Emerson "Wave Shaped Feature" Announcement

Charlie Mike said:
Just to prove a point... that what I'm/was doing is not about money.
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Just cause you couldn't sell it doesn't mean you couldn't give it away. Would have been way better then the horror I just witnessed, also would have spared your poor garage door some damage.

Point taken though.

I'm pretty clueless as far as all the patent talk goes, thankfully for me I don't care for waved knives in the first place. So good luck with that fellas.
 
I can understand protecting your branding but the wave is nothing but a notch cut out.
Not terribly difficult to do and IMO not that original.
Other than placement early razor jack knives had the same notch, only it was at the front of the blade.
Emerson improved upon an existing idea and maybe someone can improve upon it in the future if they don't get sued first.
 
willc said:
I can understand protecting your branding but the wave is nothing but a notch cut out.
Not terribly difficult to do and IMO not that original.
Other than placement early razor jack knives had the same notch, only it was at the front of the blade.
Emerson improved upon an existing idea and maybe someone can improve upon it in the future if they don't get sued first.
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A wave on something other than a liner lock, or frame lock would be an exponential improvement on an idea. A wave on a liner lock (or frame lock) is like running an LS7 on a yugo transmission. The lock can't really handle it, and lock rock settles in faster than your broke cousin "just crashing" at your house for a couple of days.

Anything less than a lockback (which has more surface area to mitigate the impact of fast opening) is insufficient.
 
IP law is complicated, not convincingly entirely beneficial or moral, and can lead to obvious problems like this. Mr. Emerson deserves to have some kind of trademark, as he has established a unique and recognizable brand that he absolutely has a right to protect... but it is not embodied by the wave shaped opening feature as worded in the quotation from the trademark in this thread.

Slipjoint knives have had an extremely similar feature for over a hundred years. Dozens of other makers use their own, unique takes on the mechanism that are not identical to the wave shaped feature yet fall under the trademark due to its highly vague wording. And even a person with no skill at all can create a mechanism that might fall under the trademark with a simple zip tie or bolt.

And finally, this thread is just another entry in the log of reasons why certain people should not be official representatives of this forum.
 
ursamajor said:
A wave on something other than a liner lock, or frame lock would be an exponential improvement on an idea. A wave on a liner lock (or frame lock) is like running an LS7 on a yugo transmission. The lock can't really handle it, and lock rock settles in faster than your broke cousin "just crashing" at your house for a couple of days.

Anything less than a lockback (which has more surface area to mitigate the impact of fast opening) is insufficient.
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Not so much... ;)

It's been a year now... still tight as ever.

[video=youtube;2wGIbQmoFic]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wGIbQmoFic[/video]
 
Parasitic Psycho said:
Just cause you couldn't sell it doesn't mean you couldn't give it away. Would have been way better then the horror I just witnessed, also would have spared your poor garage door some damage.

Point taken though.

I'm pretty clueless as far as all the patent talk goes, thankfully for me I don't care for waved knives in the first place. So good luck with that fellas.
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Buy a nail get for like say $x and get the knife for free. How people do it in areas where you can't sell beer here
 
Urban redneck said:
What about a guy that buys a stock truck and customised it instead of buying it with similar accessories from the factory? Is he not allowed to resell? Just playing Devils Advocate here
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Is he running a business where the accessories are sourced off shore and branded Chevy, Ford, Hoonigan etc?

EE came up with the hook as part of the blade; originally meant as a cross guard but serendipitously found to open the blade on the draw. He pushed that feature and named it the wave. Full stop.

If he was trying to lay claim to any knife with a cross guard or any knife that would open with one hand it would be a different story.

Here's the elephant in the room; if other makers have been able to reach an agreement to license the wave feature why not CM? Too much money, EE and him have personal issues, something else ?
 
The best inventions are simple, functional & clever. The Emerson Wave fits that criteria to a T. Congrats on well deserved credit and protection.
 
Todd21969 said:
The "Wave" is Mr Emerson's baby. The way I see it he is allowed to protect it, or license it as he sees fit.

Sure the Walker Liner Lock, Reeve Integral Lock, Carson Flipper...etc is often used without credit given,wrongly IMHO.

Should Sal Glesser allow anyone to use the Spydiehole, or Busse the "Talon hole" in order to further the knife community?

Also Emerson has stepped up it's QC. I have a 2015 made Mini CQC 15 that is perfect in function in every way. Sure the liners are not polished, and has maybe some other cosmetic "problems" that would bother someone with OCD. But I have been carrying it and using it for 5 months with absolutely no problems.
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The Busse talon hole and Spydiehole fall under industrial design and are used as brand identification more so than a functional point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a square opening hole would not infringe on Spyderco's legal rights. The wave issue is akin to Mr Reeve saying, no on uses the frame lock except for me and people I can grab money off of. Wouldn't be as fun being in the knife community if that happened, would it?

I'm glad your Emerson knife is working out well for you. I don't have OCD by the way, but I do expect a $200 knife to come without needing "Emerson mods". It's like paying for a decent hooker and still having to turn off the lights.
 
willc said:
Emerson improved upon an existing idea and maybe someone can improve upon it in the future if they don't get sued first.
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There are plenty of AUTHORIZED companies using their own variation of the Wave. Just look at the Spyderco P'Kal or the Southern Grind Z10. The Z10 has a very innovative version of the Wave and Spyderco's P'Kall allows you to remove the Wave.
 
plue said:
...I do expect a $200 knife to come without needing "Emerson mods". It's like paying for a decent hooker and still having to turn off the lights.
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This is by far the best post of the thread.

The man got the patent fair and square. He has had ample time to profit off the wave. Now it's time to let it go. Patents expire for a reason, but unfortunately they won't keep these greedy companies from exploiting loopholes.
What's next, he's going to patent the chisel grind and bad QC?
Thank god Reeve and Walker didn't have the same mindset.
With that being said, I am going under the assumption that the patent is loosely worded covering any sort of wave hook. If I am wrong and this only covers a specific look, than I will gladly apologize.
 
While I think that a person who comes up with an original idea should have a way to keep someone from copying their product, I think that trying to patent or trademark every little detail in the design is a petty move. It's a hook at the top of the blade, which has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years for different things on knives/swords. Not really an original idea, just a different place to put the hook that had a secondary use as a way to open the blade. Who was the first to use a thumbstud ? A standard lockbar ? A liner lock ? How about bearings or copper washers ?If all these things had been patented or trademarked and couldn't be used for 20 years then most of the knives we know and love wouldn't exist. I personally dislike the way Emerson knives look, and have no interest in owning one. If Emerson had a QC issue then to me, that is an unacceptable problem for a knife costing as much as they do. I also wouldn't put the wave design on one of my blades as a mod. My $.02.
 
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Charlie Mike said:
[video=youtube;rgw26gQlQWw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgw26gQlQWw[/video]

You win.
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That thing snapped like a twig! :D Can we get a closeup of the end grain? If you're gonna snap a blade it's always totally worth it to study the grain.
 
Mecha said:
That thing snapped like a twig! :D Can we get a closeup of the end grain? If you're gonna snap a blade it's always totally worth it to study the grain.
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I didn't think to take close ups. Very surprisinteresting for 3/16" D2. I don't have the parts anymore... a friend already claimed that.
 
Charlie Mike said:
I didn't think to take close ups. Very surprisinteresting for 3/16" D2. I don't have the parts anymore... a friend already claimed that.
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Send him a text and request a closeup photo, if he has one of those big-city smart phones! :D
 
Mecha said:
That thing snapped like a twig! :D Can we get a closeup of the end grain? If you're gonna snap a blade it's always totally worth it to study the grain.
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I gotta say I was pretty surprised at how easily it snapped.

Zero
 
Well, CM I sure wish youd have gave that knife away instead, but ya gotta be you!

I'm all for people protecting intellectual property on a production level but when large scale companies are stopping dudes who are making a living making things in their garage then its not so noble anymore.

Cold Steel will continue making thumb plates and truly capitalizing on Emerson's idea. Because CM was upfront about using the idea HE gets effed in the end...boo. Sorry CM.
 
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