You don't need a degree in marketing to know that using social media right is an important part of building up any kind of brand these days. And the growing value of fan websites and Facebook fan pages seems to be leading to an increase in legal disputes over who controls them.

The latest example involves Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari. Last week, a Swiss father and son sued Facebook and Ferrari after control of their popular Ferrari fan page was taken away from them. In their lawsuit (PDF), Olivier and Sammy Wasem claim they controlled "by far the most popular Facebook pages for Ferrari enthusiasts," which they created in 2008. The complaint describes Sammy Wasem as an aspiring Formula One driver whose "passion for racing and Ferrari drew many fellow fans together." By 2009, the Wasem's Ferrari page had more than 500,000 fans.

In February of that year, Olivier Wasem got an e-mail from a Ferrari employee stating that "legal issues force us [Ferrari] in taking over the formal administration of" the Ferrari fan page. The same employee promised "to preserve and even enhance your role in the Ferrari Web Presence and communities."

The suit claims that Ferrari's head of online commerce confirmed the partnership, writing in a separate e-mail that "Your page could become the Ferrari Official Page and you could collaborate with us to manage it."

It goes on to describe how the Wasems and Ferrari did in fact collaborate on the page from 2009 until 2012, at which point the page had about nine million fans. A separate Formula One page had about 200,000 fans. An online study claimed Ferrari "put the company far ahead of any other carmaker in terms of engagement on Facebook," the complaint notes.

In their lawsuit, the Wasems say Ferrari, aided and abetted by Facebook, breached a contract with the Wasems. The deal they struck in 2009 never included handing over control of the page, they argue. The page's value has increased, and the Ferrari Facebook page now has more than 16 million fans.

"Ferrari wanted it," the Wasems state in their complaint. "So, with Facebook's knowledge and substantial assistance, Ferrari took it, and they have both profited from what the Wasems created."

No warning

On July 31, 2012, the Wasems were informed that they had been downgraded from co-administrators to "content creators." The same day, Olivier wrote to Ferrari employee Claudio Russo, demanding to be reinstated.

They were unable to agree, and their dispute moved into court. The California proceeding filed last week is not the first. The Wasems first initiated legal action against Ferrari in February 2013 in a Swiss court. "Four days later, in apparent retaliation, Ferrari alleged, in a proceeding in Italy, that the Wasems had violated the company's trademark rights, even though... [Ferrari] had expressly asked the Wasems to use the Ferrari logo."

That same month, the Wasems lost access to their Formula One page as well. Even their lesser "content creator" status was revoked. According to the complaint, Sammy Wasem even lost access to his own fan page (as an aspiring Formula One driver), "which had no connection to Ferrari whatsoever."

The Wasems sent a certified letter to Facebook explaining their predicament, and then the story gets stranger. A Facebook attorney called the Wasems' attorney, explaining that the Formula One page and Sammy's personal page "had been taken over by hackers." Rights to those pages were restored on February 28, 2013.

It didn't last long. Two months later, Ferrari complained the Formula One page violated its intellectual property rights, and Facebook deactivated it again.

Another section of the lawsuit emphasizes the value of Facebook fan pages, citing "an independent study released in 2013" claiming that an individual Facebook "fan" is worth $174 to a brand owner and "up to more than $1,000 per fan for luxury automobile companies."

The lawsuit demands "no less than the Wasems' share (at least 50 percent) of the value of the Ferrari fan page and the Formula One page, again citing the $174 to "more than $1,000" figures. A $1,000 per fan valuation would suggest Ferrari's Facebook page is now worth $16 billion. The Wasems also ask to be reinstated as co-administrators of the page.

Facebook didn't comment on the suit, which was filed on Thursday and first reported by Bloomberg on Friday.

Hijacked clout

Ferrari's case isn't the only one where a popular fan website became the focus of acrimony. Earlier this year, Ikea got into a court fight when it sought to take over Ikeafans.com.

In certain aspects, the Wasems' case follows the contours of Mattocks v. Black Entertainment Television, in which Stacey Mattocks created a Facebook fan page for the BET show The Game back in 2008. BET hired Mattocks, paid her, and made her page the official page. When she later disabled BET's access as they discussed full-time employment, BET made its own page and asked Facebook to "migrate" the fans to its own page, which it did.

Mattocks sued for breach of contract, saying she had an ownership interest in all the Facebook "likes" on the page. Her lawsuit failed, however, and the court determined she had given BET ownership of the page when she came on board as an employee. It's not a precedent that bodes well for the Wasems.

"The case illustrates how difficult it is for the aggrieved contractor whose social media clout has been allegedly hijacked by a brand or an employer," wrote legal blogger Venkat Balasubramani.