Re: Badges

[MDandGI@webtv.net]

Austin you are too modest, but you also make a good point re copyright.
It is feasible that the designs that inspired you... Sherrell, NY etc.,
may well have a C/R yet there was/is no problem with such inspiration.
The same must apply as far as yor/our badge is concerned. If it inspires
some other group such to higher aspirations so be it !
I for one feel that you deserve a long round of applause for your
inspiration and dedication in creating the badge.
Nice job well done, who needs copyright when we have such people in our
group!

Regards Geoff

[CFritz7001@aol.com]

Geoff & Austin,
WELL SAID!!! I was about to respond myself when your msg came across.
To coin a phrase, "You took the words right off my keyboard".
Even duPont could not succeed in protecting their trademarks
"Cellophane" and "Nylon", to mention just a couple of theirs which have
becone generic.
Thanks again. Austin!!! Let's go for it, and wait for the "sincerest
form of flattery" if it comes! (Besides, Betsy is eager to have her new
jewelry!)
Regards,
Carl Fritz
Gainesville, Florida

[Jbtc48@aol.com]

Mark;
I heard back from our Corp. law firm.
They advised that the cheapest way, and I mean cheap way, to do this and have
Austin register the design, add the minimal cost to the price of the badge
which is the primary cost.
In event that the"club" does ever have local, regional, national, or
international events this minimal expense prevents others from merchandising
our personal design.
This is called an ounce of prevention!
We should also consider registring TABC'S FOREVER. This will only cost
"members" another buck or two.
As one who has had patents, copyrights, registrations, and web sights
infringed on I believe a couple of dollars is a wise investment.
If nothing else it makes others consider befor infringing.
Regards,
Joe B

[Jbtc48@aol.com]

[Austin R. Baer]

Joe... I missed the call back today from my attorney, but my guess is that
the suggestion (solution) below makes the most sense. I will get an
estimate on registering the design AND the "T-ABCs FOREVER" group name, and
it would be helpful if you would do the same from your attorney, and go with
whichever firm is cheaper after submitting the cost of either or both
registrations to the group. I really appreciate your inputs, as I don't
want to be in the position of promoting any extra costs that the badge
program may have stirred up, however useful registrations are thought to be.
I am still awaiting a final price from the vendor, which will be passed
along to Jim Shade, so that collecting the money can begin and we can move
ahead.

My only other thought is that perhaps the registrations, if any, should be
added to the cost of the badge as you suggest, but only paid for by the
people that order the badge, rather than make registration an
across-the-board charge to every member. It wouldn't be worth the paperwork
or monitoring to do otherwise, as we probably have lots of members that just
"read-the-mail", don't need a badge, and shouldn't be burdened with sending
in two bucks.

Regards,

Austin

----- Original Message -----
From:
To: ;
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: [mg-tabc] Re: Badges


> Mark;
> I heard back from our Corp. law firm.
> They advised that the cheapest way, and I mean cheap way, to do this and
have
> Austin register the design, add the minimal cost to the price of the badge
> which is the primary cost.
> In event that the"club" does ever have local, regional, national, or
> international events this minimal expense prevents others from
merchandising
> our personal design.
> This is called an ounce of prevention!
> We should also consider registring TABC'S FOREVER. This will only cost
> "members" another buck or two.
> As one who has had patents, copyrights, registrations, and web sights
> infringed on I believe a couple of dollars is a wise investment.
> If nothing else it makes others consider befor infringing.
> Regards,
> Joe B
>
>
>

[Bill Harkins]

Mark makes an interesting point re Copyright. may I remind all our
readers that the MG company (Who ever that may be right now) has tried
for years to stop the reproduction of the MG logo without success
although it is a legal C/R and is registered. For what its worth I don't
feel we need to do much more than produce the badge and sell it
That would be my vote. Let's keep it simple and avoid legal entanglements.
Bill Harkins
Fallbrook, CA

[Jbtc48@aol.com]

Bill;
Try to get it right!
You DO NOT copyright a logo . You REGISTER it!
This whole thing is becoming a joke.
My firm has been envolved in this sort of thing for years and I can say that
with a registration you avoid 90% of the aggrivation from margional vendors
that want to take advantage of your designs by selling it cheaper at car
shows, etc.
Joe B

PS. and it is cheap insurance!

[Austin R. Baer]

Hi, all... (or Yee-hah for Coloradans): After interminable hassles about price and technical detail (among multiple sources), I finally have the badge tooling on the way. I should have samples in hand in about two weeks, and we could see production quantities as soon as three weeks thereafter. This notice is to ask you to 1) stay tuned, but hang on to your checks until I can approve the samples, but: 2) those of you who are leaving town, please send your checks to Jim Shade now... contact Jim directly for his mail address. We need to make sure that everyone who wants a badge gets on board. The reason for this "heads up" is that we'd like to avoid delaying the production run. We have, at last count, 154 badges spoken for. This does not include newcomers to the group, or any list members that may want to reconsider, given the fact that the price will undoubtedly go up for a (smaller) rerun, and, a rerun will probably not take place for well over a year. Also, because a number of list members have asked that the first run be something of a "collectible", I may change a color or two to make subsequent runs different from the ones we'll do now. That's entirely up to the group, but I didn't want to mess up the first set of badges with a date or other lettering that might meet such an objective. Better to screw up the second run. To the best of our knowledge, we think that we can keep the price at $30 delivered, including all tooling, shipping and packaging. We're going to try for a small overrun in the hope that we'll have a couple of bucks left over to pay for the extra badges. But PLEASE.... if you are already a member, been thinking about it but haven't done so, order one or more badges now (from Jim). We'll let you know when the sample has been approved; the entire collection will take place quickly so as not to delay the run, but you can pay for it when we give the go-ahead so that any unforeseen problems don't burden Jim with refunds. The extra badges are going to be reserved for new members, or any special purposes that may come along. We're trying not to set "policies" of any kind, but Jim has asked that we not sell badges outside the group, and I'm asking that you not expect to buy a badge later from the small overrun. It's been pretty tough to get it all together and front the project, so we'd just like to have your support now, when we need it, to justify the quantity pricing we're counting on. We're just not organized like other dues-paying groups with mailing labels. Jim has volunteered to collect the funds and ship out the badges after they've arrived. He's asked me to take care of everything else, so if you have questions about the badge itself, don't bother him... I've done enough of that. One other suggestion... to save Jim some hassle, send in a mailing label along with your check when the time comes. Details about the badge: It will be made of 70/30 brass, with five vitreous (fired) enamel colors, polished afterwards so that the metal separations between the colors ("barriers" or dams) as well as the entire badge can be nickel-plated. There will be two 8-32 nuts brazed on the back, horizontally spaced at 1-3/4" for mounting (should any of you have strong opinions or experience with an alternate mounting - for example, 2" vertical spacing - please let me know right away). The badge dimensions will be 3-5/8" across the flats of the octagon. New (and old) members are invited to see the badge design at our website (www.mg-tabc.org). Just click on "LOGO" Also... A number of you have expressed interest in T-shirts (and other tacky stuff, like English beer warmers) with the logo on it. I got a price from our local shop (which does excellent work - I did a detailed logo for our local Ridgway Railroad Museum that they printed very well) which is: $8 for a white shirt, $9.50 for black (shirt color cost, plus they have to do an extra opaquing operation on the black ones before silk-screening). That doesn't include the postage or a shipping envelope, which shouldn't exceed another $2, and I have to add $120 for six silk screens (five colors plus silver, represented by the gray outlines on the website posting). The minimum order is 36 shirts, and if that's all we do, the "tooling" would add roughly $3.35 for each shirt. If we do 120 or more, that would add only a buck. I'm taking care of the negatives and color separations. I'm guessing around $14 delivered. For now, just send me a sign-up email, with size and color indicated (small, med., large, or XL (XXL?)), and I'll put something together. I'd also like to know if you want the website address on the shirt under the logo. I didn't want this on the badge, because our URL could change, and because I didn't want to make it look like an ad for the Internet. You may feel differently about a T-shirt, and I'll be glad to comply with [url=http://www.mg-tabc.orgDon't]www.mg-tabc.org[/url] just below the octagon. Don't bother Jim with this project, as he's got enough on his plate and asked me to just get it done if there's enough interest. I'll get back to you with a total count, and a complete price, including shipping, in a week or two so that we get them mailed by mid-July. Obviously, I'll have to put together a consensus choice on color, unless we have multiples of 36 (cream or tan is another option), but sizes can be mixed. Please send the email to me, so we don't clutter up the list. Nothing will be ordered until you all know what the tab will be. Thanks for your patience on the badge, and special thanks to Clive (who asked me to narrow down the tires... done), Alan Moote (who suggested bigger headlamps... done), Jim for his color suggestions, and all of you for your nice comments and support. I haven't forgotten the JPEG image outlines that I promised to some of you for your coloring books. I hope that the badge turns out well and meets your expectations. If it does, we can do propeller beanie hats next year (anybody know the correct color for the blades?) Austin lazybear@alum.mit.edu (for badge info and/or T-shirts, and with apologies for the length of this e-mail) Jim FDShade@aol.com (for badge ordering) - (Jim will post his address for checks later)

[GRaw505@aol.com]

Greetings all!
I'm up for one of the new badges. How will we pay for them?
Best Regards
Geoff Rawlings

[Michael Card]

Jim My badges arrived in this morning's post. They look superb! Thanks for all your good work on this project. Mike Card TC 8233 England Question: What is the thread in the two fixing nuts?