While I am not fond of MTH products or their lawsuit (or is it lawsuits?) over DCC. The antics of Union Pacific can no longer be tolarated.
I want to know of all of us start a lawsuit, can we get class action status and how many of it it will take and on what grounds can we sue to win. And is there a lawyer or group of laywers who are also model railroaders crazy eneugh to take this on.
Something Needs to be done before I start considering assassanation as a viable option. (Yes I am that angry over this. )
As is obvious, I am on the side of MTH, Who’s side are you on?
The options are…
Pay the license fee to use their logo, or;
Don’t use their logo.
It is theirs, after all…
Just how fast do you think Ford would file suit against you if you printed up a bunch of Tee shirts with their blue oval logo, and started selling them without paying the trademark license fee?
How about the day after they found out you were doing it…
This is kinda silly…the logo belongs to UP, period.
If they want to charge for the use of it, fine, that’s the law.
It matters not one wit if it is a model train, or a corporate jet the logo appears on, it belongs to UP.
In a movie, there was a scene that is symbolic of alot of situations going on these days in the business world,one character held a gun against his business rivals head and began to relieve himself on the pant leg of the other’s 3 piece suit with an expression of satisfaction. When the other complained violently, this guy said in a matter of fact tone, its no big deal we business men do this to each other every day
Bad guess. I am neither young or angry. I channel my frustration into expressing
my opinion in writing. Thanks for the motherly feedback. Its hard to take offense when someone takes a swipe at an opinion especially when their name is Mookie.
Well…
Like others have said before. The UP does have the right! How do CSXT Modelers must feel the same way. I mean,if the BNSF and NS where to do the same as CSXT and UP,then,oh well. What can you do? But as for the BNSF. If tomorrow or the next day the BNSF where to start chargeing for their logo,so be it. That’s not going to stop me from buying BNSF Models. I have finaly come to my sences that the UP does have the right. It’s only a matter of time before the NS & BNSF will do the same. Allan.
It would be appreciated if the originator of this thread had more respect for the Fifth Article of Amendment to the Constitution (no person may be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law). While Union Pacific is catching a lot of grief for protecting their trademarks, they are acting in a manner no different than any other business doing the same thing. I’m just surprised that more railroads didn’t start actively protecting their trademarks many years ago.
Stop into the world if NASCAR if you want to see some tight licensing stuff… You’ll note there is no shortage of NASCAR memorabilia around, and everything there is licensed, not just a select few.
No offense intended. I am just an observer of the human race. But young people, especially males, seem to be, ok if not angry, at least (I can’t use my hands so I can’t put feelings into words as well) at a higher level of frustration. More radical in their wanting to right a perceived wrong. And righteous indignation should be applied sparingly.
It’s called NTR (non-traditional revenue) and many companies, not just railroads, are seeking to identify those sources, even in small amounts, to bring to the bottom line. I would expect the other big railroads will follow at some point after UP has paved the way. Be glad they are willing to license for the model industry, they could just tell the company lawyers to shut down everyone using the UP trademark through lawsuits.
this is why my model RR is freelanced.
No license fees to worry about.[:D]
Unfortunatly even though Uncle Pete has been quite the A-hole about all this, they are legally entitled to this licensing fee of thier logo and paint scheme whether we like it or not. The same thing has been happening to model airplanes, where aircraft companies are now demanding a pretty penny for the privilage to build a model of a fighter jet. It has nothing to do with the fact that they already made millions from the government contract. Its all about the principle of the matter and about sqweezing all the blood they can out of the turnip, in other words, simple greed.
So now you choice is simple, pay extra, or dont buy it. MTH is going to lose, and UP will end up looking like a lumbering behemoth stomping on anything that offends its eye, but they wont care, why should they?Arent they are in business to make money, not friends, not fans. With continued lawsuits againts model makers and calender printers, ever wonder why less and less people like UP?
Sound like to me that some people just need to get over it and stop the crying.
If you don’t like what the UPRR did…Then don’t buy no more UP Models.
Stop crying for God sakes! Allan.
The money UP gets from this probably amounts to just about what it costs to enforce it. I am actually suprized it took so long for the freight railroads to move on this. Once they stopped trying to court the rail riding public onto their trains, they didn’t need the free publicity anymore.
Besides, is $5 on a $100 locomotive or $1 on a $12 boxcar really breaking you? Buy undecorated kits (if you can find them!) and actually model it yourself (horrors!). Let the decal company pay the 5%.