IP Theft

[Keegan Shields]

Most company supply chains involve contract manufactures for at least some of the parts.


The Soviet Union tried to this approach - stealing technology to supplement their inability to innovate. I recall it didn't work out well for them.

The US system is really good at supporting and producing innovation. Its one of the major advantages that gave us the edge in WW2, the Cold War, and today.

The fact that people from all over the world are willing to move to the US to start their businesses will continue to enable the US to outcompete the knock-off economies IMO.

The people I've met who grew up behind the Iron Curtain/China all describe the energy that goes into avoiding the rules under those systems. Innovation isn't protected or rewarded under those systems.

Ripping off other's ideas is a natural outgrowth of that outlook.

[Jim Becker]

Is Veritas owned by Lee Valley?

Yup. Veritas "is" Lee Valley. Like any company, they may subcontract some manufacturing because that can be efficient. They might even license something that exists if it's an exact fit for their needs. But in the end the brand belongs to Lee Valley, lock, stock and barrel.

[Keegan Shields]

Most company supply chains involve contract manufactures for at least some of the parts.


The Soviet Union tried to this approach - stealing technology to supplement their inability to innovate. I recall it didn't work out well for them.

The US system is really good at supporting and producing innovation. Its one of the major advantages that gave us the edge in WW2, the Cold War, and today.

The fact that people from all over the world are willing to move to the US to start their businesses will continue to enable the US to outcompete the knock-off economies IMO.

The people I've met who grew up behind the Iron Curtain/China all describe the energy that goes into avoiding the rules under those systems. Innovation isn't protected or rewarded under those systems.

Ripping off other's ideas is a natural outgrowth of that outlook.

[Bill Dufour]

My great grandfather and his brothers retired from a patent they invented to improve picket fence cutting. We think it was already in wide use . They just turned in a patent to secure a piece of backup wood under the good wood to reduce tearout. They either sold or rented the patent to a machine maker who paid enough for him to retire and buy a orange grove in California.
Bill D.

https://www.datamp.org/patents/searc...&id=8333&set=1

[Stephen Tashiro]

Armed with a proper order and shipper, the DHS can intercept international shipment and confiscate them. This happens all the time.

Yes, "Armed with the proper order and shipper", but how would a patent holder (or the DHS) know about about a shipment of contraband goods?

Considering that many of the products sold on Amazon are are "knock-offs" coming from China, is it practical to intercept items shipped (in small quantities) by mail from other countries?

[Bill Dufour]

Around 1999 a USA maker sold welded Christmass tree stands through Home Depot. Home depot copied the patented design and had them made in China. Sold under the same sku number at Home depot within a few years.
Home depot settled the lawsuit by paying a big fat fee to the inventer.
Bill D

I could not find a good description of the lawsuit
http://cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/defau...rs/04-1072.pdf

[Bill Dufour]

Oh No. a 2x4 is not exactly 2inches x4inches!
Bill D.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKCN1GO2TN

[Dick Strauss]

their metal product is just slightly smaller because of the metal shrinking during cooling. In other words, the company copying the design made a mold based on the original finished product. When the comapny copying the design cast the product with miolten metal, it cools, shrinks and ends up smaller than the original. I know that Alan Lacer and few other notable woodturners had this issue with some of their designs like ice cream scoop and bottle stopper kits where the knock-offs were smaller by the shrinkage factor.

An old patternmaker taught me about shrink rules (rulers with the shrink factor automatically added for different metals). I think I still have a set for about 10 different shrink factors.

[Dick Strauss]

Here's a chart if anyone is interested...

http://calculatoredge.com/charts/mshrinka.htm

[Rob Luter]

I used to have to deal with shrink factors in my first job out of college. The part was a molded vinyl seal made in an open mold. The mold was filled with plastisol and taken through a conveyor oven to cure. We had to design the molds to account for the thermal expansion of the aluminum mold pre-cure, and the shrinkage of the plastisol during curing and post cure. The pattern maker and foundry that cast the molds had to deal with his own shrink factors as well as draft angles. It was a complicated dance.

[Paul Saffold]

As Nathan said, it's Jonathan Katz-Moses copy of the Veritas large router plane. There is some chat about it on instagram, including a Lee Valley reference to the note.

[Keegan Shields]

Seems strange to me that a companies first product release is a router plane. I suppose there are a ton of smoothing plane options on the market. Still seems like an odd choice.

I'll be curious to see if it works out for him.

[John Stankus]

Seems strange to me that a companies first product release is a router plane. I suppose there are a ton of smoothing plane options on the market. Still seems like an odd choice.

I'll be curious to see if it works out for him.

It might be easier to cast the router plane body, than a smoother body.