Model Forum / General / Models / March 2006

Short answer: No, they are generally not copyright protected.

Long answer:  It depends.

Case 1:

Some nose art on US aircraft were copies of commercial art, usually
pinups
from various magazines.  That art was copyrighted, so legally a copy on

an aircraft would be an infringement, although it was probably never
enforced
during the war, and there was little likelyhood of monetary gain.  Most
common
examples would be the numerous variations of Alerto Vargas pinups taken
from
Esquire magazines and calendars.

Case 2:

Disney (Warner Brothers too) designed many unit insignia on request,
all at no
cost to the  government.  If they used a known Disney character such as
Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, copies of those designs would probably
constitute copyright
infringement.  If the designs were done specifically for a unit and did
not involve already-existent commercial property and Disney did not
retain rights then they are probably not protected by copyright.

Case 3:

Some units had insignia with a copyrighted design, used with the
specific authorization of the design owner, for example "Snoopy"
patches.  Some of them even have a copyright symbol on them.  Those
designs are protected by copyright.

Case 4:

US national insignia - not copyrighted, but usage may be restricted by
law.  Generally the US government does not retain copyright, but it may
restrict usage via statute.  Some agencies require the approval of that
agency for use of their insignia or logo, but that may not be legally
binding - depends on the agency and the intended usage.

Case 5:

Insignia designed by government contractors where the contractor
retains copyright.
Those designs are protected by copyright.

Case 6:

There are instances of unit insignia having been copyrighted, often by
veteran's groups but also sometimes by people seeking to make a buck
off of well-known units.  These designs are protected by copyright, and
also sometimes by a trademark.

Flying Tiger insignia:  The tiger with the V device was designed by
Disney and Disney may legally have copyright - they could make an
inroad on repro designs on that one, as reproduction Flying Tiger
patches and enamel badges/pins are sold worldwide.  The shark-mouth was
used by other units prior to the AVG and is most probably not
copyrighted.

Nazi insignia - who is going to contest copyright infringement?  The
odds are if any German manufacturing firms owns the rights to a
specific design they will not contest it - bad publicity move.

One thing to remember - just because a design is ubiquitous in the
public arena and is widely reproduced without approval (like the common
"smiley face" design) doesn't mean it's in the public domain.  It's up
to a potential user to research it.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)
Not a copyright attorney, and never played one on TV

Where do warbird restorers get the RAF roundels?  I have the Air Corps
roundels -- the one with the red dot in the middle.  There's a source
for all the other USAF stars and bars insignia.  To me, it seems
there's a basic difference between the two services when they think
about their insignia.  But my sense of it all is that copyrighting that
sort of thing is going to be difficult.

By the way, the Target Stores logo is the same as the insignia for the
Peruvian Air
Force.