I have no respect for copycats!

[Sailfish]

I'm sorry to hear about your distress.

I understand that it is frustrating, when third parties copies your hard work and pass it off as their own.

Having said that, business is not kindergarden. It is not fair. It is competition.

 

If nobody in the world was growing and selling oranges, and I happen to think of doing that, I can not blame my neighbors for following my example, when they see that my new business is successful.

The only thing that I can do is to grow more oranges then them, better oranges then them, having better customer service then them, having lower prices then them, etc.
Competition drives innovation. Simple as that.

 

Patents are more often then not a negative factor, in the terms of progress. Yes, a patent may encourage more small businesses to take bigger financial risks, in the hopes of their product to succeed and provide them with a more long term steady income. But a patent also many times serves as a way to suffocate competition.

In my opinion, it should be much more strict (not more expensive or difficult) to get a patent. The design should be something truly revolutionary (e.g. EM Vortech pumps with their magnet driven motors, Maxspect Gyre's novel flow pattern, InTank Media Baskets, etc.) and only valid for a relatively short time (2-5 years). Just enough to make your new, and usually met with sketicism, product accepted and adopted by the customers.

However, most "inventions" today are not revolutionary, but rather improvements of already existing technologies. People are still struggling with reinventing the wheel...
These "inventions" should in my opinion be free to be copied and attempted approved upon.
Maybe the guy that is being attacked in this thread believed that he was greatly improving the original design by altering the shade of color by just a tiny bit, or moving a baffle 1mm up or down. Probably not, but it is impossible to rule out completely.

To the op, if you were the original inventor of these designs, then you actually had the advantage of "being there first". For a period of time, even if briefly, you had that niche market all to yourself. That is money in the bank, right there.
I'm not questioning your creativity or hard work, but whining and lobbying against competing companies is not the receipt for success either.
Instead, be the orange farmer

[Oceanbox Designs]

Maybe the guy that is being attacked in this thread believed that he was greatly improving the original design by altering the shade of color by just a tiny bit, or moving a baffle 1mm up or down. Probably not, but it is impossible to rule out completely.

 

whining and lobbying against competing companies is not the receipt for success either.

 

I could understand that you may not be in my shoes to fully understand the real issue here. I simply NEED to expose his action because:

 

1. Made aware he's not affiliated with us in anyway!

2. Made aware it is not OK!

 

I could agreed on making better products and staying on top but I also refused to be silent once I'm aware of it.

[Sunstar]

 

I could understand that you may not be in my shoes to fully understand the real issue here. I simply NEED to expose his action because:

 

1. Made aware he's not affiliated with us in anyway!

2. Made aware it is not OK!

 

I could agreed on making better products and staying on top but I also refused to be silent once I'm aware of it.

 

I have to agree with Oceanbox.

 

HE has to make it known what this guy is doing is NOT okay. He is not lobbying against a competing company. he is bringing it to light that this "company" has taken a design that belongs to someone else and does not have permission to use it. IF the other guy can improve the design and functionality let the other guy make the design. If he wanted to tweek, then he should have contacted Oceanbox before hand and said, hey I got this great idea, can we work together?

 

I don't think you have ever been in a situation where your ideas have been stolen. Its not whining, its not complaining. Its putting your foot down before it becomes a problem that's too late to stop. I doubt for one moment that Oceanbox doesn't want this guy to start his own company. But oceanbox wants to keep his ideas his. And that's something he has a RIGHT to defend.