Smart Parts Patent Will Destroy Paintball! - Read!

[Nastyimp13]

and to your comment about dye. Look at dye, they bought out the matrix just so they could have there name on a gun that is getting more popular. And from what ive seen to it, all it looks like they are doing to it is giving it some milling and the rt eye. And i bet that gun will cost about 1200.

[f3rr3+]

i for one would like to hear alot more from Mr.Kaye then the 2 posts hes posted... i know hes busy but i think a little insight from him would put alot of us at ease...

[e mag]

if this is true and SP goes through with it, couldnt AGD just patent the use of nitrogen tanks and then not let SP use it? that way even if SP was the only one who could make electros they would only be able to use co2.

[TransMan]

Originally posted by e mag
if this is true and SP goes through with it, couldnt AGD just patent the use of nitrogen tanks and then not let SP use it? that way even if SP was the only one who could make electros they would only be able to use co2.

Prob wouldnt bother them if u want to play a whoel game with a shoker u better be using a 20oz Co2 tank

[kevdupuis]

And some people wonder why I've refused to buy anything SP for the past three years.

[Triath]

I've yet to see any solid piece of information about this. So until they release something, like a press release or something, Ill just be ignoring everything until there is official news about this from a reliable source.

[ramennoodles]

there they just deleted another post, about bud orr. (they also deleted my letter post) arg!

[raehl]

Originally posted by Doc Nickel
Okay, first, we only know of this $75 fee as a rumor. But, coming from a company that sold $100 Shocker circuit boards and $200 FA circuit boards where the only difference was a single miniature switch, I doubt it's off by much, if at all.

I don't mean to pick a fight or anything, or mply I don't agree with the general principle, but this is a crappy example. This is *EXACTLY* the way smart parts should have marketed the products, and there is NOTHING evil about doing this. What you're missing is that the alternative to selling a semi board for $100 and a semi board with a microswitch for $200 is selling a semi board for $150 and a full auto board for $200. Saying that they were charging $100 for a microswith is misleading - they were charging less for a(n updated) semi board by using a crippled full auto board instead of an entirely separate run.

Even if they could have sold full auto boards for $150, why should they? Companies are not supposed to charge the lowest price possible, they're supposed to charge the price that maximizes their profits.


Personally, I think it'd be pretty cool if we all ended up playing stock because of this. Go Smart Parts!


- Chris

[Nastyimp13]

I agree they should sell products to make profit. But once one company drops there prices, another company has to drop its prices or they dont sell anything so then no company makes much profit because they are selling too low.

[Doc Nickel]

I agree, you're exactly right.

I think we've all known for years that it doesn't cost DYE $100 to make a BoomStick, and they only mark it up $15 or $20. The truth is the other way around- it probably costs less than $15 per barrel and they mark it up $100.

We're used to it.

The point is, if SP has the power to arbitrarily set a licensing fee and/or royalty fee to whatever they feel like, who's to say they won't tell Kingman they only want $500,000 (since the E-Spyders really aren't in the Impy or Shocker's class) but then tell WDP they want $12,000,000 plus $150 per unit royalty on Angels, basically completely wiping out the Shocker's main competition?

My example was just to illustrate that we can be pretty sure SP won't be asking only a "token" license and royalty- say, $10,000 and $5 each for an established gun like the Bushy. Rather, we can pretty much guarantee that they'll ask a bloody fortune, driving ICD out of business and leaving the Impulse with no competition (in which case they'll crank up the price to $1,100- after all, what other gun ya gonna buy?)

I've yet to see any solid piece of information about this. So until they release something, like a press release or something, Ill just be ignoring everything until there is official news about this from a reliable source.

What, Tom Kaye isn't a reliable enough source? Check the first page of this very thread for a post by "AGD". Plus, in his second post, he reiterates the seriousness, and explains that this patent threat is the reason they've been developing the ULE ultralight mechanical trigger system.

Doc.

[DiRTyBuNNy]

I don't know why this thought came across my mind...but I really want to give WAS a hug right now...oh well...

[FSU_Paintball]

Originally posted by raehl
Personally, I think it'd be pretty cool if we all ended up playing stock because of this. Go Smart Parts!


- Chris

Well, there goes much of my respect for the NCPA's leadership. I really hope that was said in jest, not in a serious manner.

[raehl]

Reliable source?

How about the US Patent and Trademark Office?

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=smart+parts&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=ptxt

That at least demonstrates that they have the actual patents.


Note on earlier comment: Tom can no longer patent compressed air regulation - you generally have to file patents within one year of invention IIRC.


- Chris

[einhander619]

does the NCPA have an organized crime program? If not, I volunteer as the charter member.

[raehl]

Hah, no.

And having one would be illegal (or at least, cause us to lose our non-profit status with the IRS. Totally illegal if it constituted more than an insignificant part of our activities.)


- Chris