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At the begining

Tamiya Incorporated is a Japanese manufacturer of models, radio controlled vehicles, eductational models powered by batteries and solar energy, paints, tools and other supplies for modeling. The company was founded in Japan in 1946 by Yoshio Tamiya but only entered the model world in 1948 with the production of a wooden ship model.

Here, I will only try to cover Tamiya history in the RC modeling world, in particular from the models point of vue. Some of them are very representative of the market evolution and still feed fans enthousiam around the world.

The brand logo is "First in Quality Around the World" that is found in an outstanding moulding quality and parts accurately fitting close to perfection. This precision combined to a high scale detail standard make Tamiya productions quality famous among hobbyists around the world. The two star logo can be found on every Tamiya product. The red color stands for passion and the blue color for precision.

The Vintage phenomenon

The Vintage is an interest for something old that left its mark on its era. As an extend, it is also something that left its mark on someone at a given moment, even if the rest of the planet passed over it. To make it short, it is a kind of nostalgic cult, a meaning to own something one had sometime ago, or somehting that one did not owned at that time and he wants afterwards. In RC modeling, models prior to 1990 are concerned.

Tamiya is a major manufacturer in the RC model hobby and some of its models are considered as outstanding. This is especially the case for the 50 first models ("metal" era), but also for the next 50 even if some purists have a different point of view (the 51st model marks the transition to the "all plastic" production).

Whatever the number of concerned models, the vintage phenomenom can be explained with the following reasons:

 Tamiya is one of the forerunners in RC modeling for masses

 Tamiya has been an major actor on the market for over 30 years without interruption

 Tamiya brought real innovations on some of its models

 like in all domains, there are collectors.

Many information can be found on internet, both on fan sites and forums. I recommend you to visit these very interesting sites:

 Vintage RC which is the french speaking reference for vintage and recent Tamiya models.

 Tamiya 101 features very nice photos and videos of the first 100 models.

 TamiyaClub for for their member galleries and their forum.

 Tamiya Base for the whole site which is a goldmine.

 Tamiyablog THE site for fresh news about Tamiya.

Tamiya kit references

Tamiya kits references evolved over more than 30 years of activity.

The first reference type was used on the 30 first models. The reference was made of a series of letters and digits: RA-1201 (Porsche 934 Turbo RSR), RA-1016 (Sand Scorcher) until RA-1030 (Honda Formula 02 (CS)). "RA" refers to the production line (RC models), the first pair of digits (10, 12) to the kit scale (1/12th or 1/10th), and the last pair of digits is the kit number.

The second reference type made is simpler by removing the scale reference and by changing the production line letters by the code 58. So kit references became 5831 (Brabham BT-50 BMW Turbo), until 5865 (Clod Buster) when Tamiya realized the series would end with kit number 99.

That is why the "0" digit was then added after the "58" production line code. The Super Sabre (kit 58066) started this new sequel that still goes on. That leaves room for a thousand of models.

By extension and to make it easier, old models references where modified afterward to comply with the new reference type.

The kits can receive a 49xxx reference if they are produced in limited edition. This includes some re-releases (49154 Tyrell P34 Six Wheeler), the Chrome Metallic editions (49337 Wild Willy 2), the Gold editions (49459 Lunch Box) or competition chassis that yield world championship titles to Tamiya (49394 TRF415MSX Marc Rheinard). This reference type is also used for limited series of spare parts (specific color or material).

Finally, factory assembled and painted models receive a 57xxx reference type. Normally, they are identical to their counterpart kit, but they may feature different dampers (friction instead of hydraulic) or speed controller (mechanical instead of electronic). On the other hand, the body is already painted and decorated and the model is provided with a complete radio set, stick pack and charger. In my collection, the Madbull, the Xsara WRC and the Sand Viper are XB Expert Build models.

Tamiya distribution in Europe

Tamiya created a network of exclusive distributors who are granted a territory to distribute the product through their resellers network (mostly local hobby shops and chains specialized in toys). Quickly said, a distributor's job is to import the products (logistics, custom procedures), to make them comply with local laws (sticker with translated instructions and security warnings...), to distribute the products to a resellers network and to promote the products.
In France and Belgium, the territorial exclusivity was granted to T2M and to Dickie for Germany (among others). Other countries have their exclusive distributor too. The territorial exclusivity is a way to avoid destructive competition between distributor and features two other advantages: there are no price wars and this allows long-term commercial relations.

Nevertheless, it could be interesting for a distributor to sell to stores located outside its exclusive territory as well as stores may be willing to take advantage of distributors strategy differences (especially prices). For a better serenity between distributors (and stores), Tamiya established a system offering guaranties to everyone: trademark registration.

In fact, Tamiya Japan owns its brand and its logo worldwide. Like every brand, Tamiya registered its brand and its logo in particular to protect it from conterfeits (copies): so far, nothing special. What's original with Tamiya is they granted their distributors to register their brand and logo in the country where they operate (where they are granted a territorial exclusivity). So the fact is Tamiya brand and logo are registered by T2M in France and by Dickie in the other European countries. The proof can freely be found on the INPI website (the French bureau for registered trademarks): I made a screenshot of this information I found performing a rapid search on the brand. You can click on each image to display it full-size.

Worlwide registration

Europe registration

Europe registration (ext)

France registration

The most attentive of you probably noticed that distributors brand and logo registrations have no interest since it had already been done before by Tamiya worldwide. This proves that the European registrations can be cancelled anytime since Tamiya registered its brand worlwide before them. In practice, this means Tamiya can recover its European brand and logo ownership anytime. But these European registrations grant serious guaranties to the European distributors and also demonstrate the trust between Tamiya and their partners.

Consequences on Tamiya brand and logo usage in Europe

Because each distributor owns the brand and logo rights in the country where it is granted a territorial exclusivity, the laws on trademark propriety say the following: any product located in a European country is legally considered as a counterfeit if it was not imported by the exclusive distributor of that country. Here, the word "counterfeit" is directly linked with the rights on the brand and the logo: conterfeit does not mean "copy" here but it applies to the fact that the product wears the intellectual property (the brand/logo) without permission of the owner (the distributor). For legal European aspects, an authentic Tamiya product from a Tamiya factory is a Tamiya branded product only when the local owner of the Tamiya brand imports the product in the country where the product will be located.

You'd better carefully read again the last paragraph to fully understand it. Now, let's take a concrete example to see how all this works and what are the consequences:
 a German fan lives in Germany and buys his Tamiya products in a german store who bought the products at Dickie's => his collection is authentic
 this German fan decides to move to live in France, so he brings his collection => all his Tamiya collection (that wears the Tamiya brand belonging to Dickie) suddenly becomes counterfeits since it now wears the Tamiya brand and logo that belong to T2M in France.

Alright, still alive? I may have warned you to take Aspirin before you start reading . Wait, it's not finished: now let's see more examples (easier).
 a European fan buys a Tamiya product in Hong Kong => counterfeit
 a French fan buys a Tamiya product in Germany => counterfeit
 a French store buys a Tamiya product anywhere but at T2M's => counterfeit
 a German store buys a Tamiya product anywhere but at Dickie's => counterfeit

Now, let's try different versions (excluding local exceptions I don't know about) :
 an Amercian fan or store buys a Tamiya product in Hong Kong => OK
 a fan or a store somewhere in the world (apart from Europe) buys a Tamiya product anywhere (apart from Europe) => OK

Now ladies and gentlemen, just for fun, here are two more examples. For each, we pretend that all drivers bought their model at their local hobby shop and that all of them drive a Tamiya model:
 World Championship anywhere in the world except Europe => no problem
 World Championship in a European country => every driver drives a counterfeit model except local drivers living in the host country

What? You said absurd? Read again with care: it's pure logic! Examples listed above can really happen: the logic implied by laws on intellectual property leads to unexpected situations, but these situations are real legally-wise.

Practical consequences for European fans

On the purchasing aspect, no consequence for those who know how to use the internet to order Tamiya models or parts. For the others, or for those who prefer to buy at their local hobby shop, this means that Tamiya RC modelling is more expensive and that products are available if the exclusive distributor wants to import them (just try to find a TEU-302BK in France). Concerning new items availability, they are available when they arrive even if they may have been already available for weeks or months somewhere else in the world. Exagerating a lot, European fan have a privilege: we can buy the lastest new item when it is already almost considered as vintage in the rest of the world .

About consequences derived from the counterfeit legal aspect, wherever Tamiya fans purchase their products, nothing to worry about: Tamiya and their European partner distributors are hopefully smart enough not to stupidly claim their rights on the brand. Especially because they don't hire armies of lawyers to scan internet all day long. On the other hand, if you are running a parallel business, you'd better prepare yourself to face serious problems...

About national or international meetings, the ridiculous and absurd situations I described as examples can all happen. In practice, Tamiya and their European partner distributors never claimed or would claim their rights in such a silly manner, especially since Tamiya Japan can always force everything to be OK thanks to their worldwide rights. This would solve any potential problem derived from local brand registration.

Consequences for internet websites and forums

Property rights on the brand also apply to the virtual world. But like with fans, Tamiya and their distributors do not scan the internet all day long searching for sites, forums, personal pages and videos uploaded on Youtube. Publications on internet are a sort of promotion, useful "showcases" for the brand and thus for the distributors. Supposing an extreme case where a site or forum would severly harm the brand, then Tamiya or their distributors could act (like to force the site/forum to delete offends). This is highly unlikely to ever happen (since other laws exist like libel action), but it is theoratically possible.

Conclusion

The goal of this article is to inform you and certainly not to scare you: don't hide your collection because you bought a pair of dampers or all your collection abroad. The legal protection granted by the brand registration is before all menat to guarantee smooth operations between Tamiya, their partner distributors and stores. This protection is also an insurance in case a professional would try to cheat: an individual is not concerned by all this in practice. Tamiya and their distributors always had a very kind politic with fans and there are no reasons why this would ever change. But the system allows it, and it can even lead to ridiculous situations that makes you grin .

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First publication: september 08, 2008 Last modified: august 04, 2010

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