dealing with trademarks

[phoneguy]

Well, bad news concerning modeltruckin.com.

Read the following sent to me via store email.

From: Jacquie Montez

Email: paccar.trademarks@paccar.com

------------------------------------------------------

It has come to our attentione through the existence of your website that you

are producing and offering for sale, decals bearing the Kenworth and

Peterbilt names and logos. Please be advised that the words, Kenworth and

Peterbilt, as well as the KW and Peterbilt oval design logos are registered

trademarks owned by PACCAR Inc. PACCAR reserves the right to issue

trademark authorizations of use for its registered marks to licensees and

approved contracts. Please contact the PACCAR law department at the email

provided. Unauthorized use of registered logos is a trademark law

violation. This is a courtesy notice to you. Please remove any reference to

Peterbilt and Kenworth from your website and discontinue manufacturing and

selling the decals with the Peterbilt and Kenworth logos.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please also consider and

review whether you hold any licenses for the other marks which you offer, as

you may be in violation of other trademarks besides ours.

Jacquie Montez

Trademarks Manager

PACCAR Inc Law Department

hmmmmm.... mighty strange I get this just after someone notified me of this posting:

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/forum01/index.php?topic=44980.0

Looks like I'll have to make a few "changes"

[huffanpuff]

well it was only a matter of time I think i'll just sand away at there names

[Jim B]

Maybe PACCAR won't want thousands of dollars in tradmark fees to produce decals that are less than 1/2" long.

[phoneguy]

I've already sent them a reply and hopefully the will have mercy on me. It's not like I'm mass producing 1,000 a day. Lucky if I do that in a year. But I will comply.

[Pete1980]

Hmm that sux.....mabye they will sapre you...LOL

[Jim B]

Ok, you'll comply. Of course.

[phoneguy]

Ok, you'll comply. Of course.

Of course.

[Foxer]

I decided to just stop using their names aloud.

[cowboysevens]

i think maybe if they knew these logos were goin on award winning trucks and you asked "purdy please" they might allow you to grace us with there names. lol just a thought. i would definately sign a letter stating that

dennis

[phoneguy]

i think maybe if they knew these logos were goin on award winning trucks and you asked "purdy please" they might allow you to grace us with there names. lol just a thought. i would definately sign a letter stating that

dennis

I sorta did ask the "purdy please"....awaiting an answer from them. However, as Tim has informed me, I shouldn't hold my breath. (I might have plenty of blue for the printer)

Edited June 29, 2010 by phoneguy

[Aaronw]

Actually I can't say anything bad about PACCAR over this, they do have to protect their trademarks by telling unauthorized users to stop using them or they can lose control of thoe trademarks.

How they respond to the request to make scale model decals will say a lot, hopefully they will be reasonable and offer a deal that allows the decals to be viable. Not all of the companies out there are unreasonable, and some even recognize the value of models showing their logo, hopefully PACCAR is one of them.

[phoneguy]

By no means am I mad over this. It just hit me out of the blue, but I do think somebody gave them a heads up on my decals. I do hope the will allow me to continue using their names, but if not, that's ok as well. There is no way small fish like me can afford the $$ to obtain the licensing fee, nor do I make that much in a year.

I will, however, still work on other sets.

[Aaronw]

By no means am I mad over this. It just hit me out of the blue, but I do think somebody gave them a heads up on my decals. I do hope the will allow me to continue using their names, but if not, that's ok as well. There is no way small fish like me can afford the $$ to obtain the licensing fee, nor do I make that much in a year.

I will, however, still work on other sets.

Erickson builds big whopping helicopters, and they have been modeler friendly, allowing the use of their trademarks as long as the modeler does their best to show the company in a good light. They even set up a modeler zone with photos and drawings of their helicopters useful to modelers. Lets hope PACCAR follows their example.

[David G.]

By no means am I mad over this. It just hit me out of the blue, but I do think somebody gave them a heads up on my decals. I do hope the will allow me to continue using their names, but if not, that's ok as well. There is no way small fish like me can afford the $$ to obtain the licensing fee, nor do I make that much in a year.

I will, however, still work on other sets.

Not necessarily. My wife is a librarian and she specializes copyright, trademark and intelectual property rights and infringement issues. Many of these companies have employees, departments or have hired specialized agencies whose job it is to search the web and any other possible rescource for violations.

A few years ago, I made a little desktop wallpaper image for my home PC. I put it together through Photoshop from digital images I took from pictures of my own car. When I put it on my web site, my wife cautioned me that I might be in violation of fair use rules and not to be surprised if I receive an official cease and desist notice from GM. I never did get a notice (though I kind of hoped I would) and have since removed the image.

Here's a copy of the image in question:

Good luck working this out with the company, I hope they just wanted to get your attention and insure approproate representation and treatment of their trade marks.

[Foxer]

Not necessarily. My wife is a librarian and she specializes copyright, trademark and intelectual property rights and infringement issues. Many of these companies have employees, departments or have hired specialized agencies whose job it is to search the web and any other possible rescource for violations.

A few years ago, I made a little desktop wallpaper image for my home PC. I put it together through Photoshop from digital images I took from pictures of my own car. When I put it on my web site, my wife cautioned me that I might be in violation of fair use rules and not to be surprised if I receive an official cease and desist notice from GM. I never did get a notice (though I kind of hoped I would) and have since removed the image.

Here's a copy of the image in question:

Good luck working this out with the company, I hope they just wanted to get your attention and insure approproate representation and treatment of their trade marks.

BAD move! now you really did it! The lawyers are monitoring this thread for sure and, not to mention the millions you have stolen from them using that logo, you wife will be having serious words with you!

[Old Albion]

Jerry,

I think a suitably worded E-mail or letter to the Marketing people of these organisations will resolve matters once and for all. These corporations are keen to make their products known to everyone worldwide. It is in their interest to promote the brand name. People like us model engineers are proud of what we produce and we do our best to build the vehicles to depict the quality and standards of build of the particular manufacturer. It would also be a requirement of the manufacturers to control the production of their logo's and brands to ensure that they know who is producing what? Imagine if Paccar said yes Jerry you can continue producing decals with our logo's on but it must be to this template. For me as a model engineer I want that decal not some cheap tat from China!!

On another note I have ideas for a future project and need some assistance with some decals. Send me a PM with costs for this old girl I found advertised on Courtland Truck Works web site.

http://www.courtlandtruckworks.com/detail.php?id=143

Best regards

Dave

[TUFF TIN]

These type things have bothered me for a long time. I used to build street rods and then Ford started telling re pop people that they couldn't use the Ford logo.

My thoughts are.............. Ford should allow them and offer them for sale in their own show room. What a boon to Ford with the free advertising. I think Paccar should do the same.

I guess if I make my own decals and display them on a model that the computer police will be after me. That sucks!

[ns4ever]

Perhas we should all leave paccar alone with their precious trademarks and start modelling more Macks??

[phoneguy]

Here is the official reply from Paccar:

Jerry,

Kenworth and Peterbilt do not wish to license your product, please discontinue the use of our trademarks.

Thank you,

Brian.

Brian Van Bodegraven

Claims Manager

PACCAR Inc

425 468 7387

I am saddened by this, but business will continue on without the use of the logos.

If you have any questions, send me a pm or email.--Jerry

[Brett Barrow]

Here is the official reply from Paccar:

Jerry,

Kenworth and Peterbilt do not wish to license your product, please discontinue the use of our trademarks.

Thank you,

Brian.

Brian Van Bodegraven

Claims Manager

PACCAR Inc

425 468 7387

I am saddened by this, but business will continue on without the use of the logos.

If you have any questions, send me a pm or email.--Jerry

Can't you just chop up the names? Make a "Ken" and a "worth" or a "Peter" and a "built" and make them so they only appear when the modeler puts them together. That's how airplane kits get around Nazi Swastikas.

[highway]

That's how MPC got around Monogram having the license for "Trans Am" in their "Firebird" kits. They chopped up all the letters and the builder had to put them together.

Don't know if that would still fly legally today, but if you put several different colors of background ovals...the builder would just pick the red one because it was pretty, right? Whatever word they happened to form to put ON that oval with your random letter fragments...same deal.

I was thinking the same thing. I have a few of those old MPC kits where the decal sheet has "TR" here, an "AM" there, maybe an "ANS" somewhere else. The oval and lettering may be a little fussy to get right, but it's an idea. Of course, you could always do like a lot of peolpe do in I don't know how many posts and use the misspelling of "PeterbUilt"! It pained me even to add that "U", but as many times as I see it misspelled here, I don't think most would notice!!

Of course, you could even do the "speakeasy" method! Offer them as an "unadvertised" special! If someone emailed you asking for "the good stuff", you'd know what they were meaning!

Seriously though, I'd like to know what the world is coming to. The models are out there for us to build, what is the problem with wanting some accurate decals to go with them. What's next, is Ford going to sick their lawyers on me for posting pics of my 1:1 F350 in the 1:1 reference section and a few pics show the Ford emblem in the grille? Or the fact I used Ford in the title for not only that thread, but my Ford LTL 9000 WIP thread as well?

[Jim B]

Well, at least he said please.

[phoneguy]

Well, at least he said please.

Maybe that was MY problem--I didn't say "please, mother may I?"

Like I said before, business as usual without any K******h or P*******t logos.

[SpreadAxle]

PACCAR was the one company I thought would care less about this. Especially with the fact that the most widely available toys/models/etc of trucks are PACCAR products. Well the stripes that you offer for cabs/hoods/sleepers are what I am mainly after.

Edited July 2, 2010 by FlatbedKW

[insaneMB]

Think about it man...your making money off of someone elses name..if the tables were turned you would feel the same way