Cold Steel AK-47 (what a rip off!)

KFLEISIG

KFLEISIG

Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Messages
233
Guess I'm a little late noticing, I don't visit the Cold Steel site very often, but I was amazed to see the features on the AK-47. They steal the Axis lock from Benchmade and call it an "Ultralock", and they design the thumbplate in such a manner that it functions as a wave hook. Granted, Spyderco is using the wave also, but they are crediting Emerson for it. Cold Steel is patenting the thumbplate wave as their own. This blatant theft of design features amazes me. It is also rather amusing how they portray the AUS-8 blade as if it is something special. It's the lock and wave that really get me though. I'm surprised that this does not constitute patent infringement. Any thoughts?
 
I'm sure it is far enough out of the design specifications on the wave patent to escape legal repercussions. And I would have to examine it closely to see if the lock is close enough to the axis patent specs to be considered infringement. Since you couldn't pay me to own one, that isn't going to happen.
 
That's one ugly knife. :) I like this line: "The hollow ground blade has been honed by hand until it reaches levels of sharpness only seen on a surgeon's scalpel."
 
The Ultralock is a licensed modification of the Axis Lock.

I don't think that all devices that can open a blade when snagged on something should be considered a ripoff of the Wave. Just my personal opinion.

Cold Steel is a company that uses a lot of hype to promote their products, like many other companies do. AUS-8 is a good steel, but certainly nothing special.

I don't know if you know this, but this topic has been gone over many times in the past.
 
I have one, and, the cold steel hate club aside, I find it to be an excellent value for the money. I don't agree with all their marketing hype, but some (and I want to emphasize some) of their knives are excellent values...the SRK comes to mind. I do know that they liscensed the lock from Benchmade (even though it is slightly different in execution)...I don't know about the wave feature ( I don't use or care for that feature anyway). LT is a jackass, but some of his products are worth buying.
 
What seems odd to me is that the axis lock, arc lock, and the cold steel lock all seem to be variations of the old gerber bolt action.
 
JTC said:
What seems odd to me is that the axis lock, arc lock, and the cold steel lock all seem to be variations of the old gerber bolt action.
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And how many companies use linerlocks and framelocks? Lockbacks and slipjoints? I'm pretty sure that the original designers of these locks aren't getting royalties (but correct me if I'm wrong). I really don't care if they copied someones idea or not as long as it was a good idea that works and did it legally. And there is a big difference between the wave and the cold steel thumb disk. The wave is actually part of the blade and the emersons have a thumb disk as well. The cold steel thumb disk is the wave and disk in one (which is actually worse than the original)
 
JTC said:
What seems odd to me is that the axis lock, arc lock, and the cold steel lock all seem to be variations of the old gerber bolt action.
Click to expand...

:confused: I have a Gerber Bolt Action which I bought new a long time ago. Long enough to pre-date the checkering the newer models sport. And while I admit I have never disassembled it, I can say it does not resemble the axis lock. The only similarity I can see is that both locks use a spring to wedge an object against the blade tang to lock the blade, which is basically how all locks work except for a few manual types which dispense with the spring.
 
After much research and consideration, at a high personal cost, I have discovered that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather invented the knife. All others are blatant copies; you'll all be hearing from my lawyers soon :D
 
Uhh...
As near as I can tell, he was MY great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, too! Does that make us cousins? :D
 
Hammer27 said:
And there is a big difference between the wave and the cold steel thumb disk. The wave is actually part of the blade and the emersons have a thumb disk as well. The cold steel thumb disk is the wave and disk in one (which is actually worse than the original)
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:D I Couldn't agree more! They, in my opinion, have a way of taking a good working idea/function (axis, wave, etc..), regardless of how they obtained the idea/function, and making it much less useful than the original or similar idea/function. It's kind of like making a car, that looks like a just Porshe, that only starts 1/3 of the time and has a Ford Pinto engine in it. Neat to look at and sit in, but not too fun to drive!

Regards,
3G
 
GibsonFan said:
After much research and consideration, at a high personal cost, I have discovered that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather invented the knife. All others are blatant copies; you'll all be hearing from my lawyers soon :D
Click to expand...

Too bad, so sad. They didn't have patents back then, and even if they did it would have run out, so I guess you are out of luck. :p
 
Sorry to be beating a dead dog, guess I missed the previous posts on the subject. Maybe I should have tried to search the archives, but as much as I love this site, I think that search engine leaves something to be desired. Thanks for humoring me and giving me some feedback anyway. I'll let this one die now. ;)
 
KFLEISIG said:
Guess I'm a little late noticing, I don't visit the Cold Steel site very often, but I was amazed to see the features on the AK-47. They steal the Axis lock from Benchmade and call it an "Ultralock", and they design the thumbplate in such a manner that it functions as a wave hook. Granted, Spyderco is using the wave also, but they are crediting Emerson for it. Cold Steel is patenting the thumbplate wave as their own. This blatant theft of design features amazes me. It is also rather amusing how they portray the AUS-8 blade as if it is something special. It's the lock and wave that really get me though. I'm surprised that this does not constitute patent infringement. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I would suggest that you contact Cold Steel, and make them aware of this theft, patent infringement, and stealing which they have embarked on.
 
JGarth said:
I would suggest that you contact Cold Steel, and make them aware of this theft, patent infringement, and stealing which they have embarked on.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they have heard it hundreds, if not thousands of times. I doubt they give a rat's behind.
 
Like was mentioned, the ultralock is licensed from BM. Also, the disk opener is a device that was successfully patented by another custom knifemaker-the guy who designed the AK-47 folder in the first place.

Let's go ahead and toss in that they got an agreement with Spyderco for their Black Talon, used to sell BM balis in their special projects catalog, and credited Spyderco for the integral pocket clip when the voyagers had them.
 
hardheart said:
Like was mentioned, the ultralock is licensed from BM. Also, the disk opener is a device that was successfully patented by another custom knifemaker-the guy who designed the AK-47 folder in the first place.

Let's go ahead and toss in that they got an agreement with Spyderco for their Black Talon, used to sell BM balis in their special projects catalog, and credited Spyderco for the integral pocket clip when the voyagers had them.
Click to expand...

So in other words... Cold Steel may be a bunch of hyperbolic nitwits at times, but at least they own up to other's tech.
 
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