Hope MTH is proud of themselves. Where do these monetary award numbers come from? Are they on dope when they dream them up? If Lionel doesn't come out the other side of this affair intact, it could do enormous damage to the hobby. Boxcab E50
I read about this in the NY times, and I have been reading about it as it has developed over the past few months. It's a simple case of lionel using MTH blueprints and designs to create products for Lionel. Then it gets more complicated when you look at the details. The contractors in asia got their hands on some MTH designs and then used them in Lionel products. I am not sure if MTH had to prove that Lionel was aware of the designs having been appropriated, the main thing is that Lionel did use MTH designs and MTH did not get compensated for it. I'm sure heads rolled at Lionel because of this. I am also sure that we will never hear what the real story is. Lionel management allowed these designs to flourish, they must not know their competition very well if they could let duplicates of their comptetitors products slip through their production lines. Lionel is having to pay the total profit from these items judging by the quantity they are having to shell out. I believe that Lionel can now appeal the quantity awarded to MTH. On a more interesting note: (add your own http and WWW) qsindustries.com/MTHQSILawsuit%20(1F3).htm [ 22. November 2004, 23:20: Message edited by: traingeekboy ]
