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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23667-2004Jun7.html"DETROIT -- A U.S. District Court jury decided Monday that model train-maker Lionel LLC and others should pay $40.8 million to rival Mike's Train House Inc. for misappropriating its designs. " Washington Post June 8,2004Seems they were doing some serious industrial espionage!I am waiting for all the Model RR manufacturer apologists to explain to me once again about how these guys were truthful when they represented to the Model RR community that they were forced to raise model costs significantly because of UP RR's "predatory licensing scheme"! Do you think maybe there is a pattern in their business practices here, just maybe? Last I checked UP wasn't being sued for stealing anything!Chuck Schneider Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and (Virtual) CEO
>I am waiting for all the Model RR manufacturer apologists to >explain to me once again about how these guys were truthful >when they represented to the Model RR community that they >were forced to raise model costs significantly because of UP >RR's "predatory licensing scheme"! Do you think maybe there >is a pattern in their business practices here, just maybe? > >Last I checked UP wasn't being sued for stealing anything! LoL! -Jeff
I heard something like this before, a few years ago. I heard the they were accusing each other for stealing designs. From what I heard was their stuff is being made in Korea, China, and other Asian countries instead of the USA. The designs either got stolen or gets caught in the wrong hands and that's when the things starts happening. I have heard this from a hobby dealer who supplies big trains like MTH and Lionel. Edit;CorrectionKen Plaza
However Ken the way it works is that they went to court and Lionel et al lost! That means they are guilty! MTH did not so that means they are still presumed to be innocent!The interesting thing is that MTH is local to Baltimore-Washington area and consequently has been featured in the Post's business section for the 2nd day....IIRC it's a real young guy and he has or had about $40M in sales and Lionel has/had about $60m.... According to the post story he was sending designs over to Korea for fabrication (just like Lionel does) and the foundry over there immediately shopped them to Lionel and helped Lionel to bring out a derivative of the MTH models almost before MTH could....Some one want to explain to me, again, why offshore outsourcing is such a wonderful Idea ?????? Not having an MBA the logic of it escapes me! Chuck Schneider Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and (Virtual) CEO
>IIRC it's a real young guy and he has or had about $40M in >sales and Lionel has/had about $60m.... According to the >post story he was sending designs over to Korea for >fabrication (just like Lionel does) and the foundry over >there immediately shopped them to Lionel and helped Lionel >to bring out a derivative of the MTH models almost before >MTH could.... > >Some one want to explain to me, again, why offshore >outsourcing is such a wonderful Idea ?????? Not having an >MBA the logic of it escapes me!
Chuck, That's what I heard. It was something like you explained here. I didn't quite get the whole story right but you explained it much better than I can. Thanks for clearing it up for me. BTW, I couldn't get into the link unless I sign up for it. Ken Plaza
"Some one want to explain to me, again, why offshore outsourcing is such a wonderful Idea ?????? "Besides that, people like me lose there jobs because of companies moving development offshore. And if anyone was thinking I was making tons of money, that was not the case, I was actually being paid below the industry average. Somebody said it before, bottom line is all these major corporations care about, and it doesn't matter who gets stepped on to achieve the results they want. Chuck, I'm not standing up for Athearn, cause I personally don't understand why they just don't sign an agreement with Union Pacific, but I've always supported companies like Athearn, MDC-Roundhouse and Con-Cor because they make their products here, which helps keep people working here Take care, Rich S.
> Chuck, I'm not standing up for Athearn, cause I personally >don't understand why they just don't sign an agreement with >Union Pacific,My point exactly Richard! The relative cost of the license is Mice Nutz and I think they will spend a lot more than that fighting it and according to some PTO guys (Lawyers) that I know (Ride the train with me in the AM) Chances are excellent that they (The manufacturers) would lose. Apparently there is a huge body of case law and international treaties out there that support the position(s) that UP and the other RRs have taken on using their trademarks.> but I've always supported companies like >Athearn, MDC-Roundhouse and Con-Cor because they make their >products here, which helps keep people working here >As did I when I was investing in HO..... Unfortunately for them I've switched my energies almost completely to V-Scale. Chuck Schneider Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and (Virtual) CEO
"Unfortunately for them I've switched my energies almost completely to V-Scale"I can't seem to make that step. Every time I think about selling off my stuff and going V-Scale, the RE starts doing stupid things and I end up loosing a bunch of work That's when I realize, my layout has never been corrupted, the track has always been usable and I've never needed to rebuilt the track OH the joys of V-Scale route building Take care, Rich S.Edited for spelling.
