Not sure whether to be amused, disgusted, or flattered.

mrblaine

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Location
Quail Valley, CA
When I designed products for Tough Stuff Products, I came up with a flip up license plate holder for roller fairleads that used supplied snap rings to fit onto the top of the roller pins. I did a couple of things that make it unique to TSP but not really needed in order to see who would copy the design. The little angle brace off of the top arms, recessed area to mount the clips so they would be below flush. (could have easily used PEM studs). And the cut in the sides so the material would distort evenly when the depressed areas were hit with the press brake to make the dimples. The only reason any of that matters is due to how many near exact copies there are now that carried those over.

Do a search for flip up license plate mount in google. You are looking for this one-

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And then the copies of it that said fuck it and just put holes for the clips with no care for them being below flush.
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And then fuck it, just make it kinda look like it and get the name close.

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The single most amusing part to me is Tuffy Security once sent Brad a cease and desist letter over the name saying it was too close to their name and he was trying to piggy back on their marketing. I told him to respond with a two word letter on the company letterhead. FUCK OFF, instead he chose to ignore their bullshit and nothing ever came of it.

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  • Wow
Reactions: Zorba
Amused at the half-hearted tries, disgusted with the blatant bastardizations, and flattered by the near-hits.
 
i'd be flattered they tried to copy what i made.
disgusted that they stole it.
and amused at they cut corners to produce it.



goodyear likes this specific type of ladder now, only 1 co. in canada makes them............until a few yrs ago. we bought 2 and now make them ourselves the only difference being thinner materials and we laser our initials in the steps.

unless you stole your beat from the beatles it doesn't seem that they care about idea or design infringement even with a patent.
 
i'd be flattered they tried to copy what i made.
It is never flattering. Trust me.
disgusted that they stole it.
That's the spirit.
and amused at they cut corners to produce it.
I'm just amused by how many copies there are.
goodyear likes this specific type of ladder now, only 1 co. in canada makes them............until a few yrs ago. we bought 2 and now make them ourselves the only difference being thinner materials and we laser our initials in the steps.

unless you stole your beat from the beatles it doesn't seem that they care about idea or design infringement even with a patent.
All a patent buys you is the ability to spend money to protect what is yours.
 
IP theft is horrible and it's a nasty gut punch when you see your work appropriated without any shame or honor or even a smidge of an acknowledgement. No one with any level of self-respect does this crap.

One thing I absolutely hate about Amazon are the insane amounts of the same crap (essentially piss poor copies of the item you are looking for), and sold with different names but otherwise exactly the same down to the photos and description. It's gotten utterly ridiculous and it's become a huge chore to weed out the crap.

And the Tuffy stuff .. I know they are popular on the forum and a large number if people run them, but I don't get the appeal in general. Maybe if you need a gun safe or whatever for your Jeep or makes sense, I guess. I was interested in their center console till I saw one in person. After that I lost all interest 😂