If spyderco Has a TM on a round hole.. Why does my BM have one too?

S

SKYWLKR

Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
38
Not sure on the benchmade knifes name but it a nice blade profile made with ATS-34 I think.

Round hole on the blade but no Spyderhump Black plastic handle and a removable clip.

I Cant find it on BM site though.
 
Is it an original AFCK or mini-AFCK? They had round holes and liner locks.
BM_812_SBT_AFCK_LG.jpg

I believe that the round hole was licensed. I heard somewhere that Les and Sal are friends.
 
As those guys said, the older AFCK's and Ascents had officially-licensed trademarked round-opening holes from Spyderco. Also, back in the day, Benchmade made some of Spyderco's knives (I think the Military, but I wasn't into high-end cutlery back in those days).
 
Oh boy...

There's no license from Spyderco to use it on either the production model or the custom model. The custom model also uses a Ken Onion design patent, along with the round opening hole, with no known permission from either owner (asked them and they said "no").

Some folks would rather leave the answer to that question to the lawyers of the involved parties instead of their own consciences. Others have answered it for their consciences as either unacceptable or allowable.

I think I have to leave this thread and go bathe the cats...
 
We (very recently) decided to discuss intellectual property law in the Knife Law forum, so I'll move this thread there. :cool:
 
I read someware that the trademark on Spydercos thumbhole has elapsed a
couple years ago, making the design available to everyone.
 
SKYWLKR said:
Not sure on the benchmade knifes name but it a nice blade profile made with ATS-34 I think.

Round hole on the blade but no Spyderhump Black plastic handle and a removable clip.

I Cant find it on BM site though.
Click to expand...

Spyderco did license the use of the round hole to Benchmade for a period of years, but stopped back around 2000. Whether that was specifically tied to the expiration of the patent protection, I assume only Sal really knows. The "hole" design is now considered a Trademark - which is a pretty effective way of protecting the idea. It is the unique character of the hole in the blade that identifies is as a Spyderco product rather than just another patented invention - at least that is the way I have come to understand the issue.

The liner-lock versions of AFCK (and the mini) were discontinued a few years ago as Benchmade migrated more of their production toward their AXIS lock designs.

Benchmade did produce that knife with an oval hole and the AXIS verision of those designs are still produced with the oval hole.

As far as Benchmade and Spyderco making knives together, my recollection from "The Spyderco Story" is that Spyderco used/contracted for Benchmade to produce the original aluminum versions of the Bob Terzuola C15 and C19. Whether they continued that production on the later generation G-10 models I can't recall. Spyderco did not have a production facility in the US at that time.
 
Dave 12c8 said:
I read someware that the trademark on Spydercos thumbhole has elapsed a
couple years ago, making the design available to everyone.
Click to expand...

The patent lapsed, but was replaced with a trademark. It's only legally available to Spyderco and those whom license it from Spyderco.
 
Somebody please enlighten me on this one. I'm not up on patent law.
I was under the impression that patents were good for like 15 or 17 years and
trademarks were forever.
Where am I mistaken?
 
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