BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Banished from Kentucky's license plates because of copyright laws, horses are making a comeback. A new vanity plate that displays a horse became available this month.
"From what we can tell right now, it's being well received," said Erin Grogan, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Sales numbers won't be available until next month, she said.
![[plate]](/editions/1998/12/26/kylicense_175x90.jpg)
The familiar horse plates Kentucky used for several years were discontinued because the image of two horses running together was taken from a copyrighted picture.
The new horse plate costs $50, which includes normal registration fees. It is valid for five years with a $20 annual renewal.
The new vanity plate benefits the Lexington-based Kentucky Horse Council, which seeks to strengthen education, communication and legislation concerning horses. The group gets $10 for each plate bought and $5 of each renewal.
Sales aren't brisk in Northern Kentucky, some officials said. "It probably is not that big of a draw up here," said Kenton County Clerk Bill Aylor, whose office has sold two.
Campbell County Clerk Jack Snodgrass said his office hasn't sold any, despite having posters up.
"People really like the (standard) ones that are coming out now," he said.
Mr. Aylor, a fan of horse racing himself, said he'll stick with the standard plate.
"I'm never paying extra to have a license plate," he said. The Kentucky Horse Park still uses the old copyrighted photo in its logo, thanks to an agreement reached last year.
An attorney for German photographer Peter Thomann put the state on notice early in 1997 that the artist planned to enforce his copyright, and he objected to any further use of the image on the plates.
Mr. Thomann had a German copyright on his 1963 photograph, "Mare with Foal." He had been unable to obtain a U.S. copyright for the image until 1994.
That forced the Transportation Cabinet to stop making the old plates.
