Unlicensed TM Peter Sam

Hi I've got his Trackmaster Peter Sam Yesterday and its an interesting one its an Unlicensed Copy of the Legit TM Peter Sam from Mattel. As you can see in the photos it seems the Tooling was Updated as the Original one opens like Donald/Douglas, Bill/Ben and Oliver and some other engines with Boiler detached and the Body stays but this one all of the Body Chassis can bee removed and also the Safety Screw is not Hold on to the chassis it gets removed easily but I can say this TM Peter Sam is a Great Model and toy to have 




Interestingly it has Mattel licensing and Copyright and the Item Number itself.

[Super]

Good point NWR...different than this one pictured below. Now I have a question...could the Gullane/HiT release opened differently than the Mattel? Both seems to be made in China.

My Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam and Duke are also "Chinese TrackMaster" engines, and I like them!
They could be better, but for that price they are great! 







Duke's name is upside down, but who cares...

how are the qualities on the Chinese Trackmaster?

You can tell right away Duke is a knockoff when the name plate for "Duke" is upside down.

But that's just my Duke, I had bad luck. Such errors are not limited to knockoff trains: just look at my very original Thomas & Friends Keihan 3000 Comfort Saloon:



Knockoffs are very affordable, and some engines are hard to find in they original form. I don't think I would have all "narrow gauge engines" if I go for originals only.

They are good runners. I'm glad I have them.

Yeah sometimes the Real ones especially the Narrow gauge ones are hard to find these Days....

Yes I have been eyeballing that same Peter Sam for quite awhile myself!!
I think that he may be a noticeably lighter brighter shade of green than his authentic counterpart?

Maybe Muddy Poppins

On a slight tangent, I've always wondered if these versions are actually unlicensed, or if Mattel (FP?) has licensed them, but just doesn't make a big deal about their existence? I say this because I would think Mattel has to be aware that they exist, and in order to protect your intellectual property rights, you have to actively enforce those rights. Meaning that if Mattel didn't actively seek to cease the manufacturing and distribution of these toys, then I think they could risk their trademark/copyright etc. 

I'm certainly no IP attorney, nor did I sleep at a holiday inn last night, so I may be missing a big chunk of the story.


And I too have one of the "unlicensed" Dukes. My major gripe about this version of Duke, is the little piece of plastic near the front wheels is uncolored. This piece is painted silver in the earlier versions, and I think it really makes the whole engine "pop" so to speak. In addition, and perhaps similar to Peter Sam, the color is much lighter than the earlier versions. See below for quick reference.

[Super]

There is no protection of international property rights when it comes from China. There they look the other way or don't care how much is stolen from companies world wide. They have gotten so good at copying that even the real manufactures have a hard time choosing what is theirs and what is a counterfeit. The world market is flooded with these replicas from coffee makers to these trains. In the last 4 years the US was trying to change that. There was also a push a few years ago with places like Amazon which is now the biggest transporter of these goods world wide to stop selling any counterfeit products from China but I am not sure how far that went.