Wow, 28 pages and I still have questions
I've followed this from the beginning, but I'm sure that I missed some original posts and caught only the edits.
I'd like to preface my comments with the stipulation that I cannot condone Mr. Adams' actions in any regard under any circumstances. That being said...
I can however, appreciate his frustration at finding out that he had been commissioned to copy someone else's design. Looking at it from a different perspective, if someone were to contact me from halfway around the world to make them a knife, presumably from having seen my previous work, I would be very flattered. As an "aspiring knifemaker" I'd be more than flattered, I'd be ecstatic. Assuming what Mr. Adams said is accurate (I know, a big assumption), after dropping ~$200 on materials only to find that I'd been commisioned to knock off another design, I'd be upset. Realizing that it wasn't my talent that got me the commission, but that I'm willing to do it cheaper than the originator, I'd be devastated. Again, I can think of a thousand more appropriate ways to respond than the dishonesty displayed here, but people don't always think straight in an emotional state.
Now that I've opened myself up to ridicule for sympathizing with Mr. Adam's emotional state amidst the early stages of this incident, I would like to request some clarification from Delwin.
If you truly felt that there was nothing wrong with asking Maker B to copy Maker A's design, then why go to the trouble to sketch a copy of Mr. Burch's knife? Why not simply provide a photo of Mr. Burch's knife for reproduction? Honestly, in this circumstance, I don't buy the whole "imitation is the most sincere form of flattery" line. I think buying Maker A's knife at his asking price is the most sincere from of flattery and trying to buy Maker A's design from Maker B at 1/2 the price is, excuse my frankness, cheap.
I hope everyone will believe me when I say that I am not trying to be antagonistic. I ask because others have asked similar questions throughout this thread and there has been little attempt to address those. I understand and appreciate the language barrier, but I also think that more benefit of the doubt has been extended to Delwin because of it. From my perspective, the actions of providing a drawing instead of simply mentioning that you'd like a more economical version of Mr. Burch's knife imply that you knew that what you were asking was at least frowned upon. I'm no expert in international business nor the customs of Singapore, but I'm fairly confident that it is relatively common knowledge that theft of intellectual property, whether explicity covered by patents or not, is frowned upon in the western world. I also believe that in cases such as these, the decision to ignore the norms of other cultures is merely economics.
Editted to add that I do hope that Delwin gets his money back. Yet another reason why you should never accept money before you're ready to deliver a knife.
