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Shelby Lawsuit Update July 27, 2009 |
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A lot of you guys have been asking about the status of the most recent Shelby lawsuit, so I figured I’d give everyone an update. As many of you may know, we had previously succeeded in having the lawsuit transferred to Boston Federal Court (it was originally filed in California) and have been awaiting a hearing on our motion to have the case dismissed. The hearing was scheduled for this Friday and we just learned that the Court has moved the hearing date to October 1, 2009. There was no reason given for the delay from the Court, but now that all motions/replies have been filed, we are done spending money and just have to patiently wait for the hearing. |
 Factory Five President Dave Smith with the FFR Type 65 Coupe |
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We will give you any news as it comes, but for now, October is the next time anything will likely be reported, at which time we reasonably anticipate this case will be dismissed based on the existing agreement that has been in place for the last seven years. Background: In December of last year Shelby filed a Federal lawsuit against Factory Five Racing, Inc. alleging "trade-dress" violations of the Shape of the "Daytona Coupe", marketed by FFR for almost 10 years as the Type 65 Coupe. This was a strange lawsuit from the very beginning since, as part of a multi-million dollar legal battle waged in 2000 over the word COBRA and the shapes of the FFR designs, we had previously reached an agreement in 2002 whereby Shelby "forever dismissed with prejudice" all claims relative to the trade dress of FFR kits (including specifically, but not limited to the Type 65 Coupe!!!). For the record, Factory Five Racing, Inc. wants NOTHING to do with Shelby, the word COBRA, nor do we want in any way to be associated in any way with Carroll Shelby. COBRA is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company and Factory Five Racing does not describe its products using this word. |
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