Question - is selling a home-waved folder wrong?

senoBDEC

senoBDEC

Joined
Mar 13, 2005
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2,026
Just a quick question.
I know that Ernest Emerson of Emerson Knives has a copyright on the
"Wave" opening system (hook on top of blade, snags pant lining/corners/etc and opens quickly for those who didn't know). For more info on how it works go here: http://www.emersonknives.com/

I was under the understanding that a letter was circulated that gave knife owners permission to wave their personal knives, and that the "wave" were not meant to be resold on a production/custom service basis without specific, written permission from him (as well as any fees, etc).

Anyway, so I have a folding knife up on eBay, and it is waved using a dremel. A fellow eBay member (thanks BTW) brought up this issue to my attention; that resale on a personal or custom basis would also require specific written permission.
I'm curious, since many people sell waved folders (customized) all the time on forums.... so...

What should I do? Withdraw immediately? Or do you think this interpretation is incorrect?

Thanks for any help you can give.
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a knife that you have waved, as long as you don't plan on making it into a business.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a knife that you have waved, as long as you don't plan on making it into a business.
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i would tend to agree with keith. dont call it a "wave" and dont start customizing a bunch of other people's knives, for resale or otherwise, without permission from ernie.

where i would think you would run into copyright infringement is if you started to advertise your custom wave and charged for the service. working on your friends stuff might be ok, as long as they dont go selling their stuff and calling it a wave.
 
Go to STR's forum and ask him about it. He's had extensive contact with Ernie and actually got permission to do some Waving. He'll be able to give you an informed perspective on where the red lines are.
 
No but selling on BF without a membership is wrong. As long as you don't make it a habit to sell the knife BECAUSE it has a wave you should be fine, sell it as a knife with a wave and you A O K.
 
If you have to ask a moral or ethical question, then you generally already know the answer.
 
65535 said:
No but selling on BF without a membership is wrong. As long as you don't make it a habit to sell the knife BECAUSE it has a wave you should be fine, sell it as a knife with a wave and you A O K.
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Um.. I've never sold on BF... not sure where that came from. I DO know the rules at least that much ;).
Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I'll think over it tonight when I have more time.
 
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