Ford Has Mustang GTD Body Kit Clone Banned From SEMA

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strafefire@reddit

It's one thing to have a body kit inspired by the GTD.

It's another to have something that is damn near a 1 to 1 clone (minus the wing)

What were TJ and Street Hunter thinking?

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2fast2nick@reddit

In all his videos too, he's like, I DON'T KNOW WHYYYYYY. It's like bro, you guys cloned it exactly.

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DooceBigalo@reddit

thats what his lawyers told him to say

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2fast2nick@reddit

he was just being dramatic.. "BANNED FROM SEMA" no dude, you weren't banned.. you just didn't get a display spot for your car.

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spooki_boogey@reddit

He's a content creator with a product to promote.

There's no doubt in my mind that there's someone with a mustang thats looking at this and eating it up thinking he's going to get a body kit that's so cool that it's banned.

Not saying I agree with the method, but in this current day and age any publicity is good publicity.

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z31@reddit

The car specifically was banned. If they had something else to bring to SEMA they could have.

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Bderken@reddit

I mean that’s what they did with the M4… I don’t see why this is an issue.

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micro435@reddit

they didn’t design or produce that, it was a genuine bmw gt3 body kit.

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Bderken@reddit

Ah I see, didn’t know that.

Still, people sell GT500 body kits all the time.

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FordsFavouriteTowel@reddit

Those body kits aren’t 1:1 recreations for legal reasons.

This is blatant IP theft

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Bderken@reddit

Yeah I guess that makes sense. But I don’t see how it’s different from the guy who “3D printed” his Lamborghini body kit.

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Val_Allah@reddit

I think one is commercial, or intended for sales and the other is personal use by means of 3d printing.

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Yeah that makes sense, if I made a car, and people copied the look, I’d be proud. Wouldn’t care if someone made a kit for a Camry to look like my super car. But I do understand the business aspect. It’s still going to sellout tho (the GTD that is)

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darkguille@reddit

I work for a company who designs sports commercial vehicles for Ford. We spent millions designing, engineering and producing these vehicles. It wouldn’t be right or fair for a company to come along, copy our design and reproduce it with worse materials at a fraction of the cost without aftersales support. Not right for the customers whose residual values would suffer either.

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redditonreddit_65@reddit

Fair (& valid) points when it comes down to mechanical parts, but I don’t know that this applies to a body kit…

Low production number Mustangs aren’t gonna lose value cause some college kit threw a replica body kit on their automatic Ecoboost lol

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NocturneZombie@reddit

This is how it is for most things. You can rip-off, download, make almost anything you want for personal use. It's when you attempt to distribute or profit that things become illegal, copyrighted, etc.

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abooth43@reddit

Because it's a guy that did it for himself, not to sell a product. They cannot stop anyone from creating their own, they can't even make TJ do anything to his mustang. They can just make him stop advertising/selling it as a product.

Many of the replica BMW M and other replica bumpers are just made by some dude and sold online. It's not a huge target.

TJ hunt and streethunter bascially copied a special edition and attempted to market that at an international trade show that Ford themselves is present at.

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Business_Oven_3821@reddit

You guys have to stop referring to these big time YouTubers as being “just some guy”. TJ Hunt is a multi million dollar brand that just attempted to make a replica of a different company’s product. Not only did he do that, but this multi million dollar brand chose to show off their replica at the same location that the original company was showing off the genuine product.

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abooth43@reddit

? I didn't. That was precisely part of my point.

The random eBay listings for replica M and Gt500 bumpers that everyone is comparing this too was my example of some random guy.

I specifically called him industry famous.

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Conscious_Candle2598@reddit

They cannot stop anyone from creating their own, they can't even make TJ do anything to his mustang.

Ferrari be like "LIKE FUCK WE CAN'T. SEND EM A CEASE AND DESIST LETTER!!"

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MrBlandEST@reddit

They famously sued Miami Vice show for using a clone and calling it a Ferrari. It wasn't even that good a clone but the show kept showing the Ferrari logo

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Unspec7@reddit

Trademarks are a whole different ballgame. There's no fair use to trademark usage lol

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MrBlandEST@reddit

Yea they really overstepped.

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Bderken@reddit

Yeah that makes sense

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FordsFavouriteTowel@reddit

He wasn’t selling it.

Steal all the IP you like, just don’t share it or try and make money off of it and you won’t get in trouble. (But don’t steal IP)

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Unspec7@reddit

This is no such thing as fair use for patents, mind you.

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Prestigious_Series28@reddit

this is an about to be released halo car…

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micro435@reddit

Yeah i think it’s a bit excessive but i can see it from both sides. Could Streethunter have taken a bit more creative liberties? sure. Could Ford chill out? sure. From TJs recent video it seems like they’re working together on a solution so hopefully it goes well for both parties.

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k0fi96@reddit

He bought the M4 kit from BMW. He's did make one and sell it himself.

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Bderken@reddit

Yeah I didn’t realize they were going to sell the kits. Just thought they were gonna show it off at SEMA. Makes sense

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coolestredditdad@reddit

They got lots of ad revenue from YouTube and don't care what Does has to say, as long as they record it?

That's my guess.

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Satanic-mechanic_666@reddit

So you think aftermarket body panels should be illegal?

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BWFTW@reddit

Most aftermarket body kits are their own unique design. They aren't 1 to 1 copies of a different product.

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Business_Oven_3821@reddit

I think trying to show off your replica at the same time AND PLACE a billion dollar company is showing off the original is asking for trouble

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Satanic-mechanic_666@reddit

I guess. But how’s it different than a company like dynacorn? Or any other parts supplier that isn’t the OE manufacturer.

Not to mention Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association should be on the side of the specialty equipment manufacturer and not Ford.

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Business_Oven_3821@reddit

Dynacorn has licensed their bodies from Ford and GM.

I’m not sure how replacement part suppliers work though I assume the major suppliers have agreements with the OEM’s.

SEMA is on the side of the billion dollar multinational company that has teams of lawyers. Not to mention Ford often has booths and cars at SEMA. SEMA isn’t going to stick their neck out for TJ Hunt, there’s no reason too.

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dovahbe4r@reddit

Dynacorn is licensed.

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AmNoSuperSand52@reddit

I guess it also brings up the question: how similar can something be without being considered infringement?

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D4ng3rd4n@reddit

This is pretty simple in the eyes of the law, I'm on my phone otherwise I'd link you if you want to read

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--_-__@reddit

Nope, it’s up to the fact finder. Either a judge or a jury depending on what you ask for.

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Ok_Singer9630@reddit

link it when you get a chance

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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seeyousoon2@reddit

Well in the music industry I've heard two completely different songs that sound nothing alike and somehow judges are like yeah it's the same song.

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Cake-Over@reddit

https://youtu.be/a-1_9-z9rbY?si=JB1x3TF709vgxPPc

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Armored_Guardian@reddit

They tried to democratize a $300k+ car that you need to be interviewed to purchase. This is sad.

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txmail@reddit

What were TJ and Street Hunter thinking?

Money? And this kind of attention is probably even better than getting it into SEMA.

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SuperGT1LE@reddit

I really don’t think it’s a clone looking at it side by side

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superchibisan2@reddit

I think they thought that it looked really good

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Seaworthypear@reddit

God jalopnik sucks

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PC_LOAD_LETTER_81@reddit

Used to view it daily. First time I’ve looked at their site in years with this post and it was mostly nothing but annoying ads.

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Drzhivago138@reddit

Still surfing the 'Net without a proper adblocker? In [current year]?

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xiaodown@reddit

My pihole didn’t do much to clean up that page. I am on my phone though.

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TheBackpacker@reddit

Am I dumb or does this article have zero context?

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Cnessel27@reddit

After the whole Gawker v Hulkster thing, the whole media group fell apart.

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Aldairion@reddit

All of their best writers have long since departed to larger automotive press outlets, or their own projects.

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IndustrialDesignLife@reddit

The enshitification of everything holds no prejudice.

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Prison-Butt-Carnival@reddit

I've been reading them for a decade plus, still can't figure out how to comment, create a user name or connect a twitter account to Kinja.

Fuck that system.

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Gerarghini@reddit

People have been saying this for over a decade now and it's still up so honestly idk who the people are that like that crap website 😭

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jrileyy229@reddit

Yeah... The first sentence was completely unnecessary to this story, and I just hit the back button there. They fill all of their stories with so much word vomit.

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FirstGearPinnedTW200@reddit

It sucks extra because they used to be an awesome source for car content 12-13 ago.

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What_the_8@reddit

How are they still around?

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Drunken_Hamster@reddit

Hot Take: All patent and copyright/IP law should be abolished except for the ability to claim that "you" did it first and are the original source. At most, there should be a 5-year stay of exclusivity with no extensions and no allowed legal precedent to change that part of the law.

The worst thing is for dickheads and dickhead corpos to hoard patents and just shelve shit that could massively benefit our society and different industries. That and/or use patents to extort needy people (IE the fuckers who hold the patents on Insulin). After 5 years, the formulas/instructions/blueprints can't even be hidden or kept secret, EVERYTHING HAS to be exposed for public use.

Again, at most, you could enforce a 1-5% royalty per net profit on sales for, at most, 5-10 years, but even all of that I think is pushing it down the slippery slope right back to the shitshow we have now.

Anyway, as such I think that this isn't news and they should be allowed to do it, at the very least they should be allowed to do so 5 years after the GTD announcements and with at most a 1-5% royalty on the net profits of sales, preferably for no more than 5-10 years after that.

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mr_j_12@reddit

Then you end up with no innovation, and or expensive parts. Look at knockoff wheels.

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Drunken_Hamster@reddit

Innovation comes from either demand or human laziness. If people demand lighter, cheaper wheels, someone will invest to make it happen. The good news under a patent-less system is that no styles are off limits, and on top of that, everyone else can copy the new lighter design method. Competition breeds good value and lower prices.

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mr_j_12@reddit

New lighter design? No, cheap junk, made to look like the real wheels. Which is all you'll end up with bevause the real wheel manufacturers are out of the game and you only have your "rotas", "avids" etc.

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Fcckwawa@reddit

Lol sema banning stuff while giving speedmaster, the "we steal everything not bolted down" company awards😂😂

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athackrah@reddit

Unless there was some kind of wording on the body kit that is trademarked by Ford, I don't see why it would be a problem. That's why repop bumpers don't say "cobra" or "shelby," for example.

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thereallorddenning22@reddit

Trademarks include design and in IP law takes into the count a “confusion test” which is an objective test to see if the two can be confused by an objective person among other obligations of IP holders to police their IP.

In short, it’s not about direct clones it’s about close enough which this is.

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Indigenousboy420@reddit

Is it just me, or is TJ Hunt one of the most unlikeable car YouTubers

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mr_j_12@reddit

Smoking tyre, and the "rev up your engines" tool are far worse.

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Jlx_27@reddit

Good, literal rip off.

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othercargo@reddit

Now we have to wait till the Chinese knock offs come out, whether Ford likes it or not, a clone kit will be sold to people.

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uchigaytana@reddit

There's a big difference between selling a clone kit, and presenting a clone kit at one of the largest automotive shows in the world.

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Business_Oven_3821@reddit

And doing it next to the authentic version

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180Proof@reddit

...Which isn't even on the roads yet.

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othercargo@reddit

That makes sense.

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DeathCabForYeezus@reddit

Yeah...you can't make a bootleg of something and then cry when you face the consequences of bootlegging.

If they were making Rolex copywatches would they be surprised if they weren't allowed at Baselworld? Nope.

Same idea applies here.

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magnament@reddit

lol cry? These dudes just got the best free advertisement ever.

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Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit

...by crying like babies for the camera

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HOONIGAN-@reddit

Can we stop giving TJ all this attention? His whining about this whole situation is ridiculous. He and his company blatantly copied Ford and now won't stop playing the victim card.

Maybe try coming up with an original design, and then stuff like this won't happen.

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k0fi96@reddit

Yeah I usually like his content, but after the cryptic video about sued and finally seeing why, they 100% deserve it.

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Rillist@reddit

Any kind of attention is good attention. Click bait, rage bait, deliberately making mistakes in videos so your comments section get filled (with corrections to the mistake)

Engagement engagement engagement 🤮

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AsheyKnees@reddit

Well said 👍

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Xivios@reddit

Ferrari shut down the Fiero Mera, same thing really.

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a80040611@reddit

Clone kit on a eco boost stang is par for the fan base

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saturnuranusmars@reddit

What's a GTD?

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Complex-Muffin4650@reddit

Good.

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macgirthy@reddit

I;m more curious when Ford is going to finally release the GTD time at the ring. Its probably a GTDud. It may have beaten a GT3RS time, from a 991 3RS, an attempt back from 2018. But not a 992 3RS variant.

We would have already seen the time. This thing is a dude and will be trounced by a cheaper ZR1. I think I would like the GTD if they did release it with a manual tho.

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tjflex19@reddit

You're not seeing a ring time till next year. When Ford went a few weeks back, the track conditions weren't ideal for a run. So because of that, they ended up doing a media run and parade lap.

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Natedoggsk8@reddit

Doesn’t look like GTD in the thumbnail

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A_Wild_Gorgon@reddit

That's the street hunter version lol so you're saying they've got a shot?!

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Satanic-mechanic_666@reddit

How’s this different than aftermarket crash parts?

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ripestmango@reddit

I like TJ, but his team of lawyers isn’t winning this. His kit looks way too close to the GTD. I think he has gone a bit too delulu.

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gor134@reddit

If anything this just show's Ford's lack of confidence in their own product. People make BMW M/Audi RS replica kits all the time, really realistic looking ones too, and no issues.

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Unspec7@reddit

Saying that a M/RS is on the same level of exclusivity as the GTD is disingenuous lol

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RiftHunter4@reddit

My thoughts exactly. It casts doubt on if the GTD is actually worth the money if Ford has to prop up potential value by banning similar bodykits.

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ImJustStealingMemes@reddit

Its not like the GTD is an attainable car. Are we banning Shelby Cobra and GT-40 replicas now?

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hi_im_bored13@reddit

Many Cobra & GT replicas that are fully liscensed. Some are continuation cars

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fatitalianstallion@reddit

That IP hasn’t been protected for decades

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HOONIGAN-@reddit

His following and the fact that GTDs haven't even reached customer hands yet absolutely play a major factor in it all.

If it was a no-name Chinese company selling individual rep parts a year or two after the GTD had been out, there wouldn't be a story. But, selling a full kit that's 95% the same, openly admitting it's a copy, publicly debuting it at the largest aftermarket show/convention in the world, and doing so all while being a fairly major influencer in the space, is idiotic at best.

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abooth43@reddit

Idk I see a major difference in a relatively no-name internet company selling rep bumpers and an industry famous figure basically making a full rep kit of the brand new special edition and attempting to display that at an international tradeshow alongside the company they are pretty blatantly copying.

Ones inevitable, everything gets copied nowadays. The other is having it publicly rubbed in your face.