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Sorry, I do not agree with irate reactions against UP protecting its trademark. At the base of all this, there is an intent from a Company, UP, to control the usage of its trademark and logos. This is absolutely legitimate. Nearly all companies worldwide have done that since the early days of the existence of "trademarks" and "logos". We modelers react negatively to UP's licensing program because this hurts us on something we love, model trains. For a $15 car, a $5 licensing fee is simply a 33% increase for our modeling budget. I think that what manufacturers should have done, is consolidate all licensing fees they pay, and put the total cost in the "expenses" column of their books. Like any other marketing expense. And nobody would have noticed the extra cost. The licensing program is also there to prevent undue usage of a corporate image. For example, look at the January '97 cover of Mainline Modeler: It shows a "model" of a major rail catastrophe. I hate this picture, especially because it shows models of cars lettered for actual Companies. This hurts me. Which Company is willing to see their image used in such a negative way? In turn, I wouldn't believe that any modeler that has a UP-based layout, or operates UP models, both in a way that carries no disparaging image from the real Company, may have anything to fear from any lawyer ever. What actually I can't believe either, is the statement that Athearn and Lionel would have repetitively refused to comply with UP's request for licensing?? That would seem to me so childish, so irresponsible. That seems to me -so- far from the respectability we all know of these manufacturers. There must be something else we don't know. I can't understand the rationale behind such a punition, such a huge fine. I would rather believe this is politics to force both manufacturers to the negociation table with UP, certainly paying all past-due licensing fees, and everybody returns to his daily business. Those 42 M$ would certainly kill both manufacturers. This is the interest of nobody, and certainly not UP's. But this is just my opinion. SP Mike
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