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General HO Train Discussions

Loose Ends

Maybe some thievery.

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toptrain
Moderator

Status: offline

Posted - April 05 2017 : 5:39:40 PM

A message I received from a member of the Anthracite Railroad Historical society. Concerning unauthorized copeys of a locomotive model that they produced.

Message is from here down . The post is as I recieved it with a request to post.
frank
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 30, 2017

Dear ARHS Members and Friends,

Back in 2007-2008, as a fundraiser for the society, ARHS invested substantial time and resources in the development of an HO-Scale Baldwin DR-4-4-1500 “Babyface” model shell that could fit on a Life-Like Proto 2000 FA2 chassis. This involved researching the Babyface designs at the PA state archives in Harrisburg, PA, working with CAD designers to appropriately scale the shells, working with resin mold casters to alter the shells to “lock” on to a FA2 chassis, and procuring the necessary detail parts to accompany the shells (windshields, steps, horns, etc.) All of this time was invested by the Society to further our mission of historical preservation and to support the Society financially through sales of this model.

In January 2017, the ARHS was contacted by Mr. Bruce Gavin of Big Dawg Originals (BDO) (https://www.bigdawgoriginals.com/). Mr. Gavin informed the ARHS he was selling copies of the shells which he had made from a mold he had taken of one of our shells. To justify this piracy of our design, he alleged correctly that the design of the original locomotive was in the public domain, but incorrectly that the design of our HO scale model was also in the public domain. It is not. Mr. Gavin is presently promoting his pirated copies on BDO’s website (link above), via eBay here and here, and via Facebook here. Apparently sales have been substantial enough to justify a second run per BDO’s Facebook and web pages.

The ARHS takes the position that Mr. Gavin's actions constitute theft of our design. Apparently this is not the first time that Mr.Gavin has attempted to pirate someone else's work. Our claims of theft are echoed by reputable manufacturers (Athearn, Rapido, etc.), and have been posted or quoted in reputable online forums (i.e. Model Railroader here)

So where does that leave us? The ARHS has contacted Bruce Gavin of BDO directly stating our position and requesting he and his company cease from these illegal activities.

We are also asking for your help and cooperation by not patronizing this illegal activity, and spreading the word to other modelers of BDO's questionable reputation. Companies like BDO only have a market for their product if there are customers out there who support them. Margins in the model railroading industry have shrunk so much in recent years that the only manufacturers left are those that would not be in it except that they enjoy the hobby as much as the modeler does. As if the financial pressure on the industry from overseas manufacturing wasn’t enough, now we have issues from companies like BDO on the home front to deal with. Specific to the ARHS, it was our hope that the investment we had in the Babyface models years ago could be used to benefit the Society down the road with additional HO models, including double-enders, and possibly runs of the Babyface shells in additional scales. The actions of BDO have put these future opportunities at risk for the ARHS.

The ARHS board of directors requests your support in not patronizing companies such as BDO and encouraging your friends and family to do the same. There is nothing original about BDO. Their work is theft of another’s investment, design, and hard-earned ideas, plain and simple.

Warmest Regards,

The ARHS Board of Directors

March 31, 2017

Evan, Steve, and others:

Thank you for your continued support of the ARHS. As you may be well aware, we are a community-based 501c3 nonprofit organization. Our society is all-volunteer run with much financial support from members and friends. Those of us who volunteer for the society do it in our own time as we have families, jobs, etc that take precedence. We had a large up-front financial and "time invested" cost with the initial run of the babyfaces ~10y ago, planning on recouping these costs with additional runs in the future. It would be nice to see additional related projects for the babyfaces come forward for the ARHS.

That being said, this is a subscription-based group with volunteer moderator whose function is to primarily keep posts on topic and minimize non-productive back-and forth written confrontation among posters to the group. As far as I know, there are no confidentiality limitations to members of the group. Assuming I am correct here, you are free to repost at will, without modifications to the original post.

Best regards,

Ed White
ARHS Treasurer
On behalf of the ARHS Board of Directors

toptrain

" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!

Edited by - toptrain on April 06 2017 06:31:46 AM

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