Mr. DeVilliers,
I'm not an employee of Emerson Knives, nor are 99% of the people that post and lurk on this forum. We are however members of the knife buying public and we have great respect for the innovation and hard work of others. As you might have seen, we do take offense at the right of others being walked on for profit.
I understand that some people have taken offence at me makeing a wave on one of my tactical folders. In all fairness, I would appreciate it, if you did not make asumptions, until all facts are known.
May assume then that your going to provide those details?
I'm sure the folks here appreciate hearing directly from you, as I do.
This knife, was not intended to be advertised, especially not with a wave feature.This was a serious mistake.
It has know been rectified.
The advertising of the knife seems to have been "rectified", not the making and selling of it.
No disrespect was intended.
This knife was made before I had communicaton with the Emerson company.
You made the knife
and then asked permission to make it? Had you also sold it to a customer prior to your request for permission being deigned or is this a piece that Knifeart recently received directly from you?
If there was a situation where you had made a knife at a customers request, then you either found out that there was a patent (or your conscience got the better of you) and you asked permission to make the knife you had already made and sold, wouldn't you feel obligated to pipe up and let the other maker know you'd done so? Either out of respect, obligation or just the fact that the damn thing might surface at some point in the distant future.
I have not and will not sell any knives with wave features.
I do not, and will not, rip off other peoples ideas.
It's none of my business obviously, but as this has come out publicly, are there any other waved models in existence or was this a one time thing?
I have the utmost respect for Mr Emerson, as well as all American people.
I actually have 8 family members that are US citizens, and some of my best friends live in the US.
You can thus see why, I do not appreciate some of the comments made on this fourum.
Mr. DeVilliers, as an American, I appreciate that. I am among the minority of Americans that have lived in other countries. As such, I realize that people are basically people. I make no assumptions about people based on their country of origin. As a matter of fact, I hope to visit your fine country on holiday in the next couple of years.
I think you'll also find that the people that frequent this forum are of the most culturally diverse and nation friendly people around. Among our numbers we count members from many counties including Sweden, Burma, China, Canada, Taiwan, The UK, Turkey
and South Africa, as well as a few I'm sure I'm missing.
I don't think there is a person among us that doesn't have respect for Chris Reeve, another maker from South Africa that had migrated to the US.
My point being, this is
not a "South Africa thing", it's a violation of the rights of a man that we all respect. Period. No disparaging comments were made about your being from South Africa, nor I am 100% positive, was any implied.
Thank you Sir
John Hollister
