Deadmau5, the DJ with the quirky sense of spelling, bought a Ferrari 458 Italia and tricked it out with a Nyan Cat wrap. He called it the Purrari. I say “called” because he removed the wrap after receiving a cease and desist letter from Ferrari. Someone asked me about the legal issues, I guess because I still play a lawyer on Facebook, so I looked into it.

It sounds like the issue is with his modification of the Ferrari emblem. Deadmau5 hasn’t released the actual C&D letter, but he has apparently said that it mostly involved the modified logo on the car and the floormats.

As a general rule, I think that (a) a person can do whatever they want with property they purchase, but (b) the seller might continue to own intellectual property rights associated with that product. I bought the Macbook on which I am typing this, and I am free to slap bumper stickers on it or use a marker to make the Apple logo look like a butt. I do not have any rights to use the Apple logo elsewhere, though. That doesn’t describe Deadmau5’s situation for several reasons. Continue reading →