Ferrari has reportedly lost the rights to use the Testarossa name after a German court ruled in favor of a toy company that wants to use it for bicycles and shavers. I’m not sure what the “red head” translation of the name has anything to do with bikes, but I could see the argument for trimmers.
Nuremberg toy manufacturer Kurt Hesse, the boss of Autec AG, argued that Ferrari hadn’t used the Testarossa name enough over the last 20 years to prevent him from using it, according to Spiegel. Ferrari argued that its continued maintenance of the car should be enough to protect the rights to the name, but the court found that too small of a business practice to let Ferrari keep it.
Hesse now gets to use the Testarossa name however he wishes wihtout paying Ferrari the likely-steep licensing fee he would have, but Ferrari could still challenge the court’s decision if it could come up with a better excuse.
Maybe Ferrari will come back and say they’re rebooting the Testarossa name as a new model and we will all gloriously cheer. Or maybe not, and I’ll be cleaning up for a date with my new Testarossa shaver.