2600 announced today that Ford is taking the case to tthe 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Yesterday, OUT-LAW.COM reported on the victory of 2600 in the original decision. Basically, 2600 registered the domain name as an exercise in corporate humiliation. General Motors did not sue over the use of the General Motors trade mark, but Ford sued 2600, alleging improper use of the Ford mark.
The only web site at the controversial domain name is a page which automatically forwards traffic to Ford.com. Before redirection takes place, users have an opportunity to visit the site of FordReallySucks.com, a site which is typical of many anti-corporate "sucks" web sites.
The only use of Ford's trade mark is in the source code of the page at FuckGeneralMotors.com, which includes the hyperlink to www.ford.com. Ford lost its case on infringement and 2600 is confident that Ford will also lose the appeal. In a statement on its site, 2600 writes of Ford's "frivolous" lawsuit:
"We're committed to defending ourselves and the net community against this kind of attack. But it means yet more money will have to be spent in order to do this and more time and resources wasted on something which should never have been brought to court in the first place. These are the tactics that companies like Ford use to try and crush their opposition into submission and with virtually unlimited funds, they can afford to.
"Despite this, we're confident that we will win the appeal as well. But we're not so confident that Ford will ever really get the message and respect the concept of free speech."
For more on the recent decision against Ford and OUT-LAW's comment, see: Ford loses embarrassing hyperlink case, OUT-LAW News, 30/01/2002
The Ford decision is available on 2600's site.