CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

CSX dispatchers (District 1 and District 2) and B&E dispatchers (District 3) are still using the same offices that were used when they were Pan Am employees. B&E has expressed interested in using the shared Iron Horse Park OCC across the street when Keolis moves North Side dispatching there. CSX has since backtracked a bit on whether they will let their dispatchers use the new building. CSX apparently doesn't want to feel as if they "owe" the state any favors for the free desk space.

There are less and less CSX employees in IHP every month. Some going to other regions or Jax, others going to Rigby (Division HQ) and some leaving.

And yes, while Pan Am loved the handouts, CSX doesn't want to get in a position where they can be strong armed.

I note with interest, how at the Genessee and Wyoming site, Berkshire and Eastern has made an adaptation of the one-time Boston and Maine herald, which depicted a Minute Man.

That herald got scrapped when Pat got kicked out of the New Haven during '56 and fled to the Boston & Maine. Pat of course had to give his industrial design pals from his New Haven days some work to come up with the Sky-Blue motif.

I must wonder who held the rights to the B&M herald that had not been used as a trademark in some sixty-five years. Did Timmy just "throw it in" when he decided he didn't want to play with trains anymore, or does he have ongoing royalty payments from G&W?

Enquiring mind is "curious".

Regardless of the answer I do not believe he'd have a successful challenge in court claiming the Minuteman cannot be used for anything.

Minuteman vice Minute Man; I stand corrected, Mr. Newpy

CSX bought everything — including the Pan Am logos, trademarks, licensing, etc.

If that be the case, Mr. Maine Central, might Chessie have a Me-Ow or two over that, unless G&W is paying royalties as is?

Secondly, it appears Pan Am branded "bling" is still being sold. Guess those royalties help keep "that darned cat" having her Fancy Feast rather than what the dollar store sells.

The B&M minuteman was used in the initial marketing/advertising campaign when Pan Am Southern (the j.v. of Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern) was launched in 2008. It's possible (this is speculation on my part) that Pan Am Southern had, and still has, permission to use the B&M minuteman for marketing purposes, and that permission has been transferred to G&W as Pan Am Southern's contracted operator.

The first image below is from a PAR/NS PowerPoint presentation. The second image below shows a banner over the tracks, and if you click on the photo and zoom in, you can see the B&M minuteman logo on the far left side of the banner.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2023 11:33 am If that be the case, Mr. Maine Central, might Chessie have a Me-Ow or two over that, unless G&W is paying royalties as is?

Secondly, it appears Pan Am branded "bling" is still being sold. Guess those royalties help keep "that darned cat" having her Fancy Feast rather than what the dollar store sells.

They aren't paying royalties because Pan Am Southern, LLC and whatever rights it retained to the logos (if any) still would be in place. Remember this is the actual corporation that owns the place and DBA, not B&E.

Pan Am received only a mention during the CSX Q3 earnings call. During the Q&A, an analyst asked about possible "inorganic growth potential opportunities."

But you have to remember, we've been investing in the New England region, which is the old Pan Am network that we purchased. And that's going to be an opportunity for growth. We're excited about that. We're going to start a new interchange point with CPKC in Myrtlewood, Alabama. We're very excited about that opportunity.

In a Railway Age interview with Joe Hinrichs re: Q3'23 earnings (negative trend yoy unfortunately), he says
"We’re putting more than $100 million into the former Pan Am network to get it to our speed requirements. We’re hearing from a lot of customers both in New England but also in the eastern part of Canada about being excited about the opportunity to take advantage of our network to get into the Northeast United States faster, because a lot of that Pan Am network is running 10 miles per hour, and we’re going to be able to run much faster speeds once we get everything finished. That will be next year sometime, not that far away. I can tell you there’s a lot. I was up in Worcester and Boston, and I went up to Portland for NEARS, and had a chance to talk to several groups. We’re hearing from customers that they’re excited about being able to access our network, and our marketing and sales team is ready to go. They’re waiting for us to turn the switch on to say, okay, we’re ready to go fast. I think we’re going to be pleasantly surprised by the opportunity up in New England."

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/csx- ... al-trends/

I would think the trademark on the Minuteman logo would have lapsed since they haven't been using it. I don't know about the copyright on the artwork or who would hold that. Obviously B&E has revived the trademark and artwork, probably with permission of CSX. I assUme the B&M logo would still be trademarked; there must be some piece of equipment somewhere still rocking the logo, and that CSX would retain it. The various PanAM logos and type fonts, I assume were not part of the sale of the railroad, right? Except for Panamrailways and Panam Southern. I assume that anyone could go back to the Minute Man statue and make an original drawing or photograph and it would be free and clear as long as it wasn't already trademarked.

BandA wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2023 12:10 pm The various PanAM logos and type fonts, I assume were not part of the sale of the railroad, right? Except for Panamrailways and Panam Southern.

CSX bought everything, including Pan Am Systems in its entirety, which includes the part of the company that handled licensing of the Pan Am intellectual property.

Licensing a trademark to (for example) a model railroad manufacturer is use of the trademark (and licenses can be granted at zero cost, but the paper trail must exist).

Excuse me from straying from what we are here to discuss - the rebuilding of the Maine Central (and finding a home for the former B&M PAS lines) into a road that can serve existing and attract new industry that can use railroad transportation to Southeastern Maine, but didn't Timmy keep the Pan Am bling marketing rights and merge it into one of his other companies?

And BTW, might there be a market beyond the railfan community for Chessie bling?