Model Railroad News: BNSF wants new licensing agreements

[Red_Rattler]

While looking over at Train Sim site, I came across a thread from mid-January 2009 with the link below about how BNSF and new licensing agreements.

http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/pages/edJan09.html

 

[K4driver]

OH not this again......WHO NEXT? NS? CSX? KCS?

 

[Gandalf0444]

If I was them I would be honored to have my logos on replicas of my locomotives...All it comes down to is GREED.

 

[OMG_internet]

Corporate greed is a parasite living off the success of others

Honestly, these people don't seem to grasp what the consequences could end up being.
They don't seem to learn from other's mistakes; they're too fixated on the profit margins.

Dan

 

[robbiehanson]

This may be fine and dandy for model railroad manufacturers(disclaimer: I don't model anything BNSF or heritage, so I'm not interested in their products anyway), but how does this work for free 3D models online?

I'm going to wait to pass judgment until I see the final policy outlined on their website.

 

[Red_Rattler]

Quoting part of above post just in case the forum decides to play time games again!

. . .but how does this work for free 3D models online?. . .

I would say that is the same, and may (not saying they will) affect them even more.

EDIT: Oh almost forget BN$F (& other rail companies). One of the ways I knew about your company(ies) was because of model rail!

 

[Tokkyu40]

Since the models amount to free advertising, maybe they could send us some money.

Claude

 

[backyard]

No other source...of course...

I find no other source of information regarding the BNSF even protecting their branding other than the BNSF.com site Terms of Usage...

What gives?

Several forums all link to the same link & of course have tons of whining going on, so is this legit?

What does the hobby industry say?

Give me links!

 

[StorkNest]

CSX does have documents on their site about getting licenses from them, been there for about a year.

BNSF had some info too, note I tried emailing them once asking some questions, got ZERO responses. All this licensing stuff makes me feel more like creating something other than deisel reskins, else I'd be

I guess I should consider myself lucky that Operation Lifesaver sent me an email acknowledging my question regarding how to get and use the red OL logo with the road in it. Now if only they would give me something more than, "Got your message, I had to forward this to the national department." Makes me feel like I'm the one on the right here

 

[NIARTcar]

messed up

wow greedy greedy compenies, they just have no other people to pick on right now, so they figure thed take down a few die-hard fans of model railroading (just for kicks)
so what are they going after microsoft too for their models?

 

[StorkNest]

Actually, I will state I can partially understand the position and I don't think it is wholly greed considering stunts some people will do for "kicks."

There was the guy who did the fake death notice about a co-worker on Wikipedia.
There are people who do weird things on MySpace and Facebook.
And in the past few days I read about a new "kick," sometimes used for revenge even by criminals, called "SWATting" where you contact the police through the Internet and make false claims of commiting crimes at another residence. One example, some teenager in Washington state called as if he was in Los Angeles so a couple and their kids got woken in the night and arrested. There's a guy in Medina, NY who was hit 3 times with this.
Licensing I believe provides some measure of protection from things like this.

 

[wridenour]

Greedy,greedy,greedy...

 

[wridenour]

And as for the toy train hobby, what this does is force companies like Lionel Bachmann, MTH, Walthers and many others to raise their prices...
What's next? Is BNSF going to require that you get a licence to even say with your voice "BNSF" or one of their other trademarks?

 

[NIARTcar]

but still

but still they are taking a completely free product and trying to make money were its not really theirs to make.

i understand that leagally they have a right to profits on mechandise with their logo, but still it is a question of good ethics, and they are really just trying to make an extra buck in times of bad economy

and thats just wrong to ruin a community based off of free sharing of content for the benifit of all