Smart Parts Aquired!

[sjrtk]

If they are looking to actively support the current lines and products then there is hope for the floks who worked there. No matter how evil the brothers ended up being, their employees are the ones we should hope for in this whole mess. Lets hope these guys don't move SP manufacturing to China.

Not to mention that White Hats LLC's logo/mascot on their website is the Lone Ranger, we can hope that they are the good guys.

[OPBN]

ok, I give, who's the dude in the picture? I don't know all the industry players by sight yet.

As for the white hat meaning they are the good guys, yeah no one has ever used misleading advertising.

[druid]

Okay... speculative being the optional word.

Link to the story with the pic?

The pic was posted with the story over on MSEP I believe...or UMS...don't remember extacty but it was one of those two...

@ OPBN - That's Gino Pastoria [spelling?] [formerly] of NPS and currently of Valken Paintball...

Like I said...SP isn't the only devil in a business suit...

[paullus99]

It could be a very interesting situation - if you have a robust IP portfolio from companies that are no longer in operation, license out the best of those products to legit manufacturers and get production started again.

Of course, it could still be just a play on patent enforcement, though litigation is way more expensive today than it was even back in 2002 - 2005 (the great SP IP War).

[Chronobreak]

huh tom, whats that?

[ArmyEngineer]

The pic was posted with the story over on MSEP I believe...or UMS...don't remember extacty but it was one of those two...

@ OPBN - That's Gino Pastoria [spelling?] [formerly] of NPS and currently of Valken Paintball...

Like I said...SP isn't the only devil in a business suit...

I think that might be Ron's dad.

[SN toter]

The pic is Gino, but it's just a pic. In the mcb thread for this Valken said that neither Gino, or Valken, have anything to do with whitehat.

We just have friggin wait.

[druid]

The pic is Gino, but it's just a pic. In the mcb thread for this Valken said that neither Gino, or Valken, have anything to do with whitehat.

We just have friggin wait.

Well if this is the case...that's good news.

The bad news is that there's NOTHING ANYWHERE about "WH/LLC" except what's on 68 cal.

Now why would such a benevolent company hide everything they are behind the proxy of a news outlet E-Media site?

I mean they have "our best interests in mind" right?...............didn't we hear this before by the likes of Richard Nixon, Adolph H, Jimmy Carter, Mussolini, Bush' 1 & 2, Billery C and Obama??


.................hrm??........

[Frizzle Fry]

Not to mention that White Hats LLC's logo/mascot on their website is the Lone Ranger, we can hope that they are the good guys.

In corny old westerns (pre-spaghetti ear) the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys black ones; that's how you tell them apart in the fighting scenes (the movies were pretty light on dialog anyway...). In my field, "white hat" means a guy from the testing department who comes around and tries to hack/mod your game just to see if it can be done...


Depending on who's behind this, it's probably a good thing. The background section isn't very informative, but seems to suggest that they'll allow 3rd party development using the more lucrative patents (you know which ones they're talking about, or at least AKA guys and Powerlyte guys do...). It seems they've asked for a little time to get their crap together before the questions start pouring in.

Some White Hats Background
Posted on 20. Aug, 2010 by AdminS in Company

White Hats LLC was created by several individuals who have had long and successful careers in the paintball industry (as well as in other fields).

Their focus has been primarily in the creation and development of innovative technologies, many of which are still in use today. They also bring experience in marketing, sales and distribution to the table.

Their collective business philosophy has always been one of the long-term view, of support for growing the industry and doing so in a responsible manner.

This philosophy extends to the treatment of intellectual property as well. Their individual entities have worked cooperatively on previous occasions in the development, acquisition and licensing of paintball-related IP. They recognize and understand that the purpose of patents is to reward innovation AND to encourage new developments.

They believe in (and have demonstrated that belief in practice) the concept that it is better to grow the pie bigger than it is to try and steal a larger slice.

Their respective companies have, in the past, been amongst the first to regularly sponsor, support and endorse new ideas, new events, new teams.

IP can be used anti-competitively or to help drive innovation and cooperation. White Hats hopes to be able to do the latter as it moves forward.

White Hats has chosen, at this particular time, to release information in a slow and deliberate fashion for one primary reason: the work involved is extremely time consuming. They request your indulgence and cooperation in this matter and will be releasing additional information as it is appropriate to do so.

[MANN]

"They believe in (and have demonstrated that belief in practice) the concept that it is better to grow the pie bigger than it is to try and steal a larger slice."

That quote leads me to believe Kaye is involved...which also make since why 68caliber got the "announcement privileges". It would not surprise me if Forest was involved as well.

[Mongoose]

haha...this one is gonna be good

[paullus99]

Well, it still looks like the agreement with the bank is only in "principle" so a lot of negotiating still needs to be done, I'm sure (valuation of assets, especially IP can take quite a bit of time, since you have experts on both sides that may have wildly different ideas about what things are worth in today's market).

I am very interested to see how this plays out - especially the concept of an "IP Licensing" operation - they can collect the licensing fees & have the other manufacturers pay the cost of production.

I say give them the benefit of the doubt until they give us reason to think otherwise.

[Cyberious]

"They believe in (and have demonstrated that belief in practice) the concept that it is better to grow the pie bigger than it is to try and steal a larger slice."

That quote leads me to believe Kaye is involved...which also make since why 68caliber got the "announcement privileges". It would not surprise me if Forest was involved as well.

That was my first thought when I saw they were out of Illinois was that TK was somehow involved. Why does TK, a white hat, and possibly Shatnerball ring a vague memory?

[ArmyEngineer]

That was my first thought when I saw they were out of Illinois was that TK was somehow involved. Why does TK, a white hat, and possibly Shatnerball ring a vague memory?

If the patents are freed up, what are the chances that the e-mag/x-mag will reenter production? TK is staying suspiciously quiet.

[the mag guy]

If the patents are freed up, what are the chances that the e-mag/x-mag will reenter production? TK is staying suspiciously quiet.

Oh man, I feel like a kid the night before xmas! I would love to see the e/xmag make a comeback!

and if you're in on this Tom I'm flying up there and buying you a beer.