Sears being sued over advertising Craftsman tools

[Admiral]

I don't believe Sears ever actually made any of its tools; I think they always contracted out.  You can find (vintage) Craftsman hand planes made by Stanley, Millers Falls, Sargent, and maybe others.  I'm not sure who made their later crappy ones.

Correct, never did.  The marketed. Depending on the vintage, many of the woodworking hand tools were excellent; fell off in the early 60's when they spec'd for price points and not so much quality, at least in bench planes.  That being said, their block planes remained good through the 70's.

[Bill Wilson]

+2 to Admiral's post.  When you buy a brand, you get the rights to the brand trademarks, and I don't think Stanley B&D's lawyers were stupid enough to leave any loopholes in the sales contract when they bought Craftsman from Sears.

Stanley has a long history of legal challenges to & from competitors.  One would think they would know what they are doing, buy now.  It will be interesting to see where this leads.