lwalden
Member
Skippy, is it still rutting season?
I've said time and time again that Bruce DID NOT invent the thing. Did you even read my post?
Until you start reading my posts, this is even more pointless than it is, which is pretty pointless.... to a point.
Did I miss something? I thought that they were going to send one to Bruce who was going to check it out and see if the quality was good.I enjoy making Bruce's blanks into pens. The "real, genuine" mother and other boards makes those blanks unique and interesting. Nothing simulating this look will be the same as the "real" thing. ...
Do you really think it's right to claim that you are the "birth place of the printed circuit board computer blanks" considering it wasn't your idea?
Russianwolf said:
Not trying to stir this fire anymore, but does Dawn actually make the cat blanks or is she a reseller of them? The reason I am asking is I had bought a large batch of them long before I ever even heard of Ed or Dawn or IAP.What's next. Will someone figure out how to make the PRPrincess' cat blanks
Not trying to stir this fire anymore, but does Dawn actually make the cat blanks or is she a reseller of them? The reason I am asking is I had bought a large batch of them long before I ever even heard of Ed or Dawn or IAP.
The only way I know of to protect a new idea is to get the patent office to agree that the idea is truly new and different fundamentally for what has gone before. Its expensive to accomplish and even more expensive to defend.
John
And you do make some beautiful blanks Dawn.LOL, Neil only in my dreams am I that skilled!:tongue::biggrin: Actually I do neither. The cats are Ed4copies'. He imports those from Europe along with the pearls, alternatives and some other cool materials.
Skye's heart was in the right place, though. As I do make my own set of unique - or should I say exotic - blanks. (Dichroic glass, MOP, paua, uncommon snakes etc.) He just got the description mixed up a bit as both Ed's blanks and mine are sold off of the same site.
I think most of us tend to agree on a moral or ethical level, but in terms of legal protection, its almost irrelevant since none of us here have the money to take anyone to court over these types of issues. I have a friend of mine from college who got into corporate law and its an incredibly expensive endeavor! Unless you're making MILLIONS from your designs, there's no way you could ever justify the cost of taking someone to court over it, plus those corporate cases usually go on for a year or quite often several years. You have to have several factories pumping tens of millions of these pen blanks out before you could possibly afford a corporate law suit, especially against someone like Berea.I don't think that's entirely correct. I think an design patent would protect her. For instance, the idea of a bottle stopper is not new. It's not really a patentable idea. The design of a bottle stopper, however, can be protected. It's the visual properties of the idea that you can apply for a design patent.
My family owns a patent illustration biz and I've done a lot of patent drawings in my day. I'm pretty sure that's the way it goes, although we're divorced from the lawyer's end, so I'm not totally down with the law.
For that matter, it's the very pen kits that we almost all use that are mass produced by Berea for our use. I'm darned glad Berea is in business and I hope they are for a long time so I can continue to use their kits!!!!Speaking of cars, Henry Ford took an existing idea...the car...and mass produced it so that every family would have the chance to own one. Aren't you kind of glad he did? According to some of you, he was stealing that idea and what he did was unethical. I don't think so. If you have a problem with mass produced, than I fully expect that you should make your own car and your own gas.
Okay, Now I'll make a comment... Berea owes you some kind of numeration for the idea if nothing else. That really ticks me off and it takes a lot to do so! I'm writing a letter to Berea and I beseech others here to do like wise.
Well said Cindy!Now that I have taken the time to read every post I have something to say. I myself am finding the explosiveness of the posts like this to be counterproductive. People rise to the surface like the fat in cream. People jumping up and crying evil, unethical, saying angry volatile things and making statements that inflame and cause discord.
In any arena where people create, share their images and ideas there are bound to be people who will duplicate. This is part of the reason that sites like IAP exist. When I make a pen, even if it is of the same wood and kit, it is not the same pen. If I cast a blank, like money for example, am I stealing from someone who also makes and sells the blanks? I think that I am trying something new, hopefully creating something different, even though similar to something that already exists. In the past few weeks I have observed this type of exchange and I find it disconcerting how easily some people become accusatory, want to boycott businesses and/or people.
I think that this type of exchange will only cause people to hesitate to post and drive the creativity away rather then attract open sharing and conversation. Maybe people should take a moment, breathe and think before they start shooting from the hip.
What I'm seeing in this thread is some people seem to think the big guy(Berea) is going to put the little guy (Bruce) out of business. Why? Because they can sell it cheaper? Well jeez, I guess no one here should be selling any pens. Why? Because anybody can go to Wal-Mart and buy 10 pens for a buck! Yet there seems to be a lot of people here who sell a lot of pens for a lot more than a buck.
What I'm seeing in this thread is some people seem to think the big guy(Berea) is going to put the little guy (Bruce) out of business. Why? Because they can sell it cheaper? Well jeez, I guess no one here should be selling any pens. Why? Because anybody can go to Wal-Mart and buy 10 pens for a buck! Yet there seems to be a lot of people here who sell a lot of pens for a lot more than a buck.
Now that I have taken the time to read every post I have something to say. I myself am finding the explosiveness of the posts like this to be counterproductive. People rise to the surface like the fat in cream. People jumping up and crying evil, unethical, saying angry volatile things and making statements that inflame and cause discord.
In any arena where people create, share their images and ideas there are bound to be people who will duplicate. This is part of the reason that sites like IAP exist. When I make a pen, even if it is of the same wood and kit, it is not the same pen. If I cast a blank, like money for example, am I stealing from someone who also makes and sells the blanks? I think that I am trying something new, hopefully creating something different, even though similar to something that already exists. In the past few weeks I have observed this type of exchange and I find it disconcerting how easily some people become accusatory, want to boycott businesses and/or people.
I think that this type of exchange will only cause people to hesitate to post and drive the creativity away rather then attract open sharing and conversation. Maybe people should take a moment, breathe and think before they start shooting from the hip.
Very good point.
Funny you should say that. I had a guy say, "Why should I buy that pen for $50 when I can go get a dozen for a dollar at Wal-Mart?" I told him that if he couldn't appreciate the difference maybe he SHOULD go buy them from Wal-Mart. :biggrin:
The simple fact is that we just don't know any of the facts but hey, don't let the lack of any factual data get in the way of a good lynching!
Let's consider the flip side of the coin for the moment. Could it also be possible that the IAP is going to become "one stop shopping" for someone looking to make a quick buck from the idea's of another?
I'm torn on this issue, on one hand I believe that competition breeds creativity and on the other hand I would have to think twice before showing something that I've worked hard to perfect be taken by a big company for their profit.
Cindy,
Let's consider the flip side of the coin for the moment. Could it also be possible that the IAP is going to become "one stop shopping" for someone looking to make a quick buck from the idea's of another?
I'm torn on this issue, on one hand I believe that competition breeds creativity and on the other hand I would have to think twice before showing something that I've worked hard to perfect be taken by a big company for their profit.
It just seems that there is an underlying assumption of malicious intent on the part of "big companies", but I don't think that's the case.
Consider a third side of the coin, if you will. If an idea catches on and demand develops, is it fair for one person to say, "Nope, I'm the only one allowed to profit from this. The rest of you go pound sand." I would be willing to bet that there is more than enough demand to go around. Whenever someone has posted something like the cactus blanks, or resin/wood blanks, or snakeskin blanks etc...they always sell out.
I seriously doubt that anyone here has either the time or the resources to outstrip demand for some of those things. So, where's the rub? The rub, as far as I can see, is that one might feel exploited if they haven't received proper credit and/or compensation for coming up with the idea first. So, what's wrong with wanting that, you might ask. Nothing wrong, persay, it just begs the question of what you're about. The truly creative people who come up with this stuff don't spend time on websites like this squabbling over whose idea it was first, because they do what they do because they love it, not because there's profit in it.
....Let's consider the flip side of the coin for the moment. Could it also be possible that the IAP is going to become "one stop shopping" for someone looking to make a quick buck from the idea's of another?
I'm torn on this issue, on one hand I believe that competition breeds creativity and on the other hand I would have to think twice before showing something that I've worked hard to perfect be taken by a big company for their profit.