Surely the unlying question is do third parties have any rights to use either aircraft designs or real-life liveries in their work without the permission of the aircraft manufacturer or airline? I suspect the answer is that they don't, but that the companies concerned can't be bothered to enforce their rights. I think this would be particularly important for using airline liveries. Airlines are concerned about their image and would, for example, be very unhappy if their liveries were used in a game in which the aircraft crashed. My understanding (open to correction) is that Microsoft chose not to represent real airlines because of the consequences of needing licences."My own judgment is that protection should be limited for copyrights to the purposes for which the creator implemented the original work; for patents, the same plus reasonably foreseeable minor extensions and adaptations in the real world; and for trademarks to specific original uses."I disagree. You have not thought about mechandising. This often uses copyright protected material for totally different purposes. As an example, at Dublin Airport there is a Guiness shop. This doesn't sell Guiness, but sells almost everything else - drinking glasses, clothing, hats etc etc all bearing the Guiness logo and all licenced by Guiness. By your interpretation anyone could use the Guiness logo provided it wasn't for a drink. A company's brand image is an important and valuable asset. Quite rightly, they are not going to let anyone else cash in on that and the law protects them against it.Incidentally, if you do want a Guiness at Dublin Airport you can still buy one at the bar!

It is possible you are actually referring to the trademark, protected by trademark law. As a design, it has some elements in common with things that can be copyrighted, but the most sweeping form of protection is granted by trademark law. In short, no one else can use it. Then there is the sub-branch, called Trade Dress, that refers to logo-like design elements or particular sequences and combinations of specific colors.Anyway, it is what protects merchandising rights for using the marketing logo. I'm sorry we can't cover all the law in just two posts, and you were absolutely correct to note that there was something that had not yet been discussed. Good work.-Doug .... and speaking of beer :-beerchug

I agree. This whole point is much wider than a simple matter of copyright law alone.