FORD checks my XC website - have I done something forbidden?

[XC-Fan]

Hi, was that one of you guys? I looked at the stats of www.xc-fan.de and saw some entries of FORD.COM - do they proof my website now ? ;-)

Regards
Torsten - the XC-Fan (and just doing a privat collection of photos, links, funny things ... around my and others XCs)

[philosophicaldreamer]

Hi, was that one of you guys? I looked at the stats of www.xc-fan.de and saw some entries of FORD.COM - do they proof my website now ? ;-)

Regards
Torsten - the XC-Fan (and just doing a privat collection of photos, links, funny things ... around my and others XCs)

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. There is no doubt in my mind that car engineers and designers of various companies scour variety of websites dedicated to various models of cars to see what the public thinks of their designs and excecution. I am certain that Volvo goes through our website and reads our comments on their cars to see what ideas and improvements they can use in their products. This is the easiest way of gaining such information without resorting to any type expensive polling.

Ta-ta, janusz

[jmoser]

Check out the saga of 'Blueoval.com' and see why the OEMs may want to keep an eye on enthusiast sites.

In that case the site owner was knowingly posting confidential Ford company information on the web.

My guess is it is just Ford employees surfing around their products' presence on the web.

Of course the lawyers do occasionally look for 'unlicensed usage' of logos, trademarks, etc etc etc. Since your web logo is not the same font, etc. as the 'Corporate Identity Standard' I would not worry.

[TrueBlue]

Perhaps you should be flattered that Ford etc would want to look at your website in the first place. Possibly your comments and so on might be of value to them?

(I don't mean the above in a derogatory or sarcastic fashion), Sometimes it's nice to know that your postings are being read by someone, after all you wouldn't want to publish anything that you wouldn't want others to see :)

ps. Great pics, only wish I could read German!

[v70+xc70]

Of course the lawyers do occasionally look for 'unlicensed usage' of logos, trademarks, etc etc etc. Since your web logo is not the same font, etc. as the 'Corporate Identity Standard' I would not worry.

Ford is far more interested in the name than the font. This started after they lost a suit from Pep boys for the Futura name. Take for instance their suit against www.bvlr.com If you're bored and want to read a little about it, they have the documents inc the lawsuit on their web site

[Outrageous]

Torsten, I like your website, although I can't read much German. And I see you've started to include english translations, which is great for us english-only types. You've really put your XC through some difficult situations. You must really like it or I would think you would buy an SUV.

[geo]

As a retired employee of FORD, all our email addresses were XXXX@ ford.com.
I checked various XC sites when working and before buying an XC70, (with employee discount no less)as Ford own Volvo Cars. Any Volvo ref sites wound be accessable to most staff members world wide. so yes it may have been spying, product eveluation or just a plain erk checking for his own info