Emerson "Wave Shaped Feature" Announcement

bflying said:
Just picked up a waved Spyder Matriarch 2. It is notated as an Emerson Patent, but does not have any jimping on or around the hook. In fact no where on the spine at all. I wonder if the patent is as vague as the trademark language.
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Patent will protect the utility, not the aesthetic appearance, so you could actually probably get away with slapping something that looked exactly like the wave on a knife as long as it didn't open the knife on the draw, like a blade catcher on a fixed blade, without violating the patent. The trademark protects the look, but not the utility, so you could have a projection from the spine shaped like a dinosaur head that opened the knife on the draw without violating the trademark. With both in hand until, I think, 2019, Emerson has it pretty well sewn up for the moment and I actually think the trademark isn't all a bad thing. Once the patent expires I would expect an explosion of various pocket opening devices, but people can just be lazy and slap a wave on the darn thing. Since I actually think the Emerson wave is kind of mediocre compared to some other licensed takes on the concept.
 
The CS/Demko thumb plate is more effective. That's why the 2 folders Reese Weiland is building for me will have an angled variation of it.

 
You guys are killing me.

Although collectively regarded as "intellectual property," there are three very different things we're talking about, here:

Copyright applies to the literal design of the thing. This is generally not something that comes up in court with regard to visual design of things like knives, because if you make it just a little different, that's now your own design. (This is why SanRenMu can make a Sebenza-ish knife without violating any laws, even if some people frown on that sort of thing.)

Patents are protections for inventions and processes, granted in exchange for them being made public so they can be used after a period of a few years. (The Axis lock is one example of this.) Unfortunately, people have attempted to pervert the system so it works the other way around, but so far they've failed to do this, and the period of protection has remained fairly short worldwide. Which leads us to the system we're talking about now, namely...

Trademarks are textual or visual representations of a company's brand identity. Like the Ford logo, or the design of a Ford Taurus. The latter is actually a very flimsy example, and difficult to hold up even in the U.S., much less in other countries. This is the kind of trademark pertinent to the latest announcement.

Nothing about this new trademark actually changes anything, legally speaking. It's probably one of the weakest attempts I've ever seen. Emerson can send threatening letters with the hope that people back down, of course, but anyone could do that regardless.

With all that said, see the disclaimer in my signature.
 
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ALLHSS said:
It's Karda.....
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Yeah it is, I really like how he incited this accusatory mess then defends and calls names and leaves the thread for a while so others can hash it out.

Unless karda read my reply of why he should retract his statement since it wasn't true, and then ignored it. Sounds about right if trying to troll, not saying he is but he seemed to reply to everyone else just fine except me (even when I quoted him).
 
damascus blades said:
All of that info and it still is just vague enough to cover just about anything made. Gotta love it. The lawyers who write these things up and find any way to enforce them are just greedy scum.
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No "rolling ridges" jimping no trademark violation. Not a big deal guys.

You can't use the word(s) "wave" or "wave-like feature) and you can't use that jimping patern.

Not much to tell. CM, can continue to mod, if he so chose. In all reality, he would just have to call it something else. Maybe a "CM Claw" or something. Pull your knife out, and the blade will "Claw" it's way out in a flash.

Maybe I better trademark that ;)
 
ffiw, Black Bear Knives uses a slanted thumbdisk on their Guardian folder.
rolf
 
Folks, stay on topic or just don't post. This thread has been derailed enough, if it continues we can just close it and move along to something else.
 
It is Good Emerson is protecting what is theirs.

Now people will have to get creative to come up with other designs to do the same thing and that is a good thing.
 
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This thread is funny.

People getting butthurt and offended over someone defending their own legal property. The immaturity in this forum as of late is awful.
 
Rum. Monkey. said:
People getting butthurt and offended over someone defending their own legal property. The immaturity in this forum as of late is awful.
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I think most of the discussion is over what qualifies as someone's legal property, and what they are and are not entitled to defend. That is not a straightforward or immature question when it comes to intellectual property.

A lot of people on this forum seem to think that if you are the first person to come up with or apply an idea, then you have an eternal, exclusive right to that idea and all it's derivatives, unless specifically licensed to someone else. That is not what IP law says, and for good reason - modern society couldn't function under such conditions.
 
Then with the arguments so far I guess it's okay to go and copy Cold Steel and Benchmades locking system, Spyderco hole, Busse lanyard holes and anyone else's designs I want correct....
 
Rum. Monkey. said:
This thread is funny.

People getting butthurt and offended over someone defending their own legal property. The immaturity in this forum as of late is awful.
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People have posted their opinions. Calling that "butthurt" is kinda immature, no? And you didn't even offer an original opinion of your own...well at least we know you're more mature than us[emoji13]
 
Boggs said:
Then with the arguments so far I guess it's okay to go and copy Cold Steel and Benchmades locking system, Spyderco hole, Busse lanyard holes and anyone else's designs I want correct....
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If that's in response to my post, I would encourage you to read my earlier posts. The position with the Spyderhole is clear - Spyderco's patent on the thumb hole has expired. They have trademarked the perfectly round thumb hole, but others are free to use other shapes of thumb hole. For the other companies, you'd have to look at what their patents or trademarks specifically cover.

If you're making a moral point that IP rights should be absolute and eternal, think about the computer you're using. It contains tens of thousands of components & subcomponents, the vast, vast majority of which are no longer covered by patents. If they were, just think about how difficult and expensive it would be to manufacture that computer, and how many people would never have to work because they could spend their entire lives just sitting around collecting licensing fees on patents they'd inherited.
 
Mecha said:
That is, until I perfect my top-secret Blade Electromagnetic Deployment and Retention device, or BEDR. ©®™ It will revolutionize fun and satisfying folding knife operation! :D
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Did you ever look at these magnetic fast opening/closing and still secure carabiner hooks from Black Diamond. That would be a cool knife lock and I bet it's reliable since even the small one is rated up to 8 Kilo Newton and can probably take even more.
 
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