Tydan Blades to cease wholesale sales

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

Just received confirmation that Tydan will cease to sell their steel to dealers as they have been served for patent infringement.

They will continue to sell direct-to-consumer through their website.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

That's kinda weird, isn't it?  How are they able to do direct to consumer without infringing that same patent?

Mark

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

They intend on using the profits for their legal fees as they are intending on fighting it. 

[colins 246]

1 hour ago, JR Boucicaut said:

They intend on using the profits for their legal fees as they are intending on fighting it. 

 

So buy Tydan if you want to help keep the skate steel market an open one, so skate manufacturers can't sue competitors out of existence due to the shape of the steel.

[BenBreeg 493]

If the shape of the steel is patented because it contributes to function, then they shouldn’t be making it.  We bitch about lack of innovation in one thread, can’t bitch about IP law which encourages it in another.

[Miller55 333]

1 hour ago, colins said:

 

So buy Tydan if you want to help keep the skate steel market an open one, so skate manufacturers can't sue competitors out of existence due to the shape of the steel.

They don't have to be sued out of existence. They can easily just make their own aftermarket holder for their own steel. With True's new top of the line boots coming in at $350 cheaper than the other brands, there's plenty of money left over to swap holders and steel. Just saying

[VegasHockey 1280]

9 hours ago, JR Boucicaut said:

Just received confirmation that Tydan will cease to sell their steel to dealers as they have been served for patent infringement.

They will continue to sell direct-to-consumer through their website.

It was just a matter of time before Bauer went after others. I am not shocked at al by this. I am sure Byonic, Flare, Massive, and RamonEdge are next in line.... assuming they have not been served already. 

Massive is most likely to have no issues through all of this considering they are based out of China. 

[colins 246]

12 hours ago, Miller55 said:

They don't have to be sued out of existence. They can easily just make their own aftermarket holder for their own steel. With True's new top of the line boots coming in at $350 cheaper than the other brands, there's plenty of money left over to swap holders and steel. Just saying

 

Yeah but the size of the market for folks willing to swap holders to access your steel is hundreds of times smaller than the size of the market of folks willing to use your steel on their factory CCM or Bauer skates.

[Giltis 116]

10 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

Massive is most likely to have no issues through all of this considering they are based out of China. 

Not that it matters to your point, but just a small correction. Massive is based out of South Korea

Edited July 2, 2020 by Giltis

[Giltis 116]

If they really wanted to play the legal game, they could sell the same blades with a little nub that the user had to grind off before using it.

[BenBreeg 493]

32 minutes ago, Giltis said:

If they really wanted to play the legal game, they could sell the same blades with a little nub that the user had to grind off before using it.

Who is going to do that?  And not sure that gets you around anything, it's just a secondary operation to produce an infringing product.

 

11 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

It was just a matter of time before Bauer went after others. I am not shocked at al by this. I am sure Byonic, Flare, Massive, and RamonEdge are next in line.... assuming they have not been served already. 

Massive is most likely to have no issues through all of this considering they are based out of China. 

You can't get around IP just by being based in another country.

 

[Giltis 116]

3 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

Who is going to do that?  And not sure that gets you around anything, it's just a secondary operation to produce an infringing product.

In 2004 I worked at a speedshop where for a full day all I did was drill holes in a plate that was covered to get around legality of having the said piece. It was legally murky as it wasn't illegal to own the modified piece, nor to operate it, it wasn't illegal to purchase the piece with the hole filled in either, nor to modify it after. The legal procedure was that the client had to purchase the unmodified piece, and then in an invoice that was dated later to pay for the modification (we charged a 1$ for the work). 

I wish I could remember the car part that I am thinking of. But you're right it may not apply to the hockey world, and this method may not be possible anymore.

 

IP Patents or Trademarks do not cross borders I believe, but to your point, US and S. Korea do indeed have a copyright relationship, so it could possibly be pursued legally. 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Giltis

[BenBreeg 493]

They don’t cross borders per se for the production, but you can’t import an offending product and claim immunity because you are a foreign company.

[218hockey 50]

On 7/2/2020 at 8:25 AM, Giltis said:

Not that it matters to your point, but just a small correction. Massive is based out of South Korea

Possibly this patent has something to do with it but I can’t find Massive anywhere. Don’t want to go off topic here, so if anyone has any info on stock send me a pm. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:12 PM, BenBreeg said:

They don’t cross borders per se for the production, but you can’t import an offending product and claim immunity because you are a foreign company.

While I dont diagree with your statement, there is always a way to get items imported that "should not be allowed." Many years ago I had a friend who worked for a company that specialized in doing this for nuts. Yeah, sounds crazy, right? But there is a bunch of restrictions in place when exporting/importing nuts to Asia. 

Edited July 4, 2020 by SkateWorksPNW

[BenBreeg 493]

You can do lots of things, doesn’t mean it’s a legal and sustainable business plan.

[mickz 107]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:01 AM, BenBreeg said:

Who is going to do that?  And not sure that gets you around anything, it's just a secondary operation to produce an infringing product.

 

You can't get around IP just by being based in another country.

 

In China you can

[BenBreeg 493]

5 hours ago, mickz said:

In China you can

Talking US and Canada.  I was in medical device development for 20 years very familiar with the IP challenges in China and some other countries, but you still can’t just violate IP by producing in China, being based in China, etc, and importing to  another country who enforces IP.  Sure you can sell ripped off stuff IN China, not what we are discussing.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

12 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

Talking US and Canada.  I was in medical device development for 20 years very familiar with the IP challenges in China and some other countries, but you still can’t just violate IP by producing in China, being based in China, etc, and importing to  another country who enforces IP.  Sure you can sell ripped off stuff IN China, not what we are discussing.

So if a Chinese company had a product similar and sold it in Canada Bauer would try and sue the Chinese company? 

 

[VegasHockey 1280]

3 hours ago, oldtrainerguy28 said:

So if a Chinese company had a product similar and sold it in Canada Bauer would try and sue the Chinese company? 

I doubt it. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

On 7/4/2020 at 1:49 PM, BenBreeg said:

You can do lots of things, doesn’t mean it’s a legal and sustainable business plan.

I dont disagree. Just stating the facts, thats all. 🙂 

[BenBreeg 493]

4 hours ago, oldtrainerguy28 said:

So if a Chinese company had a product similar and sold it in Canada Bauer would try and sue the Chinese company? 

 

Pretty much.  I am not a lawyer but you take the company to federal court since it is federal law.  Similar meaning they actually feel they are violating their patent, if they don’t have IP there is no standing to sue.  That is the whole idea of intellectual property law.  If foreign countries could just flood markets with infringing products there would be no point.

IP infringement runs rampant in places like China and India but you don’t see them flooding the US markets with those goods because while some may go unnoticed or unchallenged, it is not a winning proposition.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

2 minutes ago, BenBreeg said:

Pretty much.  I am not a lawyer but you take the company to federal court since it is federal law.  Similar meaning they actually feel they are violating their patent, if they don’t have IP there is no standing to sue.  That is the whole idea of intellectual property law.  If foreign countries could just flood markets with infringing products there would be no point.

IP infringement runs rampant in places like China and India but you don’t see them flooding the US markets with those goods because while some may go unnoticed or unchallenged, it is not a winning proposition.

But they would have to sue them in China? 

[BenBreeg 493]

No, you sue them in the jurisdiction you are claiming they are infringing in.  So if you are claiming they are infringing a US patent, you sue them in US federal court.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

2 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

No, you sue them in the jurisdiction you are claiming they are infringing in.  So if you are claiming they are infringing a US patent, you sue them in US federal court.

So Bauer files suit in a US court to sue a company in China? Why would said company even show up? Were not talking millions of dollars....