Ruling against Ford protects dealer turf.(Texas case outcome prevents Ford from selling used car from web site)(Brief Article)

A federal appeals court ruling last week is expected to make it even tougher for manufacturers to get into the retail business, even on the Web.

The U. S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans sided with a lower court that barred Ford Motor Co. from pricing and merchandising used vehicles on a Houston Web site. The courts upheld the Texas franchise law, which bans factory-owned dealerships and forbids factories from retailing vehicles.

``This was a hard-fought battle, and the stakes were high,'' said Bill Newman, COO of public and legal affairs for the National Automobile Dealers Association, which filed a brief in support of the Texas statute and helped argue the …