Military aircraft manufacturers demand royalties for... plastic models!

I thought this will be topical for the piloting newsgroup because so
many of us grew up carefully assembling plastic aircraft models. How
many of us had them all over our rooms growing up, anticipating the day
we can go flying on our own?

It seems that the ubiquity of models in kid's bedrooms might be
threatened by manufacturer's demands for royalties for the intellectual
property.

http://www.ipmsusa.org/MemberServices/FutureHobby.htm
http://due-diligence.typepad.com/blo...ectual_pr.html

This isn't all that cut and dried in my mind - it just seems wrong.
Especially with military contractors that spent our tax dollars to
develop these machines, it seems to me out of line to ask for $40 in IP
for a $15 plastic model. This could very easily kill the whole
industry, leaving thousands of kids that would otherwise spend their
time and energy constructing flying machines and imagining themselves
taking off into the wild blue yonder to do something else.

Yeah, it won't dissuade the kids that REALLY want to fly, but overall it
could have a negative effect. We need more pilots, and I would argue
that building these models has a measurable effect on the number of kids
(and adults!) that end up pursuing flying.

Any thoughts?

-Aviv Hod