October 29, 2007:
In the U.S., Congress is being
called on to prevent defense corporations from shutting down production of
model kits, films or games that use images of military equipment. Over the last
decade, the weapons manufacturers have increasingly demanded payments to allow
such depictions.
For over half a century, model kits have been sold
that enable military history buffs to assemble scale models of military ships,
aircraft and vehicles. But that era is coming to an end, as the manufacturers
of the original equipment, especially aircraft, are demanding high royalties
(up to $40 per kit) from the kit makers. Since most of these kits sell in small
quantities (10-20,000) and are priced at $15-30 (for plastic kits, wooden ones
are about twice as much), tacking on the royalty just prices the kit out of the
market. Popular land vehicles, which would sell a lot of kits, are targeted as
well. The new U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles were not available for several years because of
royalty demands, and this created bad publicity for the vehicle manufacturer.
Even World War II aircraft kits are being hit with royalty lawsuits. Some deals
have been made, but the royalty demands are seen as greedy and unreasonable by
everyone by the lawyers.
These royalty demands grew out of the idea that
corporations should maximize "intellectual property" income. Models of a
company's products are considered the intellectual property of the owner of a
vehicle design. Some intellectual property lawyers have pointed out that many
of these demands are on weak legal ground, but the kit manufacturers are often
small companies that cannot afford years of litigation to settle this
contention. In the past, the model kits were considered free advertising, and
good public relations, by the defense firms. The kit manufacturers comprise a
small industry, and the aircraft manufacturers will probably not even notice if
they put many of the model vendors out of business. Some model companies will
survive by only selling models of older (like World War I), or otherwise "no
royalty" items (Nazi German aircraft) and ships. Foreign aircraft, from
manufacturers that have not got the same kind of legal advice, would also
remain available. But American aircraft were always the bulk of sales, and
their loss will cripple many of the kit makers. Some of the vehicle
manufacturers have noted the problem, and have lowered their demands to a more
reasonable level (a few percent of the wholesale price of the kits).
The lawyers also went after film and game
producers, but were rebuffed because many of these operations are part of large
corporations, who were willing to fight back. The rapacious royalty seeking
attorneys backed off there, and kept after the smaller model kit firms. All
this is actually in sharp contrast to past practice. For decades after World
War II, the defense companies had their public relations departments work
closely with the model kit manufacturers, and there was never any thought of
demanding royalties. But then came the idea of "maximizing intellectual
property" (without considering the side effects) and the lawyers displaced the
public relations specialists.
The U.S. House of Representatives is still
considering a new law, which would prohibit defense contractors
from requiring licenses or fees for use of military likenesses and
designations. The Department of Defense opposes this law, as do most defense
industry lobbyists. So far, the lobbyists have been winning.