Union Pacific Sues Athearn & Lionel

Arailfan · 2004-06-02T17:13:38+00:00

Well I guess it had to come eventually, and they going after two ofthe big names too. Here's a link to UP's press release:'s the suing part:"Union Pacific defends trademarksUnion Pacific Railroad Company has filed a complaint in U.S. DistrictCourt for the District of Nebraska naming as defendants Lionel, L.L.C.and Athearn, Inc. The defendants are model railroad manufacturers whohave refused to enter into licensing agreements for their commercialuse of Union Pacific trademarks. The complaint alleges claims ofinfringement of federally registered trademarks, trademark dilutionunder § 43(c) of the Lanham Act, Unfair Competition under § 43(a) ofthe Lanham Act, common law trademark infringement, unfair competition,and violation of the Nebraska Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.Union Pacific believes it is imperative that it defends its trademarksagainst unauthorized use by Lionel and Athearn. Both companiesrepeatedly have rejected Union Pacific's lawful licensing requests.Not only have Lionel and Athearn failed to license use of UnionPacific's historic trademarks, they have violated trademark protectionlaws by producing new models featuring Union Pacific's latest"Building America" branding and advertising campaign.Union Pacific notes that Lionel has a very active licensing programthat protects its own trademark. It is difficult to understand whyLionel and Athearn believe they are above the law, while more than 60other manufacturers, including many model railroad manufacturers, havelicensed their Union Pacific products in accordance with the law."I like the part about Lionel protecting their trademark - it onlyseems to work one way I guess!Bob BoudreauCanada

Jun 02, 2004 221 Replies

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Brian Paul Ehni 22 years ago

I stand (well, I'm sitting, actually) corrected.

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Howard R Garner 22 years ago

I can vouch for that.

Nevel Shute and Hammond Innes, my two favorite authors

Howard

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