Now the crap is getting deep! The people selling the kite that looks like a Montanna I 9.5 sent me a threatening email


If you do not give up those forum links to us, we will report you to the United States Patent office. Your emails to us already provides your IP address and eBay knows your ID. This will be sufficient evidence for the Patent Office to file suit against you. You are in direct violation of the United States Patent Statute at the following link:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/appxl_35...

You have 2 days to respond with those links.

Guess I mentioned that I posted on a forum to ask If any one had heard of this kite. And their ebay sale didn't go as they planned, now they think it's my fault. please correct me if I'm wrong but the link on this page, does that in any way apply to me? Or does that link apply to what he's doing? I'm confused.:puzzled:

I think he saying it applies to you, where as in "reality" it applies to him! :alien:

Yeah, I'm sure sodfarmkiter is in deep trouble because someone he never met is selling pirate copies of a kite.

I sent them emails as well, but I haven't heard a word from them. I love poking sticks at someone when they deserve it.

I dont think i would respond to anything he sends. maybe just another skam. if he gets anywhere with this the Patent office will contact you. So no wories

Would you like me to book him one way to Bagdad International? I still have connections............

This guy is laughable - he quotes a reg that applies to the knock offs he's selling. WOuldn't worry in the least. BTW< noticed his latest Ebay attempt has the keyword MONTANA in it............ bit blatent there, eh?

Oh now that is funny. I looked at the link he sent trying to figure out what he is thinking. He sounds very confused.

In any event it looks like he has to file the suit not the patent office. I would not worry about it.

Opps better quote this before I get sued.
"35 U.S.C. 292 False marking.
(b) Any person may sue for the penalty, in which event one-half shall go to the person suing and the other to the use of the United States."

He won't contact the patent office because if he does he get screwed! My vote is everyone just keep sending emails and post as many links as you can! HE CAN'T TAKE US ALL DOWN!!!! :wink2:

in reality it's up to HQ to take legal action ....

Ben from revolution sounds like he had enough of the knock-offs and stepping up what ever action is necessary

watch out from e-bay about harassment.....



check out some of the other fakes

http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/law_case_study.html

these guys should'nt be allowed to spawn

this is getting really funny either way a real government office will contact you with a warning first. so i wouldn't worry so much.

I wasn't trying to start a big fight with the guy, when I realized that I had sold him the real Montana. I was kinda pissed and had told him i was on to him and that I still had the emails from the sale. Then he started threatening me. And I may have responded to a few of those because I don't like being told what to do! Here was my reply to the email above:

I'm not the one who stole a kite design you are! you want to report me to someone you be my guest. It might come out that your a fraud! the kite forums I'm on are PUBLIC and protected by the constitution! REPORT me I've done nothing, your threats mean noting...And its a two way street I have your emails also, so what. Don't threaten me your the one selling FAKE kites. In all my searches I've found NO information backing up your claims of the kite being popular in Europe or even existing for that matter.

Yet one more reason I LOVE this forum !!!

Not being able to have open discusions like this about our local shops on a local forum was a huge disapointment to me and turned me off completely.

It's nice to see that a hot topic like this can be discussed without a bunch of bad mouthing and lots of valuable advice :cool2:

This is one good bunch of folks to share with

yea for bad mouthing :evil: snowbird i would have to agree with you.

Bagdad scenario too harsh?:D

Quote:

Originally posted by tridude Bagdad scenario too harsh?:D

I don't know if that's too harsh. It was clearly meant as a joke !

Quote:

Originally posted by snowbird It was clearly meant as a joke !

You must not know Tridude too well....:D

It's been two days and no official emails yet! And don't worry guys I didn't give you up to the MAN...And the dweeb hasn't wrote me back either. And as far as tridude goes, what I don't know won't hurt me! re:Bagdad hint, hint...

I got a threatening email yesterday. Here it is.

"We have full rights to sell this kite and any claims that we do not will be reported to the US Patent Office. Fines are $500 per occurrence. HQ and eBay is fully aware of all patents and trademarks regarding their product and ours. eBay is very strict on such rules and we would not be able to list these on their site if we violated any. Thank you."

I think they are confused about who the patent office protects and who they charge.

I'm not going to respond to him again:evil: But If I did, I would only tell him GOOD LUCK BUDDY:!:

I saw the the kite you were talking about on eBay and was really going to buy it but I am curious why eBay did not pull the listing if it was illegal. As far as I know, anything that is made and sold illegally on eBay is pulled off pretty quickly once eBay is informed.

I assume HQ and the Revolution guys already flagged the listing and eBay should have known about it by now, unless this guy actually purchased or obtained the rights to sell these.

I actually purchased one of the revolution style kites from him before and I've seen it listed and relisted on eBay for over a year now. Just wondering what the deal is. Maybe these guys and eBay know something we do not know and HQ and Revolution is just not telling us about it. It's a competitive world out there. They all could be scamming all of us customers.

I saw the note the eBay guys added in their kite listings about patent rights and trademarks and I think what they are saying is that if someone is trying to stop the sale of their product by claiming that the product is illegal or a scam, they better have proof or else they can be sued. So far eBay has not removed the listing so I am going to watch it for a while before I purchase it.

Let you know in a few weeks.

Jas

From what I can figure they are Trying to use montana's popularity and looks to sell it. Now if they did use the one I sold them to make copys of. And they change it a little bit can they re-patent it. I don't know just speculation! I WOULDN'T BUY IT!

hey guys,

this is Tim with HQ USA. I can assure you that HQ has not given anybody permission to produce their product or licensed out a design.
After I brought this to their attention, they all said 'What the heck is that'
They have not done anything legally yet. I just suggest NOT to buy scam products. That is the easiest way of keeping pirates out of the ball game.

Tim

I just seen his new add on ebay and he's trying to get somebody to rat us out:!::!::!:
Here is what he is saying:

To our customers:

Please email all comments regarding this kite from our competitors and their kite forums to us. Competitors are liable for any inaccurate or misleading comments made regarding this product and we take the quality of our products very seriously. These comments include claims that violate United States Patent and Trademark laws. Thank you.

He thought he could scare me into telling what forums I post on! Since that didn't work, now he wants someone else to tell him where I post my opinion!:evil::evil::evil:

Awindofchange says it best... This right here is why this guy bugs me! I just want to preserve the things I enjoy the most!:singing:

Quote:

The worst thing is that you will be purchasing an illegal design from a company that has stolen it from the original manufacturer. What this does is cuts out all of the R&D, marketing, testing, design, layout, printing and other costs and allows the bogus company to sell the kite for much less. First you may think "WOW! I can buy the same kite for pennies" but what you are really doing is saying "I am going to cut out sales from the original manufacturer so that they will not be able to make the kites profitable in the long run". If the original designer cannot make any profit in the kites they design, they will have to shut down and will no longer design kites which means the illegal copy company will not have any kites to copy and we will not have any kites to buy at all. The worst thing is that you will purchase a bogus knock-off that will be a piece of crap kite and that will make you and the others with you think that the original manufacturer kite (that uses the good materials and construction) is also a garbage kite, giving the company that works hard to produce a great product the wrong reputation and also hurting sales in the long run.

Gosh, this all sounds so familiar. See, my real job is in the pharmaceutical industry. Seems this Montana copycat guy is the generic companies, and HQ is like the company I work for. I have no problem with generic drugs, per se, but only when a valid patent expires. The frustrating thing lately is many of the legislators trying to increase the speed with which generics become available.

Imagine this scenario: HQ invents a new kite, providing ultimate joy for all kiters. They apply for a patent (at the time of discovery of the new kite technology), which will last 17 years. However, it takes 10 years of research and testing before they can actually sell the kite to us. Now, they have only 7 years left to recoup their costs incurred during the 10 years, as well as try to make a profit to fund other research. Along comes the gov't and says that this kite is so great, that we want there to be more competition to lower the price, so we are going to let anyone who wants make an exact copy of that kite. This is what the current political climate (both sides of the aisle) has brewing. Scary stuff.

Sorry if this is too off topic, but the similarities are many.

SOAPBOX
STEP
STEP
STEP
Now I feel better.

It’s not so much the similarities of the kites; it is more the blatant use of the names from another manufacture to confuse the public and make them think they are real. All foil kites are somewhat similar in design to each other. I could say all foil kites are copies of the original Quadrifoils and Sparless Stunters but they are not (well ok some). I also see a lot of similarity of the Pansh Ace to my Profoil in graphics and construction but they are not copies (maybe same manufacture in China?).
Competition is good and as for patents most can be argued some cannot (Revolution vs. Quadraflex). The fixed bridle multi line foil is not patented. There are some features that have been invented to be used with the fixed bridle foils that should have been patented. Most of the features have been in the public now for some time and is probably too late to be patented.

If its not patented you can do it. I seam to rember the guy who patented the wheelbarrow some 15 20 years ago and now is a very welthy man. everyone had to start paying him to be able to make a wheelbarrow shortly after that ya started to see wheelbarrows with 2 wheels up front. think its for added stability its to get around the patent

Hi Guys,

I'm just gonna go ahead and buy it if the price is good. Why not anyways. They seem to have a 30 day return policy and 6 month replacement warranty according to their ad so why not get it and return it if it really sucks. Return shipping should only be a few dollars, but if it works out well then it's my gain and my money. I'm not loyal to anyone but my own pocket book. I'll keep in touch.

Jas

Why not buy an actual HQ Montana instead of a knockoff without a known reputation? I just saw this one on eBay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Montana-Traction-Power-Kite-Snowkite-9-5...

much better price too...

IMHO I'd never spend so much on a knockoff.... I've found that you suually get what you pay for- but not always!

Maybe you should ask him who holds your warranty! say you buy it and there is a small dilema a month or two from now. now you have to what, mail the kite to china to get another one just like it. GOOD LUCK with that. You don't have to loyal, but you get what you pay for. Your right it's your money but before you spend it do a little research. HQ, Ozone, Flexifoil... proven quality! PKD, Pansh... Not bad but still proving themselves, At least you can find out stuff about them(i.e. kite reviews). Your kite Nada, Zip , Nothing. Not one person to back it up but the person selling it! But that warranty just makes it all BETTER!:barf::barf::puzzled: