We Speak Lawsuit: PA parts dealer sues Ford over new ad campaign slogan

Ford's "We Speak Car" campaign was designed to extol the virtues of the 2010 Ford Fusion, but one parts dealer isn't happy about it. Frank's Auto Supply Inc. of Uniontown, PA, has apparently been using the very same slogan since 2003 and it even owns the domain name wespeakcar.com. Frank's feels that Ford stole its catch phrase, so the parts store is suing Ford for unfair competition under the Federal Trademark Act. The Fusion commercials, which began airing on March 3, start with "We speak car," a phrase that was just Thursday trademarked by Frank's Auto Supply. The parts store claims that Ford has spent $60 to $80 million on the ads to date, a number that we assume is being thrown out to show that the Blue Oval's substantial ad budget is stealing the catch phrase from Franks'.

In Ford's defense, if "We Speak Car" wasn't trademarked until after the ads aired, how was the Blue Oval supposed to know that some auto supply store in Pennsylvania was already using it? Additionally, we''re also not entirely sure that the Ford Fusion is direct competition to a parts store. In fact, as the Fusion gets up in years, owners of the midsize sedan may even go to Frank's for parts. Hit the jump to view Ford's "We Speak Car" commercials.

[Source: Post-Gazette]

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