Chris Lonero posted:To me it really doesn’t make any difference. Mike owns all the tooling and he will continue making tinplate he just won’t be able to use Lionel’s logo without the agreement. Everything will be the same beautiful tinplate he’s always produced. I am just as happy to have MTH plates as Lionel.
If MTH owns the tooling and has Lionel has no hold over the designs, then I still see the MTH tinplate traditions line making a comeback in couple years. MTH's corporate relationships are none of my business, but if the L still hold any copyrights on the designs, then this is going to take a lot longer. I would assume that MTH is not beholden to any copyrights issues since they were making the same product under the tinplate traditions line before the LCT agreement came to be, but I don't know that for a fact. Given Mike's manufacturing origins, I wonder if some of the tooling actually came from Jerry Williams. Any way, I actually really like the MTH branded nameplate badges, and look forward to seeing them again.
