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?
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...
Actually Harley DID apply to copyright the engine sound. Jap makers were de-tuning their engines to have the same staccato harley sound.
I never did hear what happened with the copyright application.
The sound came in part fromthe fact that Harley pistons are "chasing" each other rather than at opposite ends.