"Casting Dinky Toys ?????? " Topic

I have been told that Mattel the copyright holder of Dinky Toys does not hold the copyright for the moulds just the trade name. This happened as before Dinky collapsed Dinky sold the casting rights/moulds to a number of other companies so nobody owns the casting rights (at least not in the EU) This is why there are a number of people selling (legally???) recasts of Dinky toys on EBAY.
Comments please

Seems unlikely. Copyright will exist somewhere. The fact that the actual IP holder may be difficult to identify, or may not have come forward to object (as only the IP holder can take action) does not mean that there is no copyright or that anyone can recast at will.

The copyright will generally vest in the original creator, unless created in the course of employment. A licence to cast does not transfer or assign copyright.

Dinky was owned by Matchbox in the 1980s, which was then bought out by Mattel in the late 1990s. Mattel would have carried out due diligence and purchased moulds, masters and the IP rights as well. Generally any contracts Dinky had created would have expired on change of ownership and needed to be novated with the new owner.

Mattel appear to have licensed production to Atlas Editions (owned by DeAgostini) but have generally not exploited the Dinky name. However I would say it is most likely that Mattel still own the copyright.

Dinky, Matchbox and Mattel will be registered trademarks.