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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by rails5 Scott218, you are absolutely right to be amazed by the bizarre directions many of the posts to this thread have taken. Direct to your point: like it or not, UP has every right to ownership of the trademarks of all their purchased companies. Also, you should know that if a company knowingly ignores an unlicensed use of its trademarks, that can cause serious trouble down the road in the world of "real" business. It must also be said that UP is not going to lose a single customer, now or in future, because of this issue. Having said that, it is stupid of them to do what they are doing. Their costs of overseeing the modeling licenses will exceed - probably greatly exceed - any revenues. They should instead insist on written license agreements but make them free of charge for the modeling community. [/quote] Dear Rails5 I’m afraid I disagree with your legal analysis of this situation; I have mentioned several times in this thread that UP has no right to charge for use of logos of constituent fallen flag railroads. Since many people seem resistant to this interpretation of the law I will defer to Mr. Robert L. Hundman, Editor and Publisher of Mainline Modeler. In the August 2003 issue of Mainline Modeler Mr. Hundman wrote an editorial about Union Pacific’s gambit to extort money from model train manufactures. Considering the fact that Mr. Hundman is a model railroad industry insider I consider him a well informed individual about the facts of this case. Mr. Hundman writes: “Can the Union Pacific Railroad Destroy the Model Railroad Industry? It’s possible because of the demands they have made on model railroad manufacturers. We have tried to separate fact from analysis…here, but all are relevant. First the Facts: …The Union Pacific has, over the years, acquired a number of railroads. Whenever and wherever they have done so, they replaced the emblems of the acquired lines with their “shield” emblem, obliterating traces of the former owner as best they could. In most cases this was done immediately and speedily. Customers were notified that they were now dealing with the Union Pacific. Our lawyers tell us that, according to the law, a trademark shall be deemed to have been abandoned when its use has been discontinued with no intent to resume such use. Non-use for three consecutive years shall be evidence of abandonment. Use of a logo or marque means the bona fide use of that marque in the ordinary course of trade; that is in this case, providing transportation. They have offered transportation services only under the name “Union Pacific”, they have not used the names of the former lines. That would make it clear that, while the “shield” is a valid continuing trademark, all of the fallen flag trademarks have been abandoned… “Analysis: ….what rights can the Union Pacific enforce? That they own the “shield” logo is not in question. But the “fallen flag” logos appear to have been abandoned under the law, and their belated attempt to re-instate the trademarks is ludicrous on its face, given the alacrity with which the UP erased the old names and replaced them with its own. Their intent was clear. The old heralds have nothing to do with their current business.” Hundman, Robert L. “Mainline Commentary” Mainline Modeler August 2003: Volume 24 Number 8 Now I know someone is going to say; “But Scott, I just saw (such and such) railroad’s reporting marks on a repainted piece of equipment just the other day; that means that UP still own (such and such) railroad’s emblem”. To this I will emphatically say NO!!! Reporting marks for car identification are just that; identification markings, not logos (much less copy righted logos). Also, while it is true that UP has many pieces of equipment that are still painted and lettered in predecessor paint schemes, the existence of such equipment does not mean that UP owns the emblems painted on these old cars and engines. It takes time and money to repaint rolling stock and it simply is not cost effective to repaint every car within a couple years after a corporate acquisition. Until next time… Scott218 [:)]
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