Posted on 01/31/2005 7:41:53 AM PST by pabianice
January 31, 2005: For over half a century, kits have been sold that enable military history buffs to assemble scale models of military ships, aircraft and vehicles. But that era is coming to an end, as the manufacturers of the original equipment, especially aircraft, are demanding high royalties (up to $40 per kit) from the kit makers. Since most of these kits sell in small quantities (10-20,000) and are priced at $15-30 (for plastic kits, wooden ones are about twice as much), tacking on the royalty just prices the kit out of the market. Popular land vehicles, which would sell a lot of kits, are missing as well. The new U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles are not available because of royalty requirements. Even World War II aircraft kits are being hit with royalty demands.
This move grew out of the idea that corporations should maximize "intellectual property" income. Models of a companys products are considered the intellectual property of the owner of a vehicle design. In the past, the model kits were considered free advertising, and good public relations, by the defense firms. The kit manufacturers comprise a small industry, and the aircraft manufacturers will probably not even notice if they put many of the model vendors out of business.
Some model companies will survive by only selling models of older (like World War I), or otherwise "no royalty" items (Nazi German aircraft) and ships. But the aircraft were always the bulk of sales, and their loss will cripple many of the kit makers.
I recall reading in a Modeling mag where the manufacturers and the railroad "flag" holders had come to some sort of accord on this.
A letter written by one of the CEO's explained that the requirement was "token", and was a reflection of our litigious society, therefore it was necessary to make a show of protection for the logos, etc, that are used on the models.
Not addressed, however, was the issue of the use of the likeness of a locomotive such as those built by General Electric or rail cars built by manufacturers still in business.
I think some of the older models may represent products built by companies long out of business.
The general thrust of the story was the problem had been somewhat solved, though.
Model Railroading, which I used to dabble in, is a multi-million dollar business (perhaps even approaching the billions, when one considers the rail fans, too) that I'm sure they don't want to kill off.
Nearly everyone that has ever played in a tech hobby has "violated" a copyright, I suppose.
What's next?
Is Harley-Davidson going to sue S & S for building an engine that has every physical appearance of a Harley Evo?
How about the after market frame manufacturers?
Harley at one time had expressed an intent to copyright the unique sound of their engine, caused no doubt by the efforts of the Japanese manufacturers to duplicate it.
There was even a rumor at one time that H-D was going to sue tattoo parlors and artists for putting the H-D logo on humans.
See how ridiculous this whole thing could get?
Shakespeare was right. "The first thing let's do is..."
I thought there was a practical limit to my opinion of "suits". Speaking as a former kid and current father of a son, a pox on these blood sucking worms.
> they are well supplied with traditional glue-together model kits.
How are the prices? Twenty years ago you could by a decent WWII fighter model for a buck and a half. With, say 4% inflation, that should now be $3.50 or so. Good luck finding one less than $10.
Oh, fudge. This is going to impact the tabletop gaming community like no one's busines..
Excuse me, "are ruining" should be "have ruined".. I'll be more accurate next time.
Of course, there are. But the price of asserting them in a court of law -- that's the rub. Boeing, Lockheed, et al are lawyered-up and can pursue legal action in perpetuity. For their part, kit makers are looking at legal fees that would dwarf their profit margin.
YAAAGGGHHHH!
I'd better get my Peleliu model quick!
I've seen this issue mentioned on the Aces High (Massively Multiplayer On-line WWII simulation) Bulletin Board, I think, but I'm unaware of any companies going after computer games or board wargames for representing their aircraft or vehicles. Yet.
Bloody hell. Now what's Spiderboy going to blow up in a few years?
BTW, Does anyone know if there exists a larger than 1/700 model of the USS Peleliu? An old buddy told me he'd seen one in Boston, but I can't verify/
A lot of us use the plastic 1/72 scale military vehicles. The really popular ones are the 1/300th scale "micro armor."
In terms of miniatures basically all I play are age of sail, so I don't think I have much to worry about. Boeing didn't build Ships of the Line.
That's really sick and disgusting. This sickness and disgustingness doesn't start with Boeing, though ... it starts with the low life lawyers who filed the suit, and the idiotic judge who didn't throw it out with prejudice.
By the way, I personally collect and build models myself, mainly sci-fi imports (Bandai Gundam) model kits, and I also think this is both extortion and a ripoff.
I think model kit makers will start moving factories to China over this.
I'm heavily into Victorian Science Fiction gaming myself. Fortunately, I can scratch-build just about anything I need. It's unlikely I'll get sued by the contractors who built the Martian combat tripods or Her Majesty's steam juggernauts. However, a lot of the folks I know are into historical or pseudo-historical (NATO vs. Warsaw Pact) tabletop gaming, and I can see this coming home to roost for them.
Last year a guy put a long notice in the paper that his name is copyrighted, and that others can't use it or reproduce it without his express consent. Hmm...
Well, if they're going after plastic models, they'll go after small metal miniatures next.
The interesting thing is if they'll go after someone with a board wargame that simply has cardboard counter for a squadron of B-17s or something.
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