Here, finally, is our fifth issue. We wanted to maintain a bi-monthly release
schedule but since we are so busy producing the Century
of Lionel videos, we haven't had the time. In fact, we still don't have the
time but we're making the time to publish this issue. More articles for this
issue will be released in the near future.
We have been keeping an eye on the developments of what we've been calling the
"Korean Situation." Since our last posting a lot has happened. An
April 20 article in the Baltimore Sun
reported that the Korean government held 1,440 locomotives from Korea Brass
while the investigation was underway. Korean Brass paid $900,000 to the Korean
governement to release the locomotives and they were shipped to Lionel.
The four suspects in the case in Korea, three former Samhongsa employees and one
Korea Brass employee, all plead guilty to charges of stealing trade secrets.
MTH wanted Lionel to suspend distribution to dealers until the investigation was
concluded. Lionel released the locomotives anyway and MTH filed a lawsuit in a
US district court in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun reported that the lawsuit
claims that Lionel sold trains made from designs stolen from Samhongsa. In an
interview given to the Sun, MTH's attorney Charles J. Bloom said, "what we
claim in the lawsuit is that Lionel either knew or should have known that there
were trade secrets stolen."
"I feel like someone broke into my house and robbed my house,"
commented Mike Wolf in the same article.
MTH Electric Trains is seeking a recall of the Lionel Class A locomotives and
damages in the amount of $3 million, the amount estimated that MTH could have
earned by selling the locomotives themselves. They also want to prevent Lionel
from distributing more locomotives that could have been made from allegedly
stolen material.
Neither Lionel nor it's attorneys made any comments in the article on the
specifics of the case. But Lionel corporate spokesperson Julie Laird said,
"we're going to fight this until we win, and we're not going to be
intimidated by Mike Wolf."
What does all this mean to the hobby? So far not much of an impact has been
made. At the time of this writing, six Lionel Class As and five MTH Class As are
up for auction on eBay. Not one of them has a single bid. But then again, this
is the slowest part of the year for the hobby.
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DID
YOU KNOW that in 1976 The Lionel Corporation, who sold their train
manufacturing business to General Mills six years earlier, introduced a brand
new logo? Known as the "Tri-L logo" it was used on stock reports,
letterhead, mailing envelopes and all corporate-related literature. If you look
carefully, you'll see that it is three Ls forming a triangle. Is it us or does
it resemble the triangle seen on slow moving vehicles? Coincidence? Thanks to
Andy Jugle for providing the logo.