Interesting view point. However if you had been around long enough and had enough Seki Japan SOG knives you will know what we are getting at.
We have seen a drastic fall in knife quality since the Seki Japan days. If you compare the number of knives breaking/having quality issues in those days compared to those today, you will easily see why we think the shift to Taiwan was a bad one. For me I am impartial to it, but despite my ramblings on the poorer quality (due to the breaking Taiwan knives), I still see the future for Taiwan knives as I continue to read good reviews on the new SOG bowies, namely the Super SOG Bowie, Seal Pup Elite, Seal Team Elite and the Tigershark Elite.
We are not saying that the knives made in Taiwan are absolute junk. They are overpriced but we ain't complaining much about that. Hell even a sharpened piece of discarded metal can function as a knife. So nothing is junk if it cuts. Furthermore if you look a few months back there have been QC failures with their "high-end" Seki-made serialized knives.
Also, we are ranting because of the latest chain of events that has led to the view that SOG is going downhill. From the shift in production to Taiwan, followed by the breaking of Taiwan knives, followed by the breaking of Fusion products, blade play issues, poor customer service etc... If we as customers do not express our dissatisfaction sooner or later SOG is going to lose some of its important customer base here - the easiest form of reviews and feedback it can get - in the form of online forums/communities. Try going to the streets and asking people how SOG knives are. It is going to be difficult.
Granted that SOG has to keep up with the times and as it expands in size, quality and customer satisfaction must still be its number one priority. We can overlook the minor defects and falling QC controls, but what this thread addresses is the blatant copying of other companies'/custom makers' patents and designs. We are not saying that SOG is producing junk. That has other threads on that topic.
Benchmade did copy the 'Spydie Hole' but NOT the whole knife like SOG did. This is what disgusts me, even if you want to make some more money for your company you don't do it this way without any originality and innovation.
Sadly it really shows how low SOG goes. The least they could do was to change the materials and designs a little more. Hell even the product descriptions as others pointed out sounded the same.
The fact remains is that we have to suck it up and SOG is going to get its way. The very minor tweaks it made to the 2010 knives are enough to get SOG out of harm's way, backed by its legal team. We will move on, and as a SOG fan I am disappointed, but all hope is not lost.