08-23-2010, 07:22 PM
Russ has now stepped in it! 8-) 
Just joking ... but he has broached the subject of licensing, or the right to produce an item that bears a licenced Trade Mark, a whole different and much more convoluted collection of laws!
Basically, if you wish to produce a model of a Ferrari or a U.P. locomotive (or box car,) since those logos are trade "marked," i.e., the logo "marks" an item as belonging to, or having been produced by the Trade Mark holder and therefore you must get permission, or buy license, to use that Trade Mark on your model. The same is true for sports teams and most other companies or organizations which have spent beaucoup bucks to have some graphic design house develop a logotype that "represents" that company or organization in the market place. (The cost of a logotype is usually based on the expected life of the logo and the value it will have to the company over that period of time. It can get expensive! NBC spent a couple million on that red and blue "N"!)
Some companies are more protective than others ... the Union Pacific and Ferrari are two such companies, and will bleed you dry for voilating their Trade Mark or design (appearance) patent.
(The Dust Buster people hung the Dirt Devil people out to dry over a copy-cat product a number of years back! It's business ... and business has spent too many dollars on developing a new product to let someone change the color and call it a different product!)
Just joking ... but he has broached the subject of licensing, or the right to produce an item that bears a licenced Trade Mark, a whole different and much more convoluted collection of laws!
Basically, if you wish to produce a model of a Ferrari or a U.P. locomotive (or box car,) since those logos are trade "marked," i.e., the logo "marks" an item as belonging to, or having been produced by the Trade Mark holder and therefore you must get permission, or buy license, to use that Trade Mark on your model. The same is true for sports teams and most other companies or organizations which have spent beaucoup bucks to have some graphic design house develop a logotype that "represents" that company or organization in the market place. (The cost of a logotype is usually based on the expected life of the logo and the value it will have to the company over that period of time. It can get expensive! NBC spent a couple million on that red and blue "N"!)
Some companies are more protective than others ... the Union Pacific and Ferrari are two such companies, and will bleed you dry for voilating their Trade Mark or design (appearance) patent.
(The Dust Buster people hung the Dirt Devil people out to dry over a copy-cat product a number of years back! It's business ... and business has spent too many dollars on developing a new product to let someone change the color and call it a different product!)
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln