Explaination Please

Lionel gave MTH license to put their name on some of their tinplate reproduction stuff. The logo "Lionel" makes it much more valuable (at least perceived name brand recognition) compared to the same item that just says MTH. Outside of the train world few people have heard of MTH while Lionel is a household word. Even in the hobby,MTH is an off brand to some.  The reproductions are pretty much the same other than an added name tag. Strictly a business decision which benefits both companies.

Dale H

Wow surprised to see that Lionel would do that.. To have there name on a product that they have no quality control over.. Very interesting..

"Wow surprised to see that Lionel would do that.. To have there name on a product that they have no quality control over."

No one knows the details of the license, but it's likely it has performance requirements, as in all such contracts I've ever seen or heard about.  There was also a track record of MTH subcontracting with Lionel to produce Lionel branded tinplate from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and MTH producing tinplate with its own brand name for 15 years before this agreement.  MTH tinplate has a reputation for satisfactory or better quality in terms of performance and appearance.  Lionel didn't want to focus on this relatively low volume part of their line, and MTH had the experience, tooling and desire to do so.  I know people who wouldn't buy MTH tinplate with the MTH name on it, who now buy it because the Lionel name is on it, so it's probably a win-win.

It's very simple.

MTH had been making reproductions of Lionel tin for years,(dare I say decades?) the only thing missing was the Lionel branding.

It made more business sense for Lionel to sign a contract with MTH than to invest in tooling and assembly resources for a relatively small slice of the model train pie.

Rusty

"Lionel Corporation Tinplate" is a cooperative venture between Lionel and MTH.  It's been around for almost four years now.  Both companies earn dollars from this venture.

Jon

Every licensing deal I have ever seen or been involved in has a copyright owner approval clause. So I am sure it's like every other deal out there.....a profit center.....

I wasn't aware of this. I thought I was seeing things when I was on the MTH site and saw Lionel.... Thanks guys very interesting for sure..

The skin is a very close Lionel clone, inside is all MTH.  The ones I've worked on have all been PS2/3 models.  They are actually pretty well done.  FWIW, on the standard gauge stuff, even many of the old Lionel parts will still fit.

this article might shed some light on the deal.

mth

It all had to do with Lionel owing MTH a lot of money from a law suit.

Lionel gave MTH license to put their name on some of their tinplate reproduction stuff.

Lionel didn't "give" MTH anything...That license was part of a settlement that was awarded to MTH thru a court of law.  

Thanks for posting the link bigdodge I completely forgot about the lawsuit.. I remember reading about it/seeing it in the news but it slipped my mind.. makes more sense now..

Any speculation about it being part of the "settlement" is just that, speculation. The terms of the settlement were sealed so no one outside of Lionel and MTH know for sure unless they spilled the beans. Then I imagine there would be legal troubles for whoever talked. 

"Any speculation about it being part of the "settlement" is just that, speculation."

Indeed. The MTH-Lionel licensing agreement was announced some time after the settlement of the lawsuit (which was concluded via negotiation in the chambers of the bankruptcy court judge).  In other words, no one actually "won" anything except the right to move on without further legal action on either side.  As far as is publicly known, and as seems highly likely, the agreement for MTH to produce Lionel branded tinplate was a mutually agreeable and beneficial partnership that did not involve any court or legal mandate.  The notion that somehow MTH won this right through their lawsuit is unsupported by anything factual, as far as is publicly known, and is strictly in the imaginations of the hobbyist community.

Shhhh... No matter why, they are making trains

I liken MTH using the Lionel name on their tinplate trains to GM producing a reproduction of a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, right down to the Ford logos.

Stuart

I taped together the shredded documents from my Case Closed Mint car and it clearly states that Lionel is required to.......

The trains are very nice too!  No scratches,dents or checked paint.

Was it any different when Williams or T-Reproductions was doing it?

Rusty