now Gerber is ripping off Crawford/CRKT too?

I like the blade because it looks more like the M-16 Compact. But I really do like that handle. I think the compact had perfect lines, Gerber should have tried harder.
 
diamdave said:
Maybe Devo(lution) would be a better name for the knife. ;)
Click to expand...

Devo?
devo_main.jpg
 
oh @%#$, i totally forgot about these... the CRKT K.I.S.S and the gerber 'Ridge'. i actually own one of these gerbers (got it on sale for $19 CAN).. the packaging says 'innovative handle doubles as a money clip'. yeah, 'innovative'... just not for gerber. unless they count pilfering other companies' designs as 'innovation'.

gb05898.full.jpg
CRKT_KISS_inthedark.jpg


so it seems like this isnt an isolated incident. its not very difficult to design products if all you are 'designing' are deliberate minor alterations to avoid copyright disputes.

im far from a knife 'expert'.. im familiar with several lines of knives but, not with others. for example, i probably couldnt recognise many kershaw knives from a profile simply because i havent been overly interested in them till now. same goes for cold steel, for example. so i wonder how many other designs theyve blatantly ripped off but im just not noticing because im unfamiliar with the knives theyve ripped off.

perhaps a company can legally get away with, say, the KISS ripoff. but what about when half of their product line consists of similar design 'coincidences'?

cheers,
-gabriel
 
I would like to ask again, has anyone reading these threads ever tried to contact Gerber/Fiskars for any reason by email, phone, etc. ?

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
Robbie Roberson said:
I would like to ask again, has anyone reading these threads ever tried to contact Gerber/Fiskars for any reason by email, phone, etc. ?
Click to expand...

i dont understand what you think it would accomplish...
do you think gerber/fiskars isnt aware of these things? multiple design ripoffs like this arent just the work of a single lazy designer - the entire company is aware of it all the way down from the marketing department to the upper management that gave them the green light.
 
I guess nothing is sacred anymore. Seems more and more that people make just enough changes to make it different and that is all they need do. Whatever happened to doing things right?

I still believe in that. I wish big companies didn't set this kind of example. They should be more responsible than this.

It is so blatant I have to wonder. Do we really know for sure that this is something they didn't get permission for? Maybe it isn't even patented. But even still another's intellectual property should mean something whether it is patented, registered or whatever.

Sometimes the condition of this world we live in really fogs up my rose colored glasses but good.

Here is Gerber today.

GerberBefore-copy.jpg


And here is when they did things right.

oldgerber-copy.jpg


Whats wrong with this picture?

Price went up, value and quality went down for one. Fiskars just took a new step down IMO and they were already pretty low anyways.
 
Kit Carson said:
Robbie,
I have :(
Click to expand...

no need to get into specifics, but what was the general tone of their response?

suprised/apologetic?
arrogant/justifying?
indignant/denial?
talk to my lawyer?

just wondering what the reaction of a large company like that is when it is called on something like this.
i assume that because they changed little things they are not legally assailable on this particular knife.. but how about when half their lineup borrows designs from other companies? is there no point that a judge will say 'ok, there are just too many 'coincidences''?

cheers,
-gabriel
 
I would tend to think that you would have quite the case against Gerber.

Oh well, I say boycott them, I certainly won't send another cent their way.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Why being Fiskars knives is a problem, I don't know. On their own products Fiskars does pretty well. But I guess they feel they bought a company for its old name and reputation and can get away with using it for their budget line.

Did they think no one would notice? They figured the low end knife buyer wouldn't even think to care.
Click to expand...

Esav,
Because Fiskars isn't a knife company that cares about knives. They made their fortune on new manufacturing processes for scissors. They turned scissors from a product that took skill to make to a mass produced, cookie cutter product. They work well, but they have no "soul." This is obvious when comparing a nice quality pair of tailor shears with a pair of Fiskars. They are applying the same concepts to Gerber, except in the case of the knives they don't even seem to perform that well. Like most corporations they want to maximize profit and they don't mind the product quality suffering if that is what it takes.

Very few of the old time Gerber employees are still with the company, and there is a reason for that.
 
Robbie Roberson said:
I would like to ask again, has anyone reading these threads ever tried to contact Gerber/Fiskars for any reason by email, phone, etc. ?

Robbie Roberson ;)
Click to expand...

I did. No response.
 
Paul Davidson said:
Esav,
Because Fiskars isn't a knife company that cares about knives. They made their fortune on new manufacturing processes for scissors. They turned scissors from a product that took skill to make to a mass produced, cookie cutter product. They work well, but they have no "soul." This is obvious when comparing a nice quality pair of tailor shears with a pair of Fiskars. They are applying the same concepts to Gerber, except in the case of the knives they don't even seem to perform that well. Like most corporations they want to maximize profit and they don't mind the product quality suffering if that is what it takes.

Very few of the old time Gerber employees are still with the company, and there is a reason for that.
Click to expand...

You just made a great point there. I would rather pay double, even triple for a knife, or hell any product out there, if I knew it was crafted with some soul as you put it. I guess people just don't care about true quality anymore. Greed rules and it's sickening. Unfortunatly the uneducated or just those who don't see the point will continue to buy up Gerber left and right at Wal-Mart prices and they'll live on forever.
 
Matt,
I have the hardest time concentrating on your posts. I don't know why, but my eyes keep drifting up and to the left...I really need to ask my eye doctor about it. ;)
 
I bought an evo about a month back, came here and read the ckrt rip-off post, and promptly returned it the next day. my disdain for gerber stems not only for their unethical practices, but because They have stolen so much of my money.

I have purchased based on gerbers (formerly) good name:

1 ar 3.50, gift for ex girlfriend (perhaps an omen of things to come)
1 paraframe II, bent the handle
1 Spectre, gift for friend (no longer speaking)
1 EVO, see above

plus I'm a leatherman guy.

I am very glad I found this site. I was very close to keeping the EVO.
 
I have a Gerber Multi-Plier from about 10 years ago that is a great tool.

They have really gone downhill lately though, this is just kind of the icing on the cake I guess.

Yesterday I saw a set of a knife (paraframe? ) and a little multi-tool packaged at Wal-Mart for $13. Terrible.

I will be staying away from Gerber in the future.
 
Walmart is shilling Gerbers for not that much, but certainly more than they're worth. An old friend of mine at Wallyworld who works in the sports dept, says that customers are coming to her and complaining about the quality of the Gerber knives they are buying, and she says they are going after all of her Kershaw and Buck knives made in the USA and Japan. She said that some of her stock was going back to the warehouse, and if I wanted some Gerbers on a great deal from WM HQ. I politely declined.

Don't get me wrong, I really love my Gerber Silver Knight with wood handles, I liked my AR 3.25. I like the multi tool that I got in a trade here. But from what I've seen, and heard from a lot of sporting goods dealers TRYING TO SELL THESE KNIVES, Gerber has gone down hill. It's one thing to stick with a common design, but to blatantly steal designs is a sign they're grasping at straws. I really like the Gerber Freeman Caper, but I'm not going to buy it with all of the bad pub I'm hearing.

IMHO, Gerber has sunk to what the Chinese companies like Jaguar and Frost are doing, blatantly copying COPYRIGHTED AND TRADEMARKED designs.
 
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