Good one!
I can hear the conversation on the golf course.
Things are not so good in my shipping department. We shipped two car loads of wheat recently, and they are going around in circles. I should have been suspicious when they only loaded about six ounces into the car.
We make this seem like a non issue in our use of the name, but if you try to use a logo from Pepsi or Coke or GM or the NFL or almost any business to make money on a product, you would be sued.
Ok then.
The next thing you know, UP will be suing Big Boy restaurants for trademark infringement. This all makes me glad I abandoned my UP railroad and built a freelanced east coast railroad. I’ve got more UP rolling stock than I would ever need to run on eastern MR.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reasonable licensing in the context of trademark protection. I think that a multi-billion dollar purveyor of wholesale transportation services trying to squeeze model railroaders who are, in their own fashion, promoting and supporting them to the general public (unless, of course, they think model railroaders don’t project the sort of image they prefer… hmm… [:)] ) is silly and really short-sighted public relations.
I don’t think charging enough to cover modest clerical expenses of maintaining a licensing program is unreasonable. Heck. $1000/year and pre-approval of all logo usage, with implicit approval of modelling actual buildings and rolling stock, seems fairly reasonable to me.
I just got a new loco for my birthday. I went out specifically for a UP. I got me a great little UP GP38-2. So far all my loco’s are UP or Sante Fe. They are about the only thing I see around here so that is what I like.
If they charge a little extra for licensing I’m fine with that.
Produce an item with the Coke or McDonalds logo on it and see if you need to get permission to use their logo. They would sue you and take your first born. [8D]
Probally a dumb question but what is MTH???
Good, Lionel finally gets retributions for the wrong done to it.
MTH Electric Trains, formerly Mikes Train House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTH_Electric_Trains
Never heard of them myself but I think that is who it is. I love Union Pacific so I really don’t care. [8D]
Perhaps you should send them an extra $5 in gratitude for allowing you to buy a representation of their equipment. [}:)]
10-4 on that Tukaram.[;)]
As was mentioned on another thread…Some of you think UP is bad? Forget the NFL… Try to illegally use a Disney trademark or character and see what happens to you!
I still remember the panic attack the Disney Corporation caused back in the late 80s-early 90s. Thousands of vendors selling unlicensed Micky, Pluto, Goofy and other character shirts/ clothing virtually stopped cold turkey because of Disney’s “ultra aggressive” actions to protect its logos. Like UP they were the “bad guys” and booed for a long while. What happened?..the hoopla faded away and almost no one speaks of it except for those of us that remember the uproar then.
UP currently doesn’t have to “overly concern itself” about its reputation, though they’ll likely have a change of heart as time progresses. On the other hand, if the HO market is a venture that’s going to be pursued… MTH will have to work hard to clean up its Public Relations reputation…K4 or no K4.
My new Union Pacific SD40-2’s coming to a Railroad near you. And yes,the logo is fully paid for…so their! Allan.
Pay for lost revenue and damages…I’m assuming that lost revenue is in regards to the licensing fee itself. But what exactly does damages include?
I can’t say I’m a big UP fan. In fact, I have been known to say: “You can’t spell Stupid without UP.” I definitely like and admire the UP of the past, and am glad that they are supplying jobs nowadays. But I hate they way UP is run, and I hate all these lawsuits going everywhichway. Yes, yes, it is UP’s logo, and they have rights to it, but unless it is proven that a product is very poor and actually reducing the revenue a railroad makes by decreasing its customers, I see no reason that any railroad would be charging for the usage of or suing because of their logo. Just standard American business for you, money money money.
But that’s just me.
TrainFreak,
You’re very correct. It is, in the end, about money. From UP to UPS, to CSX, to sports teams and so forth. Sad that we’ve come to this point in our society today. All we can do is “roll with the punches”.