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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by billkamery 1. Charging a royalty for the use of a trademark is very common. A little research on the internet will turn up more cases than you'll ever want to see. If it was illegal, a lot of organizations are breaking the law. In fact, one site (http://www.ipresearch.com/book_trademarks.html) has a graph from the book 'Royalty Rates for Trademarks & Copyrights' that indicates the most common royalty rates are 11% and 19%, much greater than UP's 3% ! 2. From the U.S Patent and Trademark Office's web site, where else? I suggest you try to verify information before questioning it, especially when it's so easy to do so. I remember looking at the applications for the M-K-T and Texas Pacific RR trademarks, among others. [/quote] I just checked the US Patent and Trademark Offices web site and yes you are right UP does own some of their predisesor's trademarks. HOWEVER the reason why UP owns them is because UP applied for use of the trademarks after they had originally expired. It is interesting to note that I personally could have applied for ownership of these emblems had I applied for them before December 31, 2002. At any rate UP does not own these emblems because they bought out the fallen flags in question, they own the emblems because they took advantage of trademark law by reapplying for the given trademarks for the sole purpose of EXTORTING money from model train manufactures. You know if UP wanted to, they could buy the trademarks of ALL fallen flag railroads. This is obviously a move on the part of UP to insert itself into the model railroad industry to skim an undeserved profit. I also think that the use of trademark law in this manner is questionable at best, it has already been stated in this thread that these emblems have been free to use by model train manufactures for so long that it is a little late to start a precident for charging licensing fees now.
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