http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2...rweb186804.htm

Beverly Hills, CA (PRWEB) December 8, 2004 -- Frank Weyer, a patent attorney and inventor of U.S. Patent No. 5,975,728 issued on Nov. 2, 1999 announced today that he has sued Ford Motor Company for patent infringement. According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as Civil Action No. 04-08630 CBM (SHx), the "MyColor" TM option that is part of the interior upgrade package on the highly touted 2005 Ford Mustang infringes Mr. Weyer's patent for "Method and Apparatus for Providing User Selectable Multi-Color Instrument Panel Illumination." Mr. Weyer conceived of his invention while a graduate student at M.I.T. After the U.S. Patent Office granted the patent in 1999, Mr. Weyer sent a letter to Ford and other automobile manufacturers offering to license his invention. Ford did not respond.

Now, five years later, the new Ford Mustang features a user color-changeable instrument panel lighting system Ford calls "MyColor" that Mr. Weyer claims infringes his patent. Mr. Weyer is seeking damages and an injunction that would prevent Ford from selling or delivering any new Mustangs with the "MyColor" option. Mr. Weyer, filed the complaint on October 19, 2004. Prior to formally serving the complaint, Mr. Weyer contacted Ford, and offered to reach a cooperative resolution. Ford initially requested additional time to respond, which Mr. Weyer granted. After two months without a substantive response from Ford, according to court rules, Mr. Weyer was required to formally serve Ford with the complaint.

Mr. Weyer has informed Ford's in-house counsel that he is preparing a preliminary injunction motion that he intends to file in the near future. The preliminary injunction, if granted, would immediately bar Ford from offering for sale, selling, manufacturing or delivering any 2005 Mustangs with the infringing MyColor feature. That could prove to be a disappointment for Ford, which has launched a massive media push behing the 2005 Mustang, hoping that sales of the Mustang will drive its passenger car sales as a whole.

 

wow...gotta get it before its like the light up pony emblem in the original mustang lol

 

Hmm, isn't this a Delphi product? Why wouldn't Delphi also be named in this?

 

what do you mean

 

You could get a light up pony for the front grille of 1965 mustangs. It's incredibly rare. I've been around mustangs for a long time, and I've never seen one outside of pictures.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...319_4_full.jpg

 

learn something new every day

 

doesnt the mazda 3 also have this

 

Better to sue than actually do something yourself, eh? I'm sure this will get thrown out of court like the thousands of other BS lawsuits that are filed all the time.

 

dont see why it would be thrown out.. he has a legit lawsuit..it is HIS patent and ford is using it without license..

 

He did do something himself, he offered to sell Ford and others his invention. They declined, or said nothing. Now how would that make you feel about your invention and maybe even yourself? Then they turn around and use it a couple years later without paying you a dime, do you think you would feel angry and cheated? I hope this guy takes Ford for all he can, atleast he will get something for his invention and maybe send a message to some of these companies that they aren't above the law.

 

To me, it seems like he did a whole bunch of "something" himself.

 

I wonder if this is going to be like the intermittent wiper lawsuit of quite a few years ago. Nobody thought that guy was going to win either. But he did. Curious to see what happens with this one. I'm sure if he is granted an injunction, a very quick settlement from Ford will follow as they can't afford to not sell the cars and let them sit.