Posted on 01/31/2005 7:41:53 AM PST by pabianice
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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