Toy-Train Wars

[sarongsong]

August 11, 2005 (http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/006/101yekyb.asp)
"Toy train maker Lionel LLC said it has reached a settlement in a trade-secrets lawsuit it filed against K-Line Electric Trains Inc...defendants admitted paying a former Lionel chief engineer to develop advanced versions of Lionel's operating systems and features...K-Line agreed to stop selling all products that use Lionel's technology by the end of its 2005 fiscal year...pay Lionel royalties on all of those products sold during that time...reimburse Lionel up to $700,000 for its legal and related costs...
MTH Electric Trains...accused Lionel in 2000 of selling trains based on designs stolen from a South Korean manufacturer working for MTH...a jury in U.S. District Court in Detroit ruled that Lionel must pay $38.6 million to MTH...Lionel...filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which protects the company from having to post a bond while its appeal is pending..."

[Donnie B.]

As a former model railroader, I find that just... sad.

[Enzp]

I am a vertical model railroader - all my train stuff is stacked in the closet.

It is sad. There was also a relatively recent flap where certain railroads - notably the UP - were demanding royalties from model sellers that painted trains in their paint schemes. Previously the railroads saw it is free adavertising and good will. No longer. Pay us royalties or don't sell UP trainsets.

[captain swoop]

It's big money stuff, Digital Command Control is the way model trains are going and Lionel are innovators in the field, they don't want other companies ripping off all their R&D, it's no better than Piracy, It's the same with knock off kits, there was a problem a few years ago with Tamiyas kits being pirated and knocked off by Chinese manufacturers. they were inferior badly molded rubbish.