After Formula 1 tweeted a 32-second promotional video March 7 for its new Las Vegas Grand Prix that called the series “the greatest racing spectacle on the planet” and the race to be held in “the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” Mark Miles wrote executives at Liberty Media a relatively informal, friendly letter kindly asking them to stop.

And at the time, Miles, the president and CEO of Penske Entertainment Corp., which owns and operates IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, believed the message in reference to potential infringements of IMS’s long-held trademarks around the Indianapolis 500 (‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’) and IMS (‘The Racing Capital of the World’) was well received.

“They said, ‘We don’t mean to be doing that to you,’” Miles said.

The message clearly didn’t make its way far enough down the chain of command.

To Miles’ surprise, LL Cool J introduced the F1 drivers Sunday afternoon ahead of the Miami Grand Prix toeing an all-too-similar line.

“What’s up, Miami? Let me introduce you to the 20 best drivers in the world. This is the greatest spectacle in motorsports. This is Formula 1,” said LL Cool J, before reading off notecards to introduce the 20 drivers to a receiving party that included more than two-dozen orchestral performers being directed by will.i.am.

“I heard that,” Miles told IndyStar on Monday in an exclusive interview, “and my reaction was, ‘I’ll bet you race fans know that’s a crock of (expletive). ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ is right here (at IMS) in May, by every measure.

“And I don’t expect (the potential trademark infringements) to continue. We had a little conversation with them when it was popping up around Vegas, and it was very informal and quick, so I was surprised by (Sunday). But I don’t think that’s their general MO.”

The question, obviously, is where the idea or direction to use that tagline in LL Cool J’s intro came from. It would seem questionable at best that the rapper was speaking off-the-cuff without any preparation when he called F1 ‘the greatest spectacle in motorsports,’ which inched even closer to IMS’s trademark that was originally filed in 1985.

The Miami Grand Prix leadership team includes a pair well-versed in IndyCar and the 500’s history: managing partner Tom Garfinkel, the vice chairman, president and CEO of the Miami Dolphins who for five years in the early 2000s served as the executive vice president of Chip Ganassi Racing, and race president Tyler Epp, who also spent five years with CGR and worked closely with the IndyCar program as CGR’s director of team operations and business development.

“I’m not sure who the chain of people is for writing something like that that gets said on the mic, but I don’t believe it would come from as high up as (F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali),” said Miles, insinuating he believes the latest blunder came from someone lower on the proverbial totem pole. “I didn’t consider it a corporate policy, given our relationship.”

IMS president Doug Boles told IndyStar that Penske Entertainment officials will likely again reach out to execs at Liberty Media and F1, in a ‘polite’, nonconfrontational way, to voice their concerns.

“’Look, we want you to be successful, and we’re excited you’re here in the U.S., but these are our marks, clearly. Go build your own,’” Boles said of Penske Entertainment’s intended messaging. “The folks at Liberty responded (earlier this year) and said, ‘We get it. We won’t do it,’ and they even said they’d go back and try to find those places and eliminate it. They couldn’t have been more gracious, saying, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ve got it, no problem.’

“The challenge with IP (intellectual property) law is, if you don’t aggressively protect your marks, then you lose the ability to protect it in situations where it really is important.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: F1's near-infringement on IMS trademarks 'a crock of (expletive)' per IndyCar