Art of Gears
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Ford And Universal Pictures Fighting Over Raptor Name

By Sanjoy Alexander

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: The Raptor at the Jurassic World Gates at New York Comic Con in celebration of the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release at Jacob Javits Center on October 10, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: The Raptor at the Jurassic World Gates at New York Comic Con in celebration of the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release at Jacob Javits Center on October 10, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) /
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Universal Pictures would like to sell some toys with the “Raptor” name on them. Ford isn’t quite pleased about it because it has a truck by that name and some toys of its own too.

One is a very fast pickup truck which thinks it’s a sportscar-off-roader hybrid. No, not that hybrid. The fun kind of hybrid. The other is a very fast and intelligent dinosaur which hunts down humans in the sci-fi world of Jurassic Park movies. The name “Raptor” name fits both the Ford F-150 pickup and the carnivorous dino perfectly. But both Ford and Universal Pictures are trying engaged in a minor tussle over the same name.

Going into the details of this is a blog post by law firm Morrison/Lee. According to the blog, the whole thing sparked off once the Jurassic Park franchise got revived with Jurassic World. Remember those three Velociraptors which Chris Pratt tamed and teamed up with to take down the Indominus Rex? Those three were so popular that they got the nickname of “Raptor Squad”.

Universal decided to cash in on the trending name as well as on the appeal for the Raptor name tag. So they went ahead and applied for a trademark issuance for “Raptor Squad” in the segment of electronic toy vehicles.

Now this is what we call a Ford and Jurassic World crossover!

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This is where Ford, which too has a range of licensed toys, entered the scene. Apparently, Ford is worried that its rather young target audience will be confused by the “Raptor Squad” name and may associate the Universal line of toys with the truck toys that the carmaker sells with the Raptor name.

The Drive managed to contact Ford to get an official comment on this and Ford spokesperson Bradley Carroll had this to say.

"We continue to have conversations with Universal over the use of the Raptor trademark, specifically when it comes to the use in naming of toy vehicles, which Ford already has in the marketplace. We anticipate we will reach an agreement that will work for all parties involved. There isn’t a dispute, just folks trying to clarify the use of “Raptor” on toy vehicles."

Next: $7.3 Million For A LaFerrari Aperta?

It would be fun to see this light tug-of-war developing into something more than a mere “pulling one’s punches” fight.

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