European brands, from luxury handbag makers to Italian supercar manufacturers, have always been quick to defend their core, the logos and colors they trademark as major tools of their operation. But with the rise of the internet, a simple logo or company name can be trickier to protect than the rights to a song or movie. Who's to say a kid can't create a Facebook page and use it to gather the millions of people who share his passion? Well, Ferrari… apparently.
The Maranello sportscar maker is currently deadlocked in a legal battle with Sammy Wasem, who at the age of 15 created a Facebook page which is now one of the biggest on the website. But Ferrari has fought him and his family, claiming they used the page to advertise personal events (such as the boy's 18th birthday) and merchandise from other companies.
“The issue isn’t with Facebook or with our fans but with those who try to use Ferrari’s intellectual property to make money out of it,” said Stefano Lai, a spokesman for the Maranello-based carmaker told bloomberg.com.
We did a bit of digging and found his Facebook "About" Section Describes Sammy as a "Swiss Indian Race driver. Co-Creator & Co-Editor of the largest Ferrari Facebook network with over 12 million Fans."
If that's true, than he most likely built this Ferrari Facebook page, which currently has over 13.3 million fans. The Italian company is clearly in control of that website now, even though there's another Ferrari Facebook page with over 1.6 million fans.
Sammy and his father Olivier have filed a copyright infringement claim against Ferrari because they are using the what's technically built by the Wasems. They claim no profit was ever made from their Facebook fan congregation.
We found footage of Sammy's Formula 3 test session at the Valencia track, which he posted back in 2011. It seems the now-21YO really does have a strong passion for speed.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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