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A number of years ago the Ford Motor Company had their lawyers go after all the suppliers that were selling reproduction parts under the original Ford part number. Their argument was the part numbering system was their intellectual property. They insisted that if they continued using the part number system they would take legal action against them unless they paid the Ford Motor Company a 7% royalty on each part sold with the Ford part number. Bratton's did not want to pay the royalty, so they established their own part numbering system. Those that complied with Ford apparently are allowed to advertise that the part is somehow approved by Ford and their is a hint at quality control
I don't believe for a minute that the Ford Motor Company is requiring any kind of quality requirement, it is only a financial situation to prevent legal action. For Bratton to change their part numbering system, it was an up front costly process the others wanted to avoid.
I thought the article was misleading.
Tom Endy