Russ, I am not surprised that UP went after Nils and his distributors. He advertized his calendar as the UNION PACIFIC steam calendar, or some such. The words clearly could be interpreted as implying sponsorship or ownership by UP. And UP publishes and sells their own UP calendar. It was an accident looking for a place to happen.
The question was not if, but when. In other situations the UP has reacted similarly. No surprise here. Okay, as rail fans we know that is nonsense, but from a strictly legal standpoint it was an issue just waiting to be challenged by the lawyers.
I would suggest that the railfan community needs to exercise a bit of good judgement rather than letting our ego run the show. How about publishing a "Calender of UP steam pix" or some such. The difference in wording is significant. Whether it satifies UP I have not idea, but self righteous bitching isn't going to solve our problem. UP can afford far more lawyers than any of the calendar companies or model manufacturers.