just got across this discussion about this Balisong Patent of Benchmade and the raucus it has created with parts of the knife industry. I'm a Filipino and a knife lover and I did react for the reason that there is indeed an injustice done by BM to knife lovers, sellers, makers and designers and to the original balisong knife from Barrio Balisong in Batangas, Philippines. BM makes some of the best production knives out there and I don't subscribe to the deception that BM makes crappy products. Yet i believe that BM wrongfully patented the Balisong name by tweaking it a bit (Bali-song), yet you dont pronounce it as bali-dash-song you pronouce it as balisong. The balisong knife also know as Batangas knife and Beinte-Nueve (29), Paypay (filipino for fan) or fan knife is a very basic Filipino pocket knife, I had a teasured one when I was a kid. This was part of the indo-malayan peninsula culture where the karambit was part of as an agricultural tool that evolved into a weapon. Now why would a decent knife company like BM patent a generic name such that they can go after any knife-maker or custom maker that makes a reference to "balisong". It is plainly wrong. This is one of the few instances that the line drawing design and concept is almost non-existent. You can patent design, but not concepts. BM has patented a concept. The concept of the Balisong is the design itself. Imagine the word Karambit being patented. These kinds of corporate mistakes takes a lot from us knife lovers and the people in the knife industry where we derive all this joy and appreciation of the knife. It limits creativity, and limits business opportunity. I love BM products but I think they got it wrong here. I won't boycott BM but I sure will try to persuade them in every other way to have them withdraw or have their patent withdrawn.
