Ok, teaching moment...
Using the search feature of this forum we conduct a search for "Cub" and
this results page is displayed.
We can then start looking at the threads and see what the referance was. If we look at the second search result for
Cub we can scroll through and find that our search term is highlighted in red where ever it appears in the discussion.
Now lets do the same exercise with the term
"patent." Again our second search result is the Horizon Trailer COPYCAT discussion thread. Feel free to scroll through and find the mentions of patent in that thread. It makes for some interesting reading. There is discussion on what patent infringement is as well as some definitions of what a copy is.
Now if there is any question as to what my thoughts are on the state of the expedition trailer market in the USA please read my response
here in that same COPYCAT thread. Pay special attention to my summary and also remember that I am currently building a trailer for fellow Expo member TheGillz.
One last note about patents. As I understand it they are only as good as your ability to persue people who infringe on them. So if I hold a patent for some whiz bang gizmo and another company decides that hey that is a good idea and I can make money by ripping off that design, well if I don't have the money to fight it in court, or to collect the evidence to fight it in court then my patent doesn't do me a lot of good. Additionally if I understand things correctly there are some patents that have a limited life span and expire after X amount of time.
To get around this some companies use closly guarded "trade secrets" instead of patents to protect their product. An example of this is the Pepsi and Coke rivalry. In recent memory there was criminal action brought to bear on an employee of one of these companies that was trying to sell trade secrets to the rival company.
Another company that uses trade secrets to protect its product Crocks. The recipe that they use to form the material for their footwear has not been patented. If it was patented then all of their competition could see the recipe and change it just enough to work around the patent. How many companies do you see selling similar products to Crocs? They may have the same design and look but a different name. In addition to the trade secret of how the material is made Crocs also holds some patents and they are currently fighting to defend them.
If the above research helps fail to give the results that you are looking for you could always follow some really good advice that I recently recieved. It is as follows:
You may even want to email him to ask, sometimes the brazen approach is best.
I appreciated that little bit of insight that I recieved, and as it implies sometimes if you have a question it is better to go straight to the source and ask your question.
This is all probably more than you wanted to know so I had better stop now.
Lesson concluded... now where are the updated pictures? Any one? Any one?
Mike
hehe
