AND finally, from the normally tedious business of product copyright comes the weird and wacky story of a super endowed Frenchwoman and the Italian Ferrari sports car company. A natural combination one might think but, in this instance, the lady is not draped across the bonnet of a red coupe but, Ferrari claims, driving a coach and horses through its proprietary rights to the Ferrari name.

Erotic nightclub entertainer Ms Eve Valois, who performs under the stage name of Lolo Ferrari, has registered her Ferrari persona with French trademark authorities under a perplexing six product categories, much to the chagrin of the image conscious Italian company famous for the streamlined masculine appeal of its elite sports cars.

Ms Valois believes her surgically altered bosom to be in the Ferrari class, claiming the largest breasts in Europe (oh, very well, 130 centimetres, or a staggering 4' 3"). Ferrari this week took the far from streamlined Ms Valois to the French courts for trademark violation. Although free to turbo charge the testosterone of ecstatic punters in swish French nightclubs, Ferrari claims she had no legal right to commercially exploit its name.

Ms Valois's lawyer says the action will be vigorously defended. "The only common denominator with the Ferrari car is on the chassis level there is no risk of confusion." Ferrari pledges to defend its name and "the improper use of its unique heritage". And you thought trademark legislation was dull and boring.