on the way home from the river, i stopped into Green Valley Meats... dang that place is EXPENSIVE... anyways, i was looking at their vast fishing lure section (joke), and saw this, and thought WTF, can they do that? i thought that lures had patent rights or whatnot, and couldnt be copied, is that wrong?

anyways, im sure you can figure out what im comparing it to, even the name is similar...

input?

It's totally different! The copycats added a swivel to the upper ring.

size 2 Dick Nites have the swivel Salmo...

my go to Cutthroat lure

edit: http://www.dicknite.com/22.htm

on the right...

It appears from the picture that you purchased it,.despite your questioning the legality of its, manufacturing...?

i bought it just because i was like WTF... if it isnt legal, i will gladly give this to Mr Figgins himself, and he can use it in court if he chooses to... free.... its made by Danielson..

China doesn't believe in patents....but if they did....it would be expired now for Dick Nite spoons. Here's the scoop......

Patent Duration



Different types of patents enjoy different lifetimes. A patented utility or plant have exclusive protection for 20 years from the filing date of the patent application, while a design patent only endures for 14 years once it is granted by the PTO. After a patent expires, the invention falls into the public domain. A patent's life is quite short compared that of a copyright, which endures from the time a creative work is set in fixed form for the life of its author and another 70 years after the author's death. A registered trademark has an initial term of protection of 10 years but can be renewed indefinitely.

This is a serious problem for lure manufacturers. I am friends with Doug Field who's family has manufactured the Buzz Bomb and other lures for years. They have been unable to patent many lures such as the Buzz Bomb because is is in essence only a lead shape and you can't patent a shape- or at least that's what Doug tells me. Many lures carry a warning about patent pending, but in some cases it has been pending for more than 40 years.

I noticed last years that another company is making essentially a copy of the Buzz Bomb. Doug says there is really nothing he can do.

Slab is right...any patents would have expired long ago (if there were any to begin with). It's an old design.

Furthermore, US patent law only protects products sold in the US (unlike an Int'l patent). Other foreign companies can copy all they want, they just can't sell their copied products in the country where the original patent was issued.

So in this case, it's obvious no patents exist on any level...

My bad RH. Although I have some DNs, I don't pay that close attention to them, or maybe I don't have any size 2.

so Patents are for items, Copyrights are for books, and Trademarks are for names correct? so the Dick Nite name, is likely a registered Trademark, therefore cannot be used, but the spoon style itself, is or was Patented, but has now expired, therefore can be copied?

either way, i will always support Mr Figgins, that company has been around since 1940 and is a staple in NW fishing... its sad to see that someone else can ride the coat tails of what another person has devoted his whole life to becoming the best, only for someone else to legally be able to take it and possibly even ruin the reputation... its also sad that a company such as Green Valley, chose to go the cheap route, instead of supporting a NW company... they had some stuff from Macs, and Wordens in there, but the spoons where knock offs, doesnt make much sense there...i will never use this spoon, as i would much rather use a Dick Nite, regardless of similarities...i may even stop in the next time im out that way and try to get my money back, probably wont happen tho...

Green Valley is retarded expensive tho, 46 bucks a pound for Elk Jerky WHAT!!?? they did have some exotics like Kangaroo, Yak, Alligator, Python, Rattlesnake, LLama, Goat ect, but it was spendy... i will go to Stewarts in Yelm and see what their prices are...

Salmo, its all good, no worries..

Patenting a fishing lure is virtually impossible...the only way to preserve your market share is to make them with better components and finishes, and market your name so that people will know which is which...

Danielson has created virtually nothing themselves, almost every single lure or fishing tackle component they "manufacture" is a ripoff of something else that was successful first. Might be lame, but it's been a successful business model for them, I guess.

It's not just DanCo, but there is at least one knockoff of almost any successful lure, and they're virtually all being made in China. You guys would choke if you had access to the trade magazines I see that sell all this stuff at bargain basement prices...you just order up 100k of them, and put them in your packagin, and you're in business.

This goes for a lot more than fishing lures, but for boots, waders, jackets, hats, rods, reels...you name it.

Fish on...

Todd

yeah i noticed a cheap a$$ Shakespeare reel while i was grabing a smoker at Fred Meyer, that had a direct resemblance to an Ambassaduer 5000... i was looking at it examining it, and it was one of the cheapest knock offs i had ever seen...

i honestly did not know that companies could do that... its sad actually.. because the reputations of the good companys could be at stake to people not in the know, by using a knock off and it not performing like they thought....

i actually used to buy Danielson swivels, because they were cheap, that was untill i lost 2 fish in the same day about 10 years ago due to the swivel breaking, in the same spot... now, i dont subsitute quanity over quality, its just not worth it...

Todd is spot on. I too still recieve these trade catologs. It is amazing how many knockoffs are being made. If you want to take a closer look paulson cascade was the originator of many of the popular blades today. I used to buy many of my blades from them due to our friendship. Paid about triple what i could have bought from the catologs...... was worth it at the time because they had inside hammering which was the rage at the time and i thought they were a better overall product.

If you want to talk about a company that focuses on copying others designs look at brad's lures......

Big Moby,

I don't mean to hijack, but a little thread drift for a moment, if you please. So Brad's CR fall chinook spoons are import knock offs of Simon and Alvin spoons? I bought a couple of those for anchor fishing a few years ago and didn't know the difference. I was looking at hooks yesterday at Wholesale Sports and saw some Brad's hooks on the rack. I'd never seen them before and was curious about the quality, tho I didn't compare prices. I didn't see what I usually buy and wasn't in a hurry so figured I can wait until I find them elsewhere.

Sg

Brad's is right there with Danielson, the biggest bunch of crap in the stores...

hmmm, is there any way to maybe make a pettition to the rule? Mr. Figgins has worked his whole life to gain what he has accomplished, someone else shouldnt be able to take that from him, ever...

what options would there be? write the Gov? Congress? AG?

just a though Marsha... i could get 500 signatures right now without even stepping foot into a tackle store... i just figured that if someone busts their a$$ their whole life, they shouldnt get hi jacked by someone that hasnt done crap, but make crap... obviously, Danielson likely isnt the only company doing this, so it would take a while, probably alot of money, and probably would just be pointless...

from now on however, if i see anyone, buying Danielson gear, in any store, i will steer them away to a company that has far better quality, and reputation, IE Gami, Owner, Dick Nite, Blue Fox, Mepps, ect...

screw copy cats, it just erks me is all... i think i may talk to the owner of Green Valley as well, to see if he would rather support a NW company such as Dick Nite, instead of some garbage knockoff company like "Black Hawk" or Danielson... lol Dandy Mite, couldnt be more original? smh...

You have too much time on your hands.

Patent Law is federal law, and it's not going to be changing anytime soon...the best thing to do is not buy cheap knockoffs made in China, and encourage others to not do so, either.

Brad's? How about the "Orkie Drifter"...

I have no idea where they get their hooks, but I could order up hundreds of thousands of generic siwash hooks, octopus hooks, swivels...pretty much any lure or fishing component...from China for very cheap, put a Rvrfshr label on them, and be done...same with spoons, spinners, or the parts to make all of them.

If you had access to the trade mags you'd be surprised to see name brand stuff that's being made by the shipping container full...and the surprising part isn't that they are knockoffs of the expensive stuff, the surprising part is that they "are" the expensive stuff...all that's "expensive" is the label

Fish on...

Todd

so basically like Harley buying 5 dollar T Shirts, putting their name on them, and selling them for 30-50 bucks... i get what your saying now, and its messed up...