Ah! Thats a bummer haha. When Terra released the 'Terra Standard' similar things happened: just a couple weeks later at a toy industry show, the YoyoFactory guys had a whole lineup of 'Catchy Standard' kendamas. I thought "hmm that sucks, but they're a little outside the core kendama world, so I guess we'll just roll with it", but then again not long after, Sol released the 'Sol Standard' lineup. A combination of it being a very generic name, and a product that Terra isn't really interested in pushing that much means I never really made a stand on it. The Terra standard was only made so that we could have a cheap kendama option available to brand new players at local fairs in Vancouver, we want to keep the products we offer to the core players much higher quality then you'll receive from Chinese manufacturing. Another related story: when debating names for the LBBs, I liked the name 'plus'. Only problem was, the iphone plus released basically right around the time, and it was hot enough news that any mention of 'plus' would make people think of the iphone. Fast forward a couple of years, and KUSA released the 2.0 + / slim + models. By that time, the iphone was old news, no one had a second thought about it! (I actually contributed to naming the KUSA stuff as well, I don't remember if the + name was something I specifically suggested though)
From what little I know, IP protection is a full time thing. Even if you are awarded the copyright, trademark, patent, etc. you still have to defend it. If you don't then you end up losing the legal ability to do so after a while.
Hmm is that true? I remember hearing a story about the .JPEG file format. It was an early image format that had great stability vs size, so eventually all the major software companies included it as a standard option in their products. The thing was, the inventor patented it, and then quietly sat and waited while everyone used his idea. 15 years after issuance, he started to collect licensing fees from everyone already using it, pulling in over $100 million! This met a lot of pushback, and eventually the USPTO decided the patent was invalid due to the existence of prior art. The fact he didn't act to protect it right away didn't diminish the right to protect it years later. However, the larger the claim against infringers, the larger the battle back will be, so in this way it would become more difficult (ie expensive af lawyer fees) to defend it later, once the stakes have risen. Thus is the life of a patent troll, I guess? (worth mentioning, I think patent of physical products / designs is categorically different than patent of software, but I think my story above is relevant nonetheless)
@htimSxelA Otis Elevator lost "escalator" because they let it become genericized; others have as well. IIRC trademarks in particular have to be defended and shown to be in use to be maintained. Haven't spent any time dealing with patents yet thankfully, trademarks and copyrights are enough to make your head swim. A bit off topic but might be helpful for anyone looking to start their own brand. (USA specific)
Ah, yea trademark law is different, the same is not true for patents. Patents hold as long as they are not abandoned (upkeep fees are not paid to the patent office), or if someone contests it and wins. I did some quick research for trademarks, and it seems like there are some cases where trademark holders forgo defending their trademark for a while, and then come back later to defend it, but find that the court rules the trademark has become commonplace after being used by their competitors. It seems like a very nuanced field of litigation that depends on the specific courts, as well as the market the trademark is operating within. This page seems to have a good summary. (sidenote: for some reason I can't copy/past from that page? weird. Had to look at the source code of the page to do so, here's a relevant quote..) ---- Trademark abandonment, in general terms, occurs when a mark owner discontinues use of the mark with no intent to resume use. Nonuse for a period of three years creates a presumption of abandonment. Abandonment also occurs when the mark owner takes action that causes the mark to become generic. 15 U.S.C. § 1127. According to these strict definitions from the Lanham Act, the question ought to be whether the failure to prosecute infringers makes a mark generic (because the failure to prosecute is presumably not accompanied by a discontinuance of use). But this is not really how all courts have treated the issue. ----
@htimSxelA I know nothing about all these laws but ever since Tipwet posted it to Instagram I've wondered if the Krom Pop logo and marketing is a top secret collab or a rip off of the Pop beauty range? https://www.popbeauty.co.uk/
Using the word pop in that font is quite a coincidence, but I would bet it was unintentional. Using the word pop and a bubbly sans serif font isn't the most original idea, lol. IANAL but I believe as long as the products cannot reasonably be confused an they don't step on each others clients, it's not an issue legally. That's why Gerber Knives and Gerber Baby Food can coexist. Different markets. Unless you are feeding your child knives or use smashed peas as a cutting tool.
My feelings are the same as how I feel about this: https://www.boredpanda.com/people-caught-copying-plagiarism-stealing-art-knockoffs/ or this: http://www.shoparttheft.com/ To weigh in on an argument brought up in the OP. If Rizen had made a half-split with other colors, or if 1 had accidentally been the same it WOULD NOT be the same as him literally taking the KUSA line and selling it as his own. Kendama USA is the biggest kendama company, if you have no idea what their products look like you should not be releasing your own. In the FKC I see the argument of "___ Doesn't own the color blue" or whatever. And that isn't the argument. It is the blatant jacking that is bs. Also, just saying, you can probably make just as much money selling KUSA, Sweets, or JKA damas by getting them at wholesale rates. Yeah they cost more / piece, but you will be hustling a brand with backing. We need more kendama teams and less companies anyway imo.
I think kendama to some extent is about adopting what you see in others and incorporating it into our own play style. To suggest that every company came up with their own shape in a vaccuum, away from the inspiration of other companies would be false and, kinda defeats the purpose of creating a new shape. I used to think this ‘same shape but different company’ shtick would over-saturate the market and eventually lead to the Dam-pocolypse, now I’ve realized, that the longer someone is in the community the better chance they have at eye-balling good product from bad product. They would be able to tell what’s inspiration and what’s theft. For the most part I believe the kendama community would look down on any vendor responsible for theft, and the seller would feel it in their wallet- ‘Kendama Darwinism’ I guess would be the best way to describe it. It’s kind of how I think about the cups getting bigger/lunar balance holes becoming mainstream lately. IMO all these variations trace back to off-setting the string hole, which happened back in like the 80’s. But every mod now-a-days has an off set string hole and we aren’t up in arms saying “we are just stealing someone’s idea”. we are just glad we all have an easier time pulling up the ken in tama grip.
Love this point! I'd also like to add something to this. Regardless of what ideas a company allegedly copies from another, at the end of the day, the consumers decide what they want to spend their money on. An important element of that is Customer Goodwill, which is what sets successful companies apart, and it's built on more than just the product itself. For example, NoJumper is now offering a seemingly decent kendama under the NoJumper Brand, but what have they done for the community aside from expose the game to some unsavoury personalities? Compare NoJumper to another smaller Kendama company; in this case, Analog. Aside from their awesome shape, They build customer goodwill by actively participating in the community (Orange Jams, Dave Cher, etc.) and being a good company customer-service wise. The former seems like they're just cashing in on the trend, while you can see the passion and love for the game in the latter. Consequently, we can see how Analog is doing much better as a Kendama company, and it's in large part due to the goodwill they've built up with the Kendama community.
I’m certain some of us have probably seen this already but will leave it here for those who haven’t. I’m not exactly for No Jumper but after watching this I’m not really against them either as much as I was before (mostly due to what I’ve heard and seen about Adam22 himself without actually getting to know/interact with him).
That just made me want coffee. So now I'm drinking coffeee. That is all Edit: Not to say the video isn't better than that. I just really wanted some coffeee
Thought I'd give this a bump to see where folks stand on cloning/copying designs and colorways these days. What about IP protections, like copying actual patented or trademarked items? Does registered IP figure into the normal person's thinking? That is to say if a company goes to the trouble to protect their IP legally does it make a difference to anyone other than the company itself? Here's a recent example that got some air-time on various parts of the internet. And an older kendama design/feature kerfuffle (Ronin Kendama copy of GT's wormhole and swoop features):