I probably should know the answer to this, but we might want to put our collective wisdom to work here.  We are a railroad museum with an operating railroad as a part of our facilities.  Many of the various cars and locomotives we have are lettered as they were when they worked the general railroad system of North America, and as historic artifacts, that is exactly as they should be lettered for historic accuracy.  Most of the railroads shown on these cars are long gone, either abandoned or absorbed into much larger railroad systems.  If the trademark holders on the various heralds (logos to non-railroaders) and company names do still exist, the fact the cars are now in a museum, not used for commercial purposes, obviates any issues there, unless...

We are working with a production company now shooting parts of the pilot of a potential television series on our railroad.  Assuming the pilot sells to a network, the railroad will be a recurring location throughout the series.  One of the principal pieces of equipment to be used in the series is a caboose lettered for a still-existing railroad and the lettering, including the corporate slogan they still use, will be visible and readable in many of the shots.  This railroad no longer uses cabooses at all, and indeed was the donor of the car when it came to us.

The question here is obvious.  Do we have any trademark liability with that lettering visible?  Has anyone else ever encountered this situation?  Of course, we can go to a very good trademarks and patents attorney we know in the area and spend a pile of money to find out we never needed to be concerned in the first place, but before we do that I am curious what the group here has to say.  Thanks in advance for your help.

                Best Regards,
                       Bob

                R.T.Crowley - Curator of History, NC Railroad Museum

                North Carolina Railway Museum
                Post Office Box 40
                New Hill, NC  27562

                New Hope Valley Railway
                5121 Daisey Street
                Bonsal, NC  27562-9009

                Tel:     +1-919-362-5416 - Office
                Web:  www.nhvry.org

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This email may contain confidential and/or privileged information.  If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender immediately, and destroy this email.  Any unauthorized copying, disclosure, or distribution of this email is strictly forbidden.

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).