Benchmade threatens Rogue Bladeworks to stop making Bailout scales

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TC said:
Here's the key part from the patent description: "The broken lines are provided for environmental purposes only and form no part of the claimed design."

Look at the drawings: Everything except the front part of the handle is in broken lines, and thus not protected by the patent! That's all they could or wanted to get past the examiner, likely in view of the prior art citations.
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Ok but what is innovative about the front part of the handle? Giving a design patent for a bog standard design like this, with ton of prior art, is highly questionable.
 
patrickguignot said:
Ok but what is innovative about the front part of the handle? Giving a design patent for a bog standard design like this, with ton of prior art, is highly questionable.
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Take it up with the patent examiner. The fact is that they have a granted design patent. That's all a judge would care about if it made it to court. The defendant has the option to invalidate the patent if he can prove that it was known from prior art.

Look at it like any sports game. There are rules. You don't have to like the rules, but they are what they are. Don't play the game if you don't want to abide by the rules.

And yes, companies do bluff if they think they can get some competitor to fold without a fight. In the US that's mostly down to outright obscene litigation costs.
 
It might be a case of benchmade being forced to take legal action in order to protect its ability to successfully do so in future cases.
gadgetgeek said:
Mistake or not, IP is a use it or lose it prospect. They may well have no choice but to issue some sort of warning, otherwise, when there is an actual threat that they need the law's protection on, they may be out of luck. I'm just armchair lawyering this, but it's my understanding that IP law is murky, and Rogue may have just missed it's step here and needed to get engaged. Who knows what happens next, for all we know it settles out of court and everything is fine, but other industries/hobbies have been really brought down by "aftermarket" companies who were able to dilute the value of IPs. This may not be the sort of case of "little fish big fish" that it initially seems to be. Better bet is to see how this plays out before deciding who's right or wrong in this case. At any rate, there is plenty of room to find justification for whatever bias one already holds, and for me that's a red flag to wait and find out more background on what's actually going on. Again keep in mind that for the last couple of decades, the defacto rules for IP in the US are "Defend it or die" and "the money wins" I'm not sure which side of that coin we are on, but when both are a PR lose, only one has even a slight margin for long term business.
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Yes, that thing you said. 🤔
 
Looks maybe like BM is trying to get a round about patent extension on the front part (axis lock)?
 
Both companies are from Oregon? Makes me think there could be something personal behind this all.
 
I rarely buy BM due to Poor QC, but this really makes me want to continue to almost exclusively buy Spyderco’s.
 
If you don't like what BM is doing then don't buy their products. I have gone away from their products and buy from Spyderco, CRK, Hinderer...

I lost respect for BM when the article came out about them helping a police department destroy firearms. Do a google search if you are not familiar with the story.
 
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shane45-1911 said:
They're not making it easy to like them. I don't like feeling that when I buy a BM now, I am probably paying a surcharge to fund their corporate lawyer shenanigans, as well.
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I believe that to be the case no matter what I buy. The bigger the company, the bigger their legal department and the more their lawyers cost.
 
I've always been a Spyderco buyer. I only own one Benchmade - the 3V Puukko, and admired two others - Adamas and 940, but I don't trust the axis lock. Just another reason to stay away, along with some others I have learned of.
 
i really don’t see this as benchmade trying to stop aftermarket scales from being sold for their knives, by rouge bladeworks or anyone else. reading the order, it seems that they’re just enforcing a patent featured on one particular knife, the 537. rouge bladeworks has at least 15 other models of scales for sale on their site for other bm products that the cease and desist order doesn’t mention, and only the 537 scales have been removed from the site. and i don’t know that benchmade really counts as a large company in the scheme of things, i would be surprised if their entire staff exceeds even 200 employees
 
jjg6319 said:
If you don't like what BM is doing then don't buy their products. I have gone away from their products and buy from Spyderco, CRK, Hinderer...

I lost respect for BM when the article came out about them helping a police department destroy firearms. Do a google search if you are not familiar with the story.
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They helped the local cops destroy hunks of junk that no gun owner would want anyway. Would you buy rusty pieces of junk some crook had sweat all over from carrying it in his waistband? Most criminals aren't known for good gun maintenance, I doubt many even own a cleaning kit. If you really want a rusty janky gun that hasn't seen a cleaning rod since it was stolen there are still plenty out there and they're paperwork free. Besides, everybody knows the cops keep the good stuff or get first dibs at an auction.
 
If not mistaken not too terribly long ago Sal changed Spydercos warranty policy to better accommodate to the current state of tinkering while also encouraging third parties to start making $ off their back. Sal is a knife god. Benchmade effing sucks and even used the spyderco hole when they didnt need to. Even went to lengths by modifying it to an oval. Lame ass company, will be selling what left I have
 
There are companies out there who owe most of their existence to people wanting different scales than what their Benchmade knives come with. A lot of people are buying those knives because they know they have those scale options available to them. I've probably spent more time looking at aftermarket parts for Benchmade knives than at Benchmade knives themselves. There's a guy in Russia, named Boris, who makes the best red micarta scales for the Griptilion that I've ever seen through Etsy. They maintained the shape of the Griptilian handle, unlike some other scale designers who completely change the ergonomics, something they're might be doing in part to stay out of the way of Benchmade's lawyers..

I can see a problem with them over selling the Benchmade brand on their website as if they're making official parts. If you're going to make scales for Benchmade knives, don't sell things too close to their own scale designs. This is most likely just a case of Benchmade telling Rogue where the line is. They're not going after their entire inventory of Benchmade aftermarket accessories, which would cripple them, just a couple of items. There's going to be a lot of companies out there who make aftermarket scales paying close attention to this situation.
 
A lot of opinions, not a lot of lawyers.

I'm a lawyer, not a patent lawyer but, from what little I know, any company that does not protect its patent (or a trademark; McDonalds, for one, defends its TM very aggressively) will lose it.

So, from what I read at the top of this thread, Benchmade is just trying to protect its patent, which it is legally entitled and OBLIGATED to do, if it wants to keep it (before it expires in due course, usually 15 yrs).

There is not doubt that if any company making scales for use w/any patented product based on the exact design of that product is "probably" violating the patent for that product.

So, I really have no problem w/what BM is doing.

What Rogue Bladeworks (or any other company) can do if it wants to make scales for the Bugout (or any other patented BM product) is to "negotiate" a licensing agreement w/BM which entitles them to make those scales for a specific fee.

Making scales w/o such an agreement is bascially stealing from BM and, if you'all don't like the way that "foreign" companies do this, then you shouldn't like it when US companies do it either.

BTW: BM's didn't just send a letter that said "Stop making the Bailout scales or we'll sue your a$$."

They actualy provided a very concise and well written legal opinion that established the basis for BM's patent rights and how RB was violating those rights and it was apparently convincing since RB has stopped selling the scales, which I assume was done after consulting their own legal counsel.
 
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