Smart Parts Patent Will Destroy Paintball! - Read!

[phatpat47]

you could buy an impulse, and mess it up repetedly right up untill the warranty is over, and then return it.

[personman]

http://www.petitiononline.com

[Star_Base_CGI]

There are preexisting patents...

http://www.northarc.com/~tinker/smartparts.html

Smart Parts has also conveniently forgotten that there are a few patents that pre-date their shocker patents that deal with paintballs and electronics. I would like to see smart parts take on the US Navy, since the navy gets the credit for being the first to build an electronic paintball gun back in 1971-72, yes thats right 1971-72.

Smart parts also left off there patent application another patent (which is a no-no) that was issued a full year before they filed on the shocker. It was a patent on a truly electronic conversion system for a pro-lite. It used solenoids and micro-processor controlled electronics. So they will have a had time making their patents stand up in court, unless someone makes a shocker.

[nippinout]

What's the next event Smart Parts will be at?

[Johnny_Reb]

Johnny that would be true, but if they ACTOUALLy won all of this, the tournament circuits would boycott sp, and they would go out of business.

Ah but thats where your wrong. The Philadelphia Americans, SP's main team plays Xball. Guess who runs Xball? NAP and Draxxus. Remember Draxxus no longer owns the Matrix so thats no skin off their nose, NAP would be hurtbut they would still be a major company. Strange could be moved to Xball if needed, and thats $10,000 in NAP and Draxxus's pockets right there.

But look at the bright side, AGD will triple it sells of mags if electros do go down.

EDIT: By the way this thread should be stickied.

[Ukraineboy]

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=23&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&p=1&S1=Paintball&OS=Paintball&RS=Paintball

Read that.

it says Zap paintball Patented "Electrically operated paintball gun"

in 2001

[personman]

Originally posted by nippinout
What's the next event Smart Parts will be at?

LOL Burn the booth down~~!!!!@!1!!

[phatpat47]

Anti smart parts

[logamus]

Originally posted by Johnny_Reb
I could only see SP profiting from this. Think about it, do you think pros and long time electro users are going to stop using electros and switch to mechs? Of course not. Theyll just use Impys and Shockers. As much as I hate whats happening I think its a smart move for Smart Parts.

i disagree. i think the legions of paintballers out there would so hate sp for ending the age of electros that very very few would buy their products. i think teams that have other sponsers would be pushed to use other guns and that sp would eventually have no support or customer base.

[brett]

I almost want to cry thinking of what they could do

[raehl]

Whelp...

A quick search of the USPTO database yeilds a few patents, and yes, they are that bad.

Of course, that doesn't answer key questions like, were the patents filed on time, is there prior art, and is the invention obvious to anyone with competency in the area in question.

On the upside, maybe we'll all just stop using electronic markers and then we don't have to worry about trigger bounce anymore. :)


Also note that (near as I can tell) the way the patents are written, they don't apply if you remove the barrel. So just play without your barrel. :)


(Or more likely, sell the markers without barrels, and then make Smart Parts enforce their patent against every player who adds one to their marker individually. )


- Chris

[jinxed]

About those other patents...

The Shocker patent was filed in Jan 15, 1997.

A patent for a similar electropneumatic was filed at May, 5, 1996. Click here for patent
This alone would invalidate Smart Parts claims.

But there are others.

A patent was filed for an E-GRIP type conversion in Nov, 2 1993. Click here for patent
This definetly predates any smart parts patent.

Lastly, a patent was filed by the US Navy in 6/10/71 for an electro paintball gun, that even had an ACE!!! Click here for patent
This predates paintball as we know it, yet the patent clearly describes it to use "dye filled gelatin capsules" for use in "military simulations".

Plus, the CCI semi was also out before the Shocker, but it wasnt patented.

SO, how the heck can this lawsuit even continue?
The lawyers can see the exact same patents???
(unless SMart Parts bought the rights to them)???

Nick

[No sKiLLz]

Originally posted by personman

LOL Burn the booth down~~!!!!@!1!!

I'm all for a witch hunt. If I lived in Penn I would definately pay Smart Parts a visit with my water balloon launcher and some frozen water balloons (Leave my Matrix at home so they don't think I'm a hooligan)

[Johnny_Reb]

i disagree. i think the legions of paintballers out there would so hate sp for ending the age of electros that very very few would buy their products. i think teams that have other sponsers would be pushed to use other guns and that sp would eventually have no support or customer base.

So you think long time electro users and pro teams are just going to switch to mechs that easy? No way man, one team could be using mechs and the other using electros, the second team would have the technology advantage. All paintball players want the technological edge. Even tho SP wouldve put out other electros they would also be the only makers of them. Players' desire for electros would cause them to but the SP electros.

[FalconGuy016]

This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.

All these electro companies! Are they just going to accept $75 extra per gun? They cant! They cant pay a tax because a company patented the pencil... they have to take that to court! Why is smart parts doing this? What a stupid move, if they try to follow through SO MANY PEOPLE are going to HATE THEM! Absolutely hate! Paintball's first evil corporation?