Jordan_Rex 2 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 what are your thoughts? https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ccm-hockey-acquires-step-skating-blades-1028868912 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marka 526 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 Howdy, Thinking the chances of legal Step blades for trigger holders have gone down even more and that Step holders aren't going to be around long. But I don't really know anything. 🙂 Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beerleaguecaptain 999 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 Bauer might have shot themselves in the foot with their lawsuit. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caveman27 208 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Jordan_Rex said: what are your thoughts? https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ccm-hockey-acquires-step-skating-blades-1028868912 Good if you like CCMs. ...Starting in 2020, all CCM pro and custom skates will include STEP blades and the expectations are to leverage the STEP product for retail models in the near future. ... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
psulion22 402 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) I wonder if this is actually the cause of the lawsuit. Bauer knew CCM was planning on buying Step. They issued the cease and desist so that CCM would not be producing steel for Bauer holders once this went through. Edited February 3, 2020 by psulion22 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty22 832 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 I'm curious how this will affect True skates going forward. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JR Boucicaut 3799 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 9 minutes ago, psulion22 said: I wonder if this is actually the cause of the lawsuit. Bauer knew CCM was planning on buying Step. They issued the cease and desist so that CCM would not be producing steel for Bauer holders. once this went through. No. Bauer was enforcing their patent - they didn’t want Step making EDGE steel at all. This is CCM getting STEP at a reduced price. Good move for them. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colins 246 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, dkmiller3356 said: Bauer might have shot themselves in the foot with their lawsuit. Let's hope so. It's a BS move to patent the shape of the connector for the steel to attempt to lock 3rd parties out of improving what is 100% a physical real world product, and 0% Intellectual Property. If Bauer had their way they'd patent the tape you use on your stick and charge you $20 a roll for an inferior product. Edited February 3, 2020 by colins Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelaterskater 16 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) Guess I'll need to get Trues with the XS holder. Edited February 3, 2020 by johns25 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VegasHockey 1280 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, colins said: Let's hope so. It's a BS move to patent the shape of the connector for the steel to attempt to lock 3rd parties out of improving what is 100% a physical real world product, and 0% Intellectual Property. I am all for open source but Bauer wanting to protect their intellectual property is understandable. It just sucks since Bauer still has never been very good. Perhaps Bauer will buy Tydan... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cjpritch 62 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 7 minutes ago, Monty22 said: I'm curious how this will affect True skates going forward. This is my question as well, might have to find a new steel provider, maybe Tydan will jump in Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VegasHockey 1280 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 2 minutes ago, johns25 said: Guess I'll need to get Trues with the XS holder. I hope STEP/CCM will be more open to producing steel still... However, TRUE may just source steel from someone else if they decide to keep the SHIFT holder. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colins 246 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 21 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said: I am all for open source but Bauer wanting to protect their intellectual property is understandable. It just sucks since Bauer still has never been very good. Perhaps Bauer will buy Tydan... If they just wanted to protect their holder but still enable 3rd party steel options for very little in licensing fees that would be great for the consumer and protect their intellectual property. But they didn't. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty22 832 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 4 minutes ago, colins said: If they just wanted to protect their holder but still enable 3rd party steel options for very little in licensing fees that would be great for the consumer and protect their intellectual property. But they didn't. Why would a company want to undermine their own steel sales ? 2 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
218hockey 50 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 32 minutes ago, johns25 said: What does this mean? You won't be able to get Step for Edge holders anymore? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tondog 12 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 Serendipity for me! I went with CCM's for the first time in 30 years and LOVE the new holder. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stick9 890 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 13 minutes ago, colins said: If they just wanted to protect their holder but still enable 3rd party steel options for very little in licensing fees that would be great for the consumer and protect their intellectual property. But they didn't. My thought from day 1 was Bauer should have licensed the runner. I get why they didn't. Had the LS4 not been such a disaster it might have paid off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelaterskater 16 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 16 minutes ago, 218hockey said: What does this mean? You won't be able to get Step for Edge holders anymore? That was already in motion with the Bauer/Step Steel settlement. Now you won't be able to get it for any other holder either (Lightspeed, True, etc). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
218hockey 50 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 That's alright with me as long as we have Edge holders. I had a couple sets of V-Steel, got rid of them. Although I have no idea what's available for True in case we go that direction someday. But as long as we're with Edge I couldn't care any less about Step Steel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mtn 20 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 Anyone else still doing just fine with whatever steel came stock on their skates? I've never even considered it, and now apparently it is the next marketable thing, so... good for the marketing departments! In any case, I don't think this changes much for very long. Bauer will come out with a comparable runner if they don't already have one, or else buy Tydan/other company. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
start_today 770 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 Is anyone else a little cynical that this allows CCM to just stamp “Step” on what is now their mediocre stock steel, or change the production process of Step, so it is more “cost effective.” I know it’s a case of wait and see, and none of us on this board are in a position to predict what the end result of this will be. But, anecdotally, throughout my life, when I like independent company X, and they are acquired by large corporation A, something in the quality/price/output/ “je ne sais quoi” of X tends to suffer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xstartxtodayx 343 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 So this explains the survey I took for CCM last week... it was all about shopping for skates and what sort of promotional offers I'd find appealing, they kept pushing the "would a free upgraded blade offer make you more interested in CCM skates?" but phrased in like 5 different ways. So maybe they'll offer a Step Steel package for new skate buyers til they phase in the steel on whatever skates they'll be using them? Either way, sounds like a good deal for CCM, just wish I waited because maybe I could've saved some money before buying my blades separately after picking up new Ribcors a few months back. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beerleaguecaptain 999 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 All I can say is.... damn glad I stocked up on STEP Edge when the lawsuit was settled!! 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldtrainerguy28 478 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Monty22 said: Why would a company want to undermine their own steel sales ? Because they haven't had a good steel product since the orginal Tuuk holder. And the majority of the pros use Step anyway. Why not get something out of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldtrainerguy28 478 Report post Posted February 3, 2020 1 hour ago, start_today said: Is anyone else a little cynical that this allows CCM to just stamp “Step” on what is now their mediocre stock steel, or change the production process of Step, so it is more “cost effective.” I know it’s a case of wait and see, and none of us on this board are in a position to predict what the end result of this will be. But, anecdotally, throughout my life, when I like independent company X, and they are acquired by large corporation A, something in the quality/price/output/ “je ne sais quoi” of X tends to suffer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They would sure lose a lot of credibility if they did so. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
