I currently own a +Honda and have owned their cars before, but now I can’t see them providing my next car.

TorrentFreak

Honda Takes Down “Infringing” Jet From FlightGear - In a surprise move, Honda has sent a takedown request to the popular open source flight simulator FlightGear. The company asked the developers to remove the Honda Jet, as it infringes on Honda’s trademarks. The FlightGear team is saddened by the request but saw no other option than to take down the aircraft.Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services. http://ow.ly/2HqJOs

Honda Takes Down “Infringing” Jet From FlightGear | TorrentFreak

r herrold June 04, 2014 20:59

I saw one do a flyover at the MidOhio race track a few years ago … I wonder why their PR people did not intervene to find a way for a respectful of the IP license to use the marks to be used

John Pitney June 05, 2014 04:19

I just saw a high school kid wearing a Jeep T-shirt (in Korea!).  These days, all of the automakers are trying to extract value from their trademarks and would likely behave just like Honda in this situation.  It’s too bad that FlightGear’s use doesn’t fall under Fair Use.  If parody qualifies, then why not something like this?  

Michael K Johnson June 05, 2014 09:54

+John Pitney Just because FlightGear chose not to spend time and money fighting +Honda trademark overreach doesn’t mean that it’s not actually, as a matter of fact, Fair Use. Do you have specific references to other automakers serving takedowns against simulations?

John Pitney June 05, 2014 17:19

How about this? Not a takedown notice, I guess.

http://jalopnik.com/5834310/why-arent-there-porsches-in-forza-4

Porsche and EA have an exclusive deal. Ford’s deal is probably exclusive, too:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/215568/need-for-speed-players-get-15-mustang-first.html?print

Toyota demanded photos of their products be removed from a wallpaper site:

https://torrentfreak.com/toyota-claims-ownership-081114/

Curtis Olson June 07, 2014 16:54

I saw a blurb suggesting Honda is trying to push their jet into production now, so I suppose it’s fresh on their mind.  Wilbur and Orville were kind of stinkers when it came to this stuff too, but they were passed up in performance and innovation by guys like Glenn Curtiss (hey cool name!) who were busy innovating and making things work better, not spending all their time trying to hold onto the grasp of trademarks and copyrights and patents on one good, but quickly aging idea.

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