Union Pacific not a scrooge

and special effects showing the "artist" using UP locomotives to destroy and kill everything in his path.< UP can't prevent any of this, creative license and all that. It's the money and only the money and it always has been. Some idiot lawyers convinced someone that they could make a huge profit on this, to defend their own job no doubt.

Actually, they can... and did... IIRC, UP took the group to court... which resulted in the UP trademarks being removed from the film footage digitally.

name some examples of employee abuse, there have been none from my view point. Yes, there are some bonuses but billions is way overstated

Jerry

But they are. By licensing the logos, they control the production of the items. It's a circular world, but for them it may work...

Did UP win in court? Or did the studio simply give up? The ruling in the "Barbie" case would seem to counter the case you mention... Hmmm... Don't you love the courts? :-) Make me wonder how long ago that film was made...

Paul A. Cutler III

Sad, but true. Doesn't mean the companies can't try. Probably wouldn't make it, but they could try.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

One could argue that we're merely capturing light reflected off their property in a device. Once the light leaves "their property" it's no longer theirs to control. Would a quantum physical argument fly in a courtroom? Hmmm, the jurors fell asleep during the genetic testimony at the OJ trial. I bet not, but I could be pleasantly surprised.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

My attitude is, if they think I'm cheating, let THEM come audit my books. At their cost. F 'em.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

Not exactly sure, since you're also dealing with two separate issues. A parody is protected under copyright laws (the courts have found through the years that a parody does not infringe upon the intellectual property for the author of the original copyrighted work it was derived from), but UP's logo comes under the trademark protection Titles... which are a whole different ballgame.

Many folks confuse copyright and trademark protection, even though the laws may vary considerably between them...

That reminds me of one - the editorial in the latest issue of Railway Age magazine was more than a little worked up about a recent toy commercial that showed miniature RC race cars speeding alongside an HO scale train. The cars get through a grade crossing fractions of a second before the oncoming train barrels through. The kids pump their fists in the air in triumph over their daredevil accomplishment.

The editor was perturbed about the ad, and assumed (probably correctly) that the railroad depicted in the commercial wasn't too thrilled about seeing a model of their locomotive being used that way, either.

If that matters, then how about all the steam predecessor roads that disappeared into the UP network 50 or 100 years ago (like Central Pacific)? You are not likely to find their name on any rolling stock today...

Paul A. Cutler III

As a serious RR photographer, this is something I have some experience with. If you take photos from a public place you generally can sell them any way you wish. If you take them from private property, i.e. inside a roundhouse etc., then you must have a property release from the owner to sell the photos (but not to simply take them.) There are some exceptions. Photos used for journalistic purposes, such as in magazine articles, are pretty much exempt from releases (1st Amendment.) Photos used for advertisements require model releases if there are recognizable people in the shot and might require property releases (depending on the photo subject.) At any rate, you are allowed to simply take any photo you want and keep it if it's not sold. This is especially true if taken from public property. This is the law that holds true for not only railroads, but pretty much everything.

Kent in SD

Railroad public relations at work. No wonder they loose jury trials.

Try some Kaopectate for you "loose" problem. Or a dictionary.

It's also probably a way to sell it to upper management. Those types are also looking at money, even though in the big picture, it doesn't mean much to UP's bottom line. Somebody probably did ask why do this now. The reply was "We can get money out of it.". It's a way to easy sell something that probably has some negative implications to a segment of society (us modellers).

Kennedy

See, now that's the part that bugs me about UP. I won't deny them the right to control their current trademarks, but demanding royalties for marks the Borg have assimilated and all but exterminated, that hacks me off. If they aren't used/don't exist, what's the bitch?

And yes, I model C&NW. So I have an interest in this fight.

Jay CNS&M North Shore Line - "First and fastest"

So they killed it but now want to suck blood from its corpse. Nice. UP also got sued lately in two massive derailments. I bet they will need to hike up the kiddy tax to pay for their terrible management and its bonuses. BOHICA.

CMC Heartland Partners is the shell of what's left of the old Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific).

Check out their company logo:

The Milwaukee Road filed for bankruptcy in 1977, changed its name to CMC Real Estate Corp. when it came out of bankruptcy in 1985. All of the operating assets and some of the real estate were sold to the Soo Line, and the company was left with the remaining real estate. In the next few years, there were a few convoluted paper shuffles of subsidiaries with names such as Chicago Milwaukee Corp., eventually winding up as CMC Heartland Partners. They basically are real estate developers nowadays.

I've heard the CMC is scheduled to remain in existence until December 31,