Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
Shelby Loses Lawsuit
- Thread starter Pete
- Start date
YEE-HAW!!!
I'm from Texas, but I'm no Shelby fan (OK, I drive a 427 Cobra replica, but not b/c of Shelby). He was a man with a good idea, but the idea of engine swaps was not new at the time, I had a friend with a '53 Ford who replaced the flathead 8 in the mid 60's with an Oldsmobile engine....all Shelby did was put a Ford engine into a Brittish sports car (and he even LIED to both Ford and A/C to get the deal done!).
AND, to make things worse, he seems to think that this "intellectual property" makes it incumbent on anyone who deigns it permissible to replicate virtually ANYTHING he ever had his hands on should pay him (or his foundation) some sort of royalty :thumbsdown: ???
BULLSHIRT, pure and simple!!
SO glad the courts saw it right :thumbsup: !
Doug
I'm from Texas, but I'm no Shelby fan (OK, I drive a 427 Cobra replica, but not b/c of Shelby). He was a man with a good idea, but the idea of engine swaps was not new at the time, I had a friend with a '53 Ford who replaced the flathead 8 in the mid 60's with an Oldsmobile engine....all Shelby did was put a Ford engine into a Brittish sports car (and he even LIED to both Ford and A/C to get the deal done!).
AND, to make things worse, he seems to think that this "intellectual property" makes it incumbent on anyone who deigns it permissible to replicate virtually ANYTHING he ever had his hands on should pay him (or his foundation) some sort of royalty :thumbsdown: ???
BULLSHIRT, pure and simple!!
SO glad the courts saw it right :thumbsup: !
Doug
Now if FFR could counter sue for legal fees. Maybe it'd send ol Shell a message that to try this crap again in the future is going to cost him more than he'd make in royalties.
I started to read the judgement but got bored part way through and skimmed it, but it seemed to me that it wasn't a total win all the way around.
FFR won on the type65 issue, but in terms of the other issues have only "won" because Shelby didn't give the proper 30days notice, as was required from the last lawsuit......which is why the ffcobra issue is still being contested - no conclusion has been reached with it, and this is, I believe, the first time he's suing Bill, so there's no agreements in place, like needing 30days to remedy satisfactory relief.
I don't think it's bullsh1t - it's just a form of patent trolling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but in the end it's just business.
FFR won on the type65 issue, but in terms of the other issues have only "won" because Shelby didn't give the proper 30days notice, as was required from the last lawsuit......which is why the ffcobra issue is still being contested - no conclusion has been reached with it, and this is, I believe, the first time he's suing Bill, so there's no agreements in place, like needing 30days to remedy satisfactory relief.
I don't think it's bullsh1t - it's just a form of patent trolling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but in the end it's just business.
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If you were Shelby, would you want your legacy to be a) one of the greatest American racing legends, or b) a bitter old man grabbing for pennies??
As people age it seems to me they either get wiser and happy just to be alive, or they get cantankerous and opinionated and end up alienating half the people that once cared about them....
As people age it seems to me they either get wiser and happy just to be alive, or they get cantankerous and opinionated and end up alienating half the people that once cared about them....
How true that is, Cliff! I just watched a 40 year friendship disolve b/c the man had turned into such a grumpy, angry person. I even renamed him Mr. G. H. GOF...an acronymn for Grey Haired Grumpy Old Fart!
It was sad, but in the end I had to tell him to pound sand....said his family had to put up with it, but I didn't.
Let's hope Shel gets the message. To a few he may be a hero, but I fear that to many more he is a villain (or, as Randy so eloquently put it, a "...Rotten SOB" ).
Doug
The question is weather it is Carol himself or is it his corporation that is running Shelby America that is doing this with him being the "store front". I would believe that he has plenty of money selling his personal AC Cobra for 5 mil plus his other cars. I am not sure about any personal family that may be pushing this either. If it is indeed Carol, than he is a grumpy ol fart. The copying of his cars has made the cars more available and his legend more common to the average Joe.
