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First time I have recently seen Lionel's sales volume published, $100 million.
Interesting article. In the interest of the turnaround, they could have mentioned the several moves of customer service and a biggie: How the 41 million dollar verdict was overturned on appeal which led to everyone making nice for the good of all (specially hobbyists).
Originally Posted by POTRZBE:
How the 41 million dollar verdict was overturned on appeal which led to everyone making nice for the good of all (specially hobbyists).
I do not believe it was overturned at all, Lionel paid it off (perhaps at a reduced rate) as part of the last bankruptcy.
I read the article. I thought it was ok. The blogs below the article had an interesting comment. Many times, the blogs about the article are the best part of the read. See below:
Ok article but a little vague.. But I am glad to see there is an effort to continue or grow Lionels success. In the past it seems they just banked on the name. Hopefully they can add to the product line and keep interest going. I wonder why you don't see national adds for Lionel or many toys anymore. When growing up I loved the commercials and fell for all their marketing ploys. I saw the commercial and then told my parents I want that. Now all you see are Tampon, Erection and depression commercials...How about something fun like a Lionel trains... Just thinking.. Its the parents that have to sell the kids on a train set now a days.. But the ipad app should be a good thing...
"Joshua Lionel Cowen, who also invented dry cell batteries'
This would be a suprise to Dr. Carl Gassner who invented it in 1888. Another inaccuracy.
Originally Posted by ptalar:
I read the article. I thought it was ok. The blogs below the article had an interesting comment. Many times, the blogs about the article are the best part of the read. See below:
Or what marketing American (Made in China) Girl has done. Nice concept, but the dolls and like are not cheep. It is very easy to spend $500.00 in there. Over the price of one train set. And most of the stuff is not electronic. (A granny player may have a battery and a sound chip, but nothing fancy.) Is Lionel as clueless as the Houston Texans?
"I do not believe it was overturned at all, Lionel paid it off (perhaps at a reduced rate) as part of the last bankruptcy."
The original verdict was completely thrown out in federal appeals court for a variety of reasons and remanded for retrial or settlement. Lionel filed bankruptcy to buy time, and in bankruptcy court, the judge was apparently much less sympathetic to the MTH case than the Michigan judge and jury, and a settlement was reached. It was sealed, but various rumors were that it was on the order of $12 million including licensing rights to one or more MTH patents for toy train smoke. So yes it was overturned on appeal. MTH's alternative to settling was to retry the case before the bankruptcy judge (no jury), and their lawyers apparently didn't think that was a good strategy. So you could say that in the end no one won. MTH's legal fees and expenses probably ate up a good bit of the settlement, once you include the plaintiff's attorneys' fees and the cost of many years of litigation. Lionel obviously also had large legal fees as well. A total waste of time and legal effort, IMO.
Isn't there a saying among politicians in the news, that, "I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right." With this article, we are told Lionel is in business and is making trains.That's probably good enough. The rest is details.
Oh I guess I missed the overturn/reduction. Like you said at least it seems to be behind them
This is great press for Lionel! It will hopefully remind normal people, i.e. not us, that they exist and believe they are a good gift choice for their children and maybe even for themselves.
This article indicates that very little research was done prior to submitting it for publication. Then again, I guess that would be expecting too much. 
