07-13-2011, 08:06 AM
A lawyer representing Caterpillar sent a letter to George Ellwood (Fallen Flag Railroads at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org) requeting that he remove photos of copies from locomotive manuals of EMD products http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cat-ltr.gif.
Legally, Caterpillar can enforce a trademark restriction. What they don't realize is the free publicity they get by their products constantly being displayed in model form and the negative publicity they receive by such actions.Major corporations and organizations don't care about bad publicity as evidenced by Ford constantly recalling cars because they explode when they get rear ended (Pinto and Crown Victorias in Police Specs), Walmart stripping municipality coffers, and cities building brand new stadiums despite cutbacks accross the board. Ford is still one of the best selling cars worldwide, Walmart enjoys a constant stream of profits, and stadiums are still being celebrated.We can all email Cat
The bottom line, as long as they are at the top of the profit food chain, who cares what the little guy thinks? It's all about the Benjamins. Guys like George Elwood who operate their railfan sites at no profit and relying on donations to help support the site (notice the lack of advertisements on the website) do not have the resources to take on companies like Caterpillar in the legal arena. We can all mail their legal team, but the legal team also has delete options in their email. If we are going to email anyone, we should email Caterpillar's Public Relations Department, the CEO of Caterpillar, and emails of support to George Elwood in case he needs it for legal purposes later on as well as moral support. It's tough being picked on by bullies.
This brings me to my next point. What happens to models of EMD's products? Will there be licensing on all models of E&F Units, NWs, SWs, GPs, ans SDs? If model builders have to pay licensing fees due to their profiting from these models, will that drive the cost of a model without DC to prices that are higher than brass?
Legally, Caterpillar can enforce a trademark restriction. What they don't realize is the free publicity they get by their products constantly being displayed in model form and the negative publicity they receive by such actions.Major corporations and organizations don't care about bad publicity as evidenced by Ford constantly recalling cars because they explode when they get rear ended (Pinto and Crown Victorias in Police Specs), Walmart stripping municipality coffers, and cities building brand new stadiums despite cutbacks accross the board. Ford is still one of the best selling cars worldwide, Walmart enjoys a constant stream of profits, and stadiums are still being celebrated.We can all email Cat
The bottom line, as long as they are at the top of the profit food chain, who cares what the little guy thinks? It's all about the Benjamins. Guys like George Elwood who operate their railfan sites at no profit and relying on donations to help support the site (notice the lack of advertisements on the website) do not have the resources to take on companies like Caterpillar in the legal arena. We can all mail their legal team, but the legal team also has delete options in their email. If we are going to email anyone, we should email Caterpillar's Public Relations Department, the CEO of Caterpillar, and emails of support to George Elwood in case he needs it for legal purposes later on as well as moral support. It's tough being picked on by bullies.
This brings me to my next point. What happens to models of EMD's products? Will there be licensing on all models of E&F Units, NWs, SWs, GPs, ans SDs? If model builders have to pay licensing fees due to their profiting from these models, will that drive the cost of a model without DC to prices that are higher than brass?
Mike Kieran
Port Able Lines
" If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be " - Yogi Berra.
Port Able Lines
" If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be " - Yogi Berra.