[Infowarrior] - Pentagon vs. Hobby Shops

[Richard Forno]

Pentagon vs. Hobby Shops
By Noah Shachtman EmailOctober 25, 2007 |

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/pentagon-vs-hob.html

Should mom-and-pop hobby shops have to pay Lockheed and Boeing to license
model planes? 

Inside the Pentagon reports that "your local hobby shop has recently had to
charge little Timmy 40 cents extra to purchase an $8 toy model kit with the
likeness of a U.S. military vehicle, according to the Hobby Manufacturers
Association (HMA)."

    Timmy has had pay up since defense contractors began pressuring
scale-model manufacturers and distributors to pay licensing fees in order to
use the designation or likeness of the life-sized military vehicles, HMA
says.

    The contractors have sought 2 to 8 percent of the costs of each unit
from toy manufacturers, according to the association. This expense, which
amounts to an increased cost of $6,000 for 15,000 units, is passed on to the
consumer, driving down demand and putting small hobby shops in jeopardy, the
association argues on its Web site.

    So Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) included a provision in the House version of
the fiscal year 2008 defense authorization bill requiring the Pentagon to
license trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks
relating to military designations and likenesses of U.S. weapon systems to
any qualifying company upon request.

    ³The fee charged for a license would be no more than required to cover
the cost to the government, and the license would be non-exclusive,² the
bill states.

    The Pentagon, however, ³strongly opposes² Andrews¹ provision, devoting
an entire page to the issue in its latest authorization appeals package.
Such appeals are typically reserved for last-ditch efforts to save big DOD
programs from funding cuts.

    DOD ³can envision no valid reason why a trademark owner should ever be
compelled to allow another entity to use that intellectual property, even
for reasonable license fees,² the appeal says.

    The HMA, however, can envision several reasons.

    One is that model kits can serve as a recruitment tool and free
advertising for DOD. Another is that military designations are determined by
a Pentagon system and the vehicles¹ designs are funded by taxpayers.