[ire]

I'm not a PA, however I work with ours very closely. IP is a very very complicated area. You really have to take a close look at EXACTLY what was said in the patent. If you write your patent well, you can push your IP out pretty far.

I can tell you it's not something you just want to assume you're ok on, if you have any info you might not be. Not only can you be sued to stop selling the item, but you can be sued for damages also here in the US.

I haven't read the patent so i have no opinion is the design is stepping on it or not. What i can say is if a company in general even thinks your stepping on it, they'll go after you. Especially in a case where they know they have more money than you. Many time patent battle come down to who is will to spend the most money.

The money issue was mentioned earlier, and I can see that happening....larger companies can cause smaller companies to close just becuase of the court costs, even if they don't have much of a case.

 

[William42]

OH MY GOD

Most Valuable Post

 

[Zutroy]

The money issue was mentioned earlier, and I can see that happening....larger companies can cause smaller companies to close just becuase of the court costs, even if they don't have much of a case.

It can be a lot more complicated than just closing you down. Unless you've set the business up completely separate from you (ie incorporate or such), your personal assets are considered part of the company.

People don't mess it IP these days. We've gone after people who really weren't a business threat to us, just on principle of violating our IP.

 

[Steve M]

how about the new banshee that one really infringes the patent

No it doesn't. The pivot point for the lower link is behind the centre of the BB.

 

[Steve M]

Is anybody on here actually a patent attorney? I love all of the e-speculation about who infringed on what

<edit> I'll add to the speculation.....I bet where the shock mounts doesn't make a difference. Look at Specialized and the horst link, the demo 8 is still a horst link despite the shock being driven by the chainstay instead of the upper link (like most other horst variations)

I'm not a patent attorney, but my uni course involves a fair bit of research of various patents, so I have some idea. You'll find that the Horst link patent will either not specify where the shock is mounted, or that it specifies a number of different possible mounting points. However, the Trek patent clearly specifies where the shock is mounted from.

You can just jump on the OMG ITS ALL JUST E-SPECULATION YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT bandwagon if you like, but given that we actually have the patent posted in this thread and numerous quotes taken verbatim from it, I'd tend to think you're an idiot for doing so.

 

[Steve M]

I was thinking about that, I for sure am not. However last night I was helping a friend build up his Moorewood and looking at the suspension design. Well it looks like just about every single pivot frame out there, more so a Bullit. There are tons of bikes out there with lots of similarities. I can understand if you copy something identically, but if there are clearly visible differences especially in performance enhancements I don't see where the problem is. That's just me though, and this goes for anything.

hahah, try and find any patents on the suspension of a Bullit/Morewood/Orange... there aren't any. Hence they are free to copy each other. Mobs like Ellsworth have invented a number of BS reasons to try and patent their pivot locations for singlepivots; iirc that ATLAS one had a structural component (not just a pivot location), someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

 

[ire]

You can just jump on the OMG ITS ALL JUST E-SPECULATION YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT bandwagon if you like, but given that we actually have the patent posted in this thread and numerous quotes taken verbatim from it, I'd tend to think you're an idiot for doing so.

yup, that one class makes you an expert. Never mind the 4 years of law school my sister is going through to become a patent attorney (beyond her engineering degree)

 

[Thrillkil]

I like how everyone is arguing about patents even though this isnt an industry board and are thus completely irrelevant.

PS can these be had with the old-school Karpiel decals? those looked much better.

 

[Steve M]

yup, that one class makes you an expert. Never mind the 4 years of law school my sister is going through to become a patent attorney (beyond her engineering degree)

I never claimed to be an expert you knob, I simply pointed out the facts of what the patent said and what the bike is. No **** it's hard to write a patent or become a patent attorney, because to write patents you have to thoroughly cover all possibilities with an absolute minimum of ambiguity so that the general public can understand them without the patent being misinterpreted. Did I ever claim I could write one? No. Interpret one? Well given that it's something I'm supposed to be able to do for my job, you'd hope so. This one is fairly cut and dried IMO.

But you can just keep being a dick if you like, it's your life.

 

[toodles]

yup, that one class makes you an expert. Never mind the 4 years of law school my sister is going through to become a patent attorney (beyond her engineering degree)

My 2nd cousin twice removed is a med student. Listen to me for medical advice!

Shut up you twat...