Are there no patent protection for e cig devices? So many knockoffs

[paulw2014]

It seems there are a lot of clones of various devices such as the Ego Twist and vivi nova. How come no one is taking legal action against the knockoffs?

Also, I would think there should be some kind of patent for VV or VW devices, it's a cool feature. But there are plenty of different devices out there that offer VV or VW. So are there no patent protection for e cig devices?

thanks

 

[retired1]

A single patent can cost 10s of thousands of dollars to get filed. And then even more money to enforce via the courts. Lawyers aren't cheap.

 

[Vermonster13]

Very few and the Chinese rarely recognize patents and are impossible to prosecute on violations.

 

[duroSIG556R]

Besides, going after chinese companies is very difficult. Most companies will instead go after the american dealers of the said clone, I've seen it in the flashlight industry. Perhaps right now, it's not a huge concern, as every US company appears to be still trying to gain ground.

 

[Topacka]

Patent protection is very, very hard to enforce over international lines, because each country has it's own set of laws about the subject, so, when a nemesis is made in Greece, cloned in China, and sold to somebody in the USA, what do you expect the small business that did the r&d to do about it?

 

[bluecat]

Patents have very specific criteria. They also take a lot of time to go through the system. Ideas need to be original and other things. My guess is it will be hard to patent a tube containing a battery with a device on top. All one has to do is look at flashlights. How many flashlight makers are there. How many look similar?

Also what retired1said. Had a client spend 20g to get a patent. It was still stolen. Dude went broke fighting it. This was 20-30 yeasrs ago, I can only imagine the cost these days.

If you look at it from a business point of view. Spend x amount of dollars to patent something that will be obsolete in a few weeks or months? This industryis changing almost as fast as the price of crude

 

[BillyWJ]

Very few and the Chinese rarely recognize patents and are impossible to prosecute on violations.

They don't recognize US patents, because they have their own patent system there, and they don't recognize US patents inside of China, they can copy US patented devices with impunity. You can't sue a Chinese company for copying your design, the only thing you can do is go after them for selling them outside of their country. Or that's how I understand the issue, I worked with someone who had his design cloned in China, and could only go after them if they tried to sell it here.

 

[ScottP]

First patents are not cheap as others have said, but they can also take years to get. So not only are you out the cost upfront you also have no protection for a long time. Right now things are evolving so fast, by the time you got a patent your idea would be obsolete.

While you can get the equivalent of a patent in China, it again costs more money and time.

There are a couple of things a manufacturer can do to slow the cloning process down though. First, NEVER sell to people China or other countries that do not adhere to intellectual property rules. You lose out on some sales but they can't clone it if they can't get one to clone. Second, set your price point so that cloning becomes less lucrative. Let's say you make an item for $40, you can either sell a few of them for $200 (500% mark up) or sell a lot of them for $50 (25% mark up). Now which is better for the cloner? To clone that $200 item with a 500% mark up then sell the clone for $50 or to clone the $50 item with a 10% mark up and using poor enough parts that you can sell it for $20?

 

[donwuan]

Only so many ways you can slap lip stick on a flash light and charge $500.

 

[Ohms Lawbreaker]

Lawyers ain't cheap either. Okay, some are.

 

[ScottP]

Lawyers ain't cheap either. Okay, some are.

View attachment 301246

Loved Saul in BB.

 

[Rossum]

Forget patents for a moment, and look at all the outright counterfeits for a moment; stuff that not only looks (and ostensibly works) like the original, but has the original's name and other markings on it. The people who make and sell that stuff are just plain shameless.

 

[ScottP]

Forget patents for a moment, and look at all the outright counterfeits for a moment; stuff that not only looks (and ostensibly works) like the original, but has the original's name and other markings on it. The people who make and sell that stuff are just plain shameless.

They do that with everything though. Purses, shoes, watches, movies, software, etc. As I said in another similar thread, They would clone their own mothers if they thought they could make a quick buck doing it.

 

[retired1]

This isn't going to turn into another clone war thread. 'Nuff said.

 

[Plumes.91]

No one wants them to get patents anyway. This vaping thing stretches from extremely, extremely wealthy people, that proudly display their sixteen Golden Greek Telescoping mods on a beautiful marble or wooden chestboard. Each one costing 350 US dollars. A grand total of $5,600 on nicotine vaporizers alone..... To middle-class kids with one of every mass produced mod on the market.... To lower middle class people with 2-3 mods and 30 atomization devices..... To people living in poverty with what they need to vape happily. The clones enable those 3 types of people whom aren't wealthy, toenjoy vaping and build an arsenal of vaporizers for themselves. If there were no such thing as clones, we'd have one, or two, or three extremely wealthy companies with a dozen mods & they could name their price. If Imeo were able to prosecute for people stealing his design, there would be no such thing as the EA mod, the Nzonic, there'd be no KTS, there would be no telescoping mods except for his, that go for $300-350usd. As if regular people could afford that.

Thank god there are clones. EmpireMods with their $150 Empire, would of made it impossible for me to own my $50 telescope. Altsmoke would of made it impossible for me to own my Bolt. I wouldn't be able to afford to have more than one mod... And if it broke, I'd be screwed if it broke. In a free market there are supposed to be checks and balances. You shouldn't be able to copy something at a 1:1 ratio and then put it out on the market with the same name. But can you imagine how sad kids with parents barely surviving on food stamps would be if their momma couldn't get them Lucy's-Charm-O'z or Butternut ModeratelyPleasantDisposition-Q's?

Monopolies aren't a good thing. Not for food, not for mods.

 

[donwuan]

Conspiracy theory

Why do knockoffs come out very close(sometimes within days) to original items.

Dont be gullible.

 

[retired1]

The same reason Apple is able to make a specification change on the iPhone and less than 24 hours later, the Chinese factory has it in production. Chinese factories are geared for rapid change and can do so at a moment's notice.

 

[Ryedan]

Actually, Ruyan, the Chinese company that first started manufacturing e-cigs as we know them now has patents on them or part of them. A quick search on Google turns up this.

Seems that a couple of the bigger e-cig companies have or are in the process of settling with them. Anyone know the latest news on this?

 

[bones1274]

BMW sued China for blatantly copying their vehicles and lost. If they cannot win with their billions in assets and million dollar legal defense teams, good luck winning as an upstart ecig company.

 

[deanthemachine]

But if you want to win...