- Yeah, yeah! They can't let-- they did what they had to do.
- This wasn't the only time Ferrari lost a legal battle over
a replica. Back in 2008, the Italian Customs Administration
found a near-perfect clone of the 1958 Dino in the port
of Genoa. The counterfeit car looked so real that they kept
it and displayed it at the The Musée de la Contrefaçon
museum. It's the counterfeit museum.
- That's sick.
- And they used it for training, to help--
(voice faded by upbeat music)
But the judge ruled in favor of the Italian Customs because
of a law that said confiscated goods can be used by armed
forces for forensic purposes. Yeah, I
gotta go against Ferrari.
- This is stupid to sue over that.
- Yeah! It's stupid! Thank you! Welcome back!
This next case involves easily the coolest car on this
list, at least in my opinion. The Ferrari F40 LM.
Now the LM was the lightweight performance version
of the bourgeois F40. A Belgian billionaire
named Jean Blaton happened to own one, and he wanted
to give it a few custom touches, all right?
- Uh oh... uh oh.
- And by custom touches, I mean, he cut the roof off, added
a roll cage, replaced the suspension with coilovers,
rerouted the exhaust, and removed the restriction plates to
let all 760 'hurse-purs' run free.
And guess what Ferrari thought about this
hotdogged-up-drop-top?
- I bet they loved it, James.
- Well you'd be wrong. They ordered Jean Blaton to remove
all prancing horse badges from his yellow abomination.
And then refused to acknowledge the car's existence,
blacklisting it from the history books. I've never seen
this child? And it said that until this day, the yellow
bastard Ferrari can still be seen ripping up the track
during official Ferrari track days. Without any logos.
- That's just stupid. I don't care how special the car
is, he bought it?
- Yeah, it's his.
- You know, it's not like he bought a license to buy
the car, he bought the car, right?
- Yeah.
- So, this is dumb.
- Yeah, I gotta agree, like, I think this guy did a terrible
job modifying this car. I think it looks awful. But, he did
buy it. So... it's his.
Ferrari doesn't just blacklist cars, though. They also
blacklist people. Even celebrity people.
- Whoa.
- Which are the best people. There's a few people
on Ferrari's naughty list who apparently aren't allowed
to buy any Ferraris ever again.
- Wow.
- Tyga didn't make payments on his 458 Spider. You're out
of here. Justin Bieber forgot
where he parked his 458 Italia.
- Understandable.
- Out of here! Kimberly Kardashian received a Ferrari as
a gift from someone known for committing fraud. Sorry
Kimberly, you're out of here. Floyd Mayweather didn't
wait long enough before selling his Ferrari.
- Mm. Gotta read that fine print, dude.
- Sorry, Floyd, you're out of here. Blac Chyna painted
her Ferrari Barbie pink which violates Ferrari's rule of
not painting their cars any shade of pink.
- Yeah.
- Look. Companies are allowed to have the right to refuse
service to you, buddy, right? Just like the McDonalds.
- Just like the fries, just like, fancy old McDonalds.
And I'm not talking about Olive Garden, mate!
- I get it. I think some of the reasons are dumb, though.
- Some of the reasons are dumb, and I like the picture
that, like, there's a part of their legal department
that is just, like, all right guys I got an idea, okay?
Justin Bieber forgot where he parked his car.
- How long was it for?
- Like, two and a half hours.
- Get his ass!
- Dude, let's blacklist him, that'd be hilarious, dude.
That guy thinks he's so f***ing cool! But if we give
them the benefit of the doubt, and just assume that
they're hilarious?
- That they're having fun?
- Yes! They're over there just, like, dude, another one
dude? Yeah!
- That being said, yeah they're in their rights.
- Yeah.
There's one last thing that we have to do now, Nolan.
What you have before you right here is a Ferrari badge.
- Mkay.
- We're gonna go stick it on my race car Jeda.
- Oh boy...
- Why? Because receiving a cease and desist from Ferrari is
almost like a badge of honor for huge celebrities like
me. And I think that it would be really funny to hang
that on the wall so it's the first thing you see when
you come in the donut.
- This is, uh, pretty well done, I would say.
- Yeah, man.
- Emblem.
- SF stands for San Francisco where they make Ferrari's.
San Francisco, literally.
(laughing)
Got these on Amazon for fifteen bucks. Which last time
I checked, is way cheaper than a Ferrari. But, if we put
these on the race car Jeda, I don't think anyone will
be able to tell the difference. So shall we, Nolan?
- Let's do it.
- So we're outside of the Englewood Propulsion Laboratory
in front of my race car Jeda. Nolan, let's commit a crime.
- All right, love crimes! There it is,
there's your badge there.
- Let's get sued, Nolan.
- All right.
- We'll put him right here.
- Mkay, ready?
(intense music)
- Spider-horse! Can you imagine walking through the woods
and seeing a freaking spider-horse? A venomous horse
with eight legs? I'm scared of horses with four legs!
(laughing)
- [Male Voiceover] Ladies and gentlemen, James Pumphrey.
(applaud)
- Today we honor a lost innovation. Let us remember
it's legacy, let us remember it's rising light.
Though no longer with us due to safety regulations, their
up and down contributions will live on in our hearts
forever. Here with a special from Epidemic Sound, please
welcome Nolan Jason.
(piano playing)
Show your respect for Popup Headlights by going to
donutmedia.com. It's got a beautiful airbrush design
and honestly, it's hard to put a price on such a legacy,
but, if I were to guess I'd say... they're available
for $29.98, which is, in fact, way less than 30 dollars.
So go pay your respects at donutmedia.com.
Bless up and down.
- Thank you guys so much for watching the D-List and
everything else on Donut! Hit that subscribe button,
make sure you don't miss anything. Follow Nolan on
Instagram and Twitter at @nolanjsykes. Follow me
at @jamespumphrey! I love you.
- See you later.