More Smart Parts Patent Applications

[ThePixelGuru]

so youre going to tell me that marker prices now are more expensive than back in say 01 or 02? please.....

markers are now faster, more reliable, smaller, consistent, and CHEAPER than ever. that is up for argument of course, but the cheaper part holds true.

And what part of that would not have taken place without SP?

[Niox]

so youre going to tell me that marker prices now are more expensive than back in say 01 or 02? please.....

markers are now faster, more reliable, smaller, consistent, and CHEAPER than ever. that is up for argument of course, but the cheaper part holds true.

[devildog]

And what part of that would not have taken place without SP?

thats my point exactly. regardless of royalty payments, monopolies, and patents by sp we arrive at the same outcome. so where is the problem here? sp didnt hurt anything.

Can't hate em for doing what business are out to do: make money. Smart parts was not created to make guns for free. none of the manufacturers were.

Hey, im not saying i support sp or think what they did is ethical. I'm just making an argument. there always has to be someone on the other team right

[Madmox]

I don't think anyone is questioning their business decisions. What is being questioned is their total lack of ethical behavior. The catch is that, sure, they may make money in the short run but in the long run this sort of behavior will have a detrimental effect on the industry as a whole as the competition is crowded out. Once the competition is suppressed they can drop the quality of the markers and raise the prices and have everyone by the short and curlies. Chances are the only people that could stand up to SP is K2 (though they seem pretty content back in their WGP corner). Or us as consumers to take a more grass roots approach, slander. But the fact that their markers fill a niche in the market at a given price point means soccer moms will pay the price for their precious kiddies to have a EP marker.


Madmox

Pump guns... Making a comeback one disenchanted ex-Smart Parts consumer at a time...Word

[dropzone]

Chances are the only people that could stand up to SP is K2 (though they seem pretty content back in their WGP corner). Or us as consumers to take a more grass roots approach, slander.

Actually National Paintball Supply holds most of the clout nowadays in the industry even compared to Smart Parts which is why I don`t see anything coming out of this whole uproar with Key Action and the mini invert. NPS was bought out and is now owned by Summit corporation which has deep pockets than run way farther down than the paintball industry and make SP look like a mom & pop grocery store.

WGP is just a drop in the bucket and would be an easy target for either one if they chose to allocate the expenditures in legal fees to pursue them. What I would be more worried about is a merger between SP and NPS which would pretty much seal the deal on a monopoly within the paintball industry.

[doc_Zox]

and I'm sure a few Lawyers could gather together and get that plan rolling right along.

A couple of lawsuits later and 100 percent of the industries manufacturing is managed in Shanghai.

[Chronobreak]

WGP is just a drop in the bucket and would be an easy target for either one if they chose to allocate the expenditures in legal fees to pursue them. What I would be more worried about is a merger between SP and NPS which would pretty much seal the deal on a monopoly within the paintball industry.

sp or dye joining kee at this point would pretty much mean a monopoly, though kee is close enough already if you ask me.

on the bright side of things, monopolies are generaly forced to break up, and encourage competition, putting us back at square 1

[ProblemKinder]

you guys are blowing this way past what it is. sp never said the other companies cant build these products. they just have to pay a few bucks to smartparts to do it. it happens in buisness all the time. why is it wrong for paintball, but right for everything else?

i think you're missing the point entirely.

if SP had actually invented the ideas they are somehow getting patents for, we wouldn't have anything to complain about.

did SP invent the pneumatic trigger? no. so why are they trying to patent it? did SP invent a solenoid operated paintball marker? no. so why do they have a patent for it?

[ProblemKinder]

thats my point exactly. regardless of royalty payments, monopolies, and patents by sp we arrive at the same outcome. so where is the problem here? sp didnt hurt anything.

Can't hate em for doing what business are out to do: make money. Smart parts was not created to make guns for free. none of the manufacturers were.

Hey, im not saying i support sp or think what they did is ethical. I'm just making an argument. there always has to be someone on the other team right

maybe the price of a DM7 is the same now as it would be if they didn't have to pay SP royalties. HOWEVER. if they DIDN'T have to pay SP royalties, that would be more money in their pockets, which would be better for the industry when all the companies are making money, not when one company is making money and the rest are barely scraping by.

[devildog]

did SP invent the pneumatic trigger? no. so why are they trying to patent it? did SP invent a solenoid operated paintball marker? no. so why do they have a patent for it?

who cares why they are trying to patent it? why is this something to complain about? it isnt hurting you in any way....

everyone keeps coming back to how SP actions are bad for the industry. i dont understand where you guys are getting this from. the industry is better than ever.

[ThePixelGuru]

who cares why they are trying to patent it? why is this something to complain about? it isnt hurting you in any way....

everyone keeps coming back to how SP actions are bad for the industry. i dont understand where you guys are getting this from. the industry is better than ever.

I don't see how you can say this isn't hurting us in any way. If SP hadn't gone all lawsuit-happy, maybe AGD would have a new electro out these days. Maybe we'd be seeing new AKA markers. Maybe we could buy better markers from companies at lower prices because they wouldn't have to pass the royalty costs on to the consumer or take the hit themselves. I could go on and on...

SP is getting money from consumers and competing companies for things they didn't invent. If you don't see how that's bad, I don't know what I can say to convince you.

[Thotograph]

Royalties are wrong in sp's case. They claim the most general concepts as original designs and use vague blanket terms to cover every possible variance in design. It makes no sense how they get away with this (ohh yeah they can actually afford to with all that o.p.m. they have). It's like a car company claiming a patent on brakes, or rather onboard stopping devices No car company would do that because for safetys sake and for the betterment of the industry.

Sp is greedy and just wants money and doesn't care about anything else. If sp was patenting original designs and then another company wanted to use that design then the royalties that come with usage of a specific design are just. Saying that if you use electricity and air to move a paintball then we own it is absolute garbage and I will not stand for it and will always hate them.

BOYCOTT SP

What blows my mind is how no one within the govts or patent offices hasn't caught on and made sp account for all these frivilous lawsuits and rediculous ammendments. Where's the anti trust police when you need them? Ohh yeah they are too busy trying to stiffle microsoft or something.

I'm getting way to over this, if I go on anymore I'm gonna earn a 5day vacation, sorry for the longwinded response (as is my usual lol). Truth is honest and informed AOers can't be made to like sp... devildog, you defending them makes me suspect your last name starts with a G and ends with a ardener... but I could be wrong. Just can't see how they've earned your loyalty... the products are best described as awful, and their practices are greedy, filthy, and just plain dishonest. SP = thieves in expensive suits with law degrees.

[devildog]

I don't see how you can say this isn't hurting us in any way. If SP hadn't gone all lawsuit-happy, maybe AGD would have a new electro out these days. Maybe we'd be seeing new AKA markers. Maybe we could buy better markers from companies at lower prices because they wouldn't have to pass the royalty costs on to the consumer or take the hit themselves. I could go on and on...

for one, if agd wants to make a new electro they can. sp isnt saying the cant. aka was going in the toilet anyway, although their markers were awesome. as for lower prices, i can agree with that, although i dont think the difference would be that huge. look how much cheaper markers are nowadays.

my point about not hurting us is that the pball market has gone on and thrived no matter what smart parts did. smart parts hasnt stopped anything.

i understand your guys points. yes, sp did not invent these things, they are stealing the patents, this is bad ethics, blah blah. so what. my point is that the pball industry is not suffering. you are arguing a different point to me.

and as for the products sp makes, they are not all crap. back in the day, shoebox shockers were awesome. today, the shocker continues to be a great gun. the freak barrel was always a great kit, and the maxflo tank is a great tank.

on that note, the only sp product i own is a freak set which ive had for 5 years or so. i am not promoting sp. i am not the gman