1:12 Tamiya McLaren MP4/6 Upgrade Options?

[dr_gn]

For the reasons already discussed about logos on this thread, I'd be amazed if he didn't find himself in deep water over their use in those pieces. He says on his Kickstarter page "The only thing I can't do is use the manufacturer logos, which is a shame." Yet on the MP4/5 plate alone he appears to have Good Year, Marlboro, Honda, Showa, Shell, Courtaulds and Boss.

[dr_gn]

Kozy said:

dr_gn said:

For the reasons already discussed about logos on this thread,

I must have missed that?

dr_gn said:

I'd be amazed if he didn't find himself in deep water over their use in those pieces. He says on his Kickstarter page "The only thing I can't do is use the manufacturer logos, which is a shame." Yet on the MP4/5 plate alone he appears to have Good Year, Marlboro, Honda, Showa, Shell, Courtaulds and Boss.

That's race livery, not the vehicle manufacturer's logo. Replicating a race livery is not going to be interpreted the same way as using the manufacturer logo to give the impression it is an official product. Livery is regularly shown on artwork depicting racing cars.

Anyway, I'll stop sidetracking your thread now, I just thought you might find it interesting.

Sorry, wrong thread, it was my other one on the Tamiya MP4/4:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=4&a...

To summarise, Tamiya used to include full Marlboro decals (the orange bits), GoodYear logos etc. None of these appear in the latest boxings of the kit because those manufacturers have stoped Tamiya using them. I believe Tamiya would have to pay to use the logos. The solution for the modeler is to simply buy an aftermarket decal set.

This is why I made the comment - if Tamiya can't use them, how come the laser etch guy can?

No problem with the thread sidetrack, it's all good stuff. In fat I have more than a passing interest in potential issues such as this at present.

ETA, Sorry, I mised the fact that it's you who's selling them. I should have addressed my points to you rather than makeing them comments. Apologies. I think they are still valid though.

Edited by dr_gn on Sunday 27th April 21:48

[dr_gn]

Kozy said:

dr_gn said:

ETA, Sorry, I mised the fact that it's you who's selling them. I should have addressed my points to you rather than makeing them comments. Apologies. I think they are still valid though.

I wasn't aiming to link myself to it, but well spotted.

All valid comments as you say.

Don't get me wrong, as a design engineer myself, I love the concept of the etchings. All I'm saying is that trademarks, logos, whatever are a legal minefield.

I initially thought these weren't one-off's ie that you'd be advertising, for example, the McLaren on your website. If they are custom made to order then I don't see a problem.

My interest is partly due to my late grandad being a commercial artist and my mum having a lot of his original work. Some of this was done for himself, others for clients. If my mum ever wanted to print and sell his work, things get...difficult in terms of distinguishing who owns the rights to what. If the owners of the original work decided to exercise their legal rights, things could, in theory, get very expensive.

BTW I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume that you have the 'black box' version of the 1:20 Tamiya MP4/5B ?

[dr_gn]

Kozy said:

dr_gn said:

Don't get me wrong, as a design engineer myself, I love the concept of the etchings. All I'm saying is that trademarks, logos, whatever are a legal minefield.

I initially thought these weren't one-off's ie that you'd be advertising, for example, the McLaren on your website. If they are custom made to order then I don't see a problem.

Yes I've discussed it with quite a few people now, generally the stuff that I do won't contain any logos (in the sense of using the manufacturer one in the drawing border as it could be seen to be attempting to pass the work off as an 'official product') but in the case of race livery and for one off work, I don't foresee any problems. If I do get a C&D letter then I'll simply stop using whatever it was that caused it to be sent but I'd expect I'd need to be rolling off these things in a fairly significant number before that became a possibility.

With regards to 'Official Product' and licensing, I have already been in touch with Ford to ask about licensing the use of the blue oval on the work and they said I could have a license but at a fairly significant upfront cost.

It's something I may look in to down the line.

dr_gn said:

My interest is partly due to my late grandad being a commercial artist and my mum having a lot of his original work. Some of this was done for himself, others for clients. If my mum ever wanted to print and sell his work, things get...difficult in terms of distinguishing who owns the rights to what. If the owners of the original work decided to exercise their legal rights, things could, in theory, get very expensive.

Yes I can imagine that must be a bit of a headache.

dr_gn said:

BTW I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume that you have the 'black box' version of the 1:20 Tamiya MP4/5B ?

Good guess.

If it's 'art', are the rules different?

If an artist paints a picture of an F1 car, with all logos present, do they have to pay licence fees to all sponsors I wonder?

Slightly different thing, but IIRC in Germany you aren't allowed to display a swastika (hakenkreuz), unless it's for "artistic purposes". Most model kits don't include them, but again they are available as aftermarket items. It would seem that if it's 'art' some rules can be interpreted differently.