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Obtaining a license to build models


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So a question for you learned ladies and gents. How do, or what is the general practice of getting a brand owner company, for example Ford or MF, to sanction a scratch builder or toy maker to make a specific model(s) What are the likely commission costs and how does the process run generally. I am intrigued as to how the process works, what are the challenges and how receptive are such companies to having their brand made by a third party (albeit it in toy or model form) e.g would it have been a straightforward process for Marge Models to approach Ford for their recent models and what would the process have been?

Many thanks

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Depending on the owner of the brand which isn't always the brand name - especially talking of older manufacturers - it can be a minefield to get all parties to agree on the same thing and such licences can and do cost thousands of pounds.

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It is, as far as I know, not the making of the model itself but the use of the logo and name plates that are subject to the licence as they are generally copyrighted. Some manufacturers are more than happy to allow their use as it is publicity. I have said this before somewhere, but there is/was a Ferrari model collectors club who had the prancing horse on the front cover of the club magazine. The magazine was not for sale as it was for members only but Ferrari threatened them with court action unless they either removed the Ferrari logo or paid for a licence to use it. £50,000 (fifty thousand) was more than a small club could afford.

Very short-sighted of Ferrari especially considering they copied the prancing horse in the first place as it was the logo of Aveling who made steam traction engines!

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I'm not sure how it works now, I reckon that several 'hoops' would need jumping through as so many 'makes' and 'brands' belong to a single Company as their parent Company and that parent Company would have to be the first point of contact. As for cost to the model maker again not sure but may cost nothing as you would only be 'applying' for permissions and not actually buying anything off them. Out of production models of the real machine may be different but in the case of a current machine, if you want to reproduce it in miniature as an accurate representation of the real thing what the model maker used to have to do was build the model, submit it to the Company who manufactures the real thing, ask for permission to produce it in miniature and if the inspection of the model passes their inspection and scrutiny in that it is a true and accurate representation then they might give you permission (license) to produce the model in certain numbers, if you produce the said number and wish to produce more then you would need further permission (for a 'second run'). This is what I read somewhere when Dinky approached David Brown when they produced the white 990 in the mid 1960's.

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i am sure in talks with dave over numerous shows its a fair bit of work to get them approved, and as sue said its the logos and even colour schemes they protect , jd went after samson for the green and yellow spreaders , as they had copyright as such. i would imagine andy would have a bit of knowledge in some areas on this seeing as hes done the case ih ect??

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i am sure in talks with dave over numerous shows its a fair bit of work to get them approved, and as sue said its the logos and even colour schemes they protect , jd went after samson for the green and yellow spreaders , as they had copyright as such. i would imagine andy would have a bit of knowledge in some areas on this seeing as hes done the case ih ect??

John Deere stopped Roadless from using green and yellow back in the early 1960s too.

Also, while I'm in anorak mode, the Porsche 911 was originally designated the 901 but Peugeot had a claim on numbers with a zero in them (203, 204, 205, 206, 207. Etc), so Porsche had to change to 911 instead.

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It always amazes me what people get away with (duplicating decals is a copyright infringement and there are several websites offering the whole range!). Also, everyone who scratchbuilds is at risk (I was told that JD fined one small scratch-builder thousands). But, a lot of smaller companies are more than happy for you to reproduce their models free-of-charge, as they appreciate the publicity. I have a friend who make aerators and the Company who owns the copyright even gave him a tin of paint!

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  • 2 weeks later...

reply to lady ferguson yse that is right copying decals is an infringement but if you go about it the right way you can get the goahead from the companys as long as thay see watt you would like to do frist and send a sample or and both a model and yes even permission form john deere as this is watt i have done with john deere but not for a licence no one will get a licence ie small models makers for john deere not even universal hobbies can

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It's a shame no one could offer any comprehensive answers :-[ It would be interesting if there is a symbol/mark which denotes a model with a license, otherwise how do we know a product is endorsed? I see plenty of scratchbuilds produced in numbers that have little to no evidence of a license but is this because of the the production numbers?

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's a shame no one could offer any comprehensive answers :-[ It would be interesting if there is a symbol/mark which denotes a model with a license, otherwise how do we know a product is endorsed? I see plenty of scratchbuilds produced in numbers that have little to no evidence of a license but is this because of the the production numbers?

hi lee the models we build are licensed in black and white 

every county 

the massey fergusons we had to ask for the particular models we wanted and could only have them if no one else had them . agco charge 6% plus vat

any licence from fords were between and 9% plus vat e.t.c hope this helps dave

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Cheers Dave that's really helpful, makes me respect you smaller builders even more as those percentages are quite high, so if someone builds a run of say Masseys they will have to add that extra cost in, I wonder if the bigger manufacturers get a smaller percentage because they do bigger production numbers.

 

Thanks again. 

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