This is an oddity

[Rhinochugger]

At the risk of getting into an area that is frowned upon by our moderators, I would like to clarify this subject just a bit. It's not so much that the Chinese use tactics that are less than gentlemanly, but it's more of the fact that American business has gone to China, among other places, looking for cheap labor. So now those places have the technology handed to them. They don't necessarily want to give the knowledge back when their part in the process is complete, so now they simply use it to their own advantage.

No different to the UK really

But, as with all things, read the rules before joining the club

 

[vsmith]

Which is why it is not illegal - the law in China is somewhat different, even if a touch offensive, to some western nations.

But then we've been there before with the whole 'Newquida / Train' series

Not forgetting of course that LGB went bust in the middle of their Chinese outsourcing experiment, so the Chinese wouldn't have had to look far

So, I would say that this is a chassis from a Newquida 2-6-2 which, for that sort of wonga might not be a bad place to start with a scratchbuild project

There was a theory that EPL (post-Hindenburg but pre-Marklin) allowed the Newquida stuff to be made as a way out of debt owed to their Chinese manufacturer. No way to prove or disprove this theory, but it does explain why EPL or Marklin ever raised a legal fuss, because they knew they couldn't due to the previous debt settlement agreement. That's the theory, it just happens to fit the facts.

 

[Rhinochugger]

There was a theory that EPL (post-Hindenburg but pre-Marklin) allowed the Newquida stuff to be made as a way out of debt owed to their Chinese manufacturer. No way to prove or disprove this theory, but it does explain why EPL or Marklin ever raised a legal fuss, because they knew they couldn't due to the previous debt settlement agreement. That's the theory, it just happens to fit the facts.

The big issue with using the legal process is the cost.

Therefore, it often becomes more of a commercial judgement.

Very few law suits are prima facie cases - if they were, they would never get to court as the defendant would settle out of court - we're back to commercial judgement.

Therefore virtually every law suit (as opposed to criminal case) has a perceived success / failure ratio (by both parties) and that's when commercial judgement decides whether to proceed.

There was a classic construction case in the UK over the Steelwork for the new Wembley Stadium, and well before the case had actually got to trial i.e. in one of the pre-trial hearings, the judge pointed out that the two parties had already racked up some millions in costs, and that they had better go away and hammer out an agreement between themselves rather than waste any more money. It was the most expensive construction law suit in the UK never to come to court.