With this container being delivered to A.Hankin & Co, it is clear that these are Hankin licensed tables. Are other manufactures allowed to manufacture and sell Hankin replicas? I'd have thought not, but...
Even though the "design" of these Hankin tables was originally done by Hankin they really couldn't do a lot to stop others from copying the machine.
As Nino points out nobody can use your registered business name, particularly since Hankin & Co are still actively in business and would stomp on anyone who was stupid enough to use their name.
There isn't a lot to stop people from calling their product "Hankin style" or "Hankin inspired" as they are not claiming their product actually "IS" a Hankin table but rather one that "looks like" a Hankin.
The biggest difference here is that these genuine tables are just that, GENUINE - they bear the original Hankin logo and I have promised Hankin that I won't compromise on the quality. They are very protective of their good name and have refused others in the past from using it for various products.
Homepin-Hankins are NOT an exact reproduction of the original but a representation of them updated using modern build methods and materials, some not available back "in the day". Last time I was in the Hankin office just before Christmas, David Hankin said to one of his sons (Martin) in front of me that "these tables Mike is making are far better built than we used to make them" - that made my chest swell I can tell you.
I negotiated for quite some time with David Hankin and when he could see I was passionate about re-creating a quality piece of arcade equipment that would last and not make some cheap rubbish simply to make a fast buck he was satisfied. After personally visiting my factory in Shenzhen David was more than happy to handshake on our deal and after seeing the reports coming in from buyers of the first few containers A.Hankin & Co decided they should also begin selling these again. In fact, I believe they intend to put some of them into their existing pub sites as well.
Yes, I also supply them with a cheap 60in1 board because that's what the masses want but it can easily be swapped out for any JAMMA board you like and I have built in enough power supply capacity to run even the most power hungry original board. I could have used a small cheap power supply but chose to make the power available for the few that want to upgrade the machine.
Most buyers will probably just leave it like it is and the feedback is that kids love all the games that they have never seen before.