A judge in A Coruña has acquitted a man whom Ferrari accused of a crime against industrial property and claimed 2.1 million euros for tuning a Ford Cougar to make it look like a Ferrari 430 Scuderia.
The prosecutor also requested a year in prison for the same crime, which has not convinced the judge either: “Does the use of a tuned car, which even to the least knowledgeable it is clearly clear that it is not a Ferrari, violates the rules of competition? Is the Ferrari brand going to lose any sales of its exclusive vehicles due to the fact that a second-hand car salesman drives around Arteixo in a Ford Cougar that looks like a Ferrari? Is it really pretending a prison sentence and that includes, in addition, the payment of no less than 2,100,000 euros for the reputational damage caused by the accused to the image of the brand?”
The defendant was the owner of a vehicle sales business in Arteixo and used the Ford for his own personal use and to promote the business (it bore the company’s stickers). According to proven facts, at the beginning of October 2018 he bought a Cougar to which its previous owners had already made “various modifications” with which they had achieved “a certain appearance of passing for a Ferrari F430 Scuderia.”
These alterations affected different elements of the bodywork and interior. In addition, “emblems and shields with the name of Ferrari, F430, Scuderia and the characteristic Ferrari prancing horse” had been installed in visible places. The head of the investigating court 3 indicates that some of these pieces are from other brands, “very similar to those of Ferrari”, while others are “handmade.”
The man used the car for only 12 days. He gave her time to take photos and upload them to the website of his establishment along with the message “newly arrived toy.” On October 22, 2018, the vehicle was seized by the Arteixo Local Police.
At the trial, the man denied that he was trying to pass the car off as an authentic Ferrari, since the emblems were “crude and it was perfectly clear that they were simple stickers.” It wasn’t for sale either, he said, because his company only sells “low-medium range” cars. Putting it up for sale would have “scared away” his real customers.
In his reasoning, the judge affirms that “certainly” the car appeared to be the Ferrari and that the defendant’s conduct “probably is not exemplary from the perspective of commercial law,” but he rejects the fact that the criminal commission was proven in the trial. a crime against industrial property.
The sentence – which can be appealed to the Court of A Coruña – indicates that it cannot be assumed that the defendant’s intention was “to use a vehicle of these characteristics in violation of Ferrari’s registration rights”, as required by the crime.
The commission of the crime, the resolution emphasizes, “not only requires that knowledge, but, in addition, the possession or use of the vehicle must be for industrial or commercial purposes.”
The magistrate concludes that the accusations “have not been able to prove that the vehicle was offered for sale, no matter how much the photo of the car appeared on the establishment’s website.” Thus, he highlights that it is “a single object whose solely private use as a management car fits more into the principle of insignificance […], without a hint of harm to the interests of consumers.”
