How are clones allowed?

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Intervap

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Unfortunately, quite true. I have pushed the importance of buying legitimate products to every want-to-be vaper I've met. Most of them that ignore me tend to regret it and spend the extra money to get a device that will give them a better vaping experience and last them longer!
That's likely the absolute truth of it. However the cards are completely stacked against it and the evidence is staring us in the face. There's a market far greater in numbers for inexpensive mass produced 'clones' than there is for a high end artisan pieces of equipment. With the numbers of vapers growing exponentially and demographic of overall vapers getting younger it only stands to reason the demand for these devices will only increase in the future.
 

fourtytwo

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This! And it's worth pointing out that this particular western invention has gotten out of control. Copyrights and patents were originally created to encourage innovation by giving artists and inventors a limited-time monopoly during which they could reap exclusive benefits from their creativity. But the term was short, so that other artists/inventors could improve existing ideas once they entered the "public domain." The broader public benefit of continuing innovation in the marketplace was considered to be much more important than the personal benefit of the original creators.

Somewhere, we lost that sense of the greater public benefit and started extending the protected term longer and longer. Suing real innovators based on bogus intellectual property infringements has become an industry in itself -- whole companies exist that produce nothing, just buy up old patents and use them to extort licensing payments (to avoid litigation) from other companies.

And those who do innovate by creating better, cheaper or more accessible versions of an original product are often considered cheaters. If you truly believe in the power of a free market, they aren't cheating at all. They are extending innovative benefits to a broader public.

If you want a case of patents getting out of hand, here is a case.
A manufacturer develops a device to safely stop a blade on a table saw and patents it. Minor problems in that, it costs a lot more then most saws out there and when it fires to stop the blade, you have to replace bunch of the parts.
The big problem is that the patents is for any system "that retracts the blade rapidly within14 milliseconds – using any retraction technique after detecting contact." What incentive is there for anyone to develop a system that does the job better then the first one.

See bottom of page 6 here.
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/PTI-Statement.pdf

BTW, the head of this company is a patent lawyer.
 

peakcomm

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I blame the lawyers.

And I blame corporate greed -- the lawyers are just enablers. Copyrights once lasted only 17 years. But then a company that built itself by retelling stories taken from the public domain (Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast? ... the list goes on and on) became concerned that its exclusive rights to those recreations would soon expire. They lobbied like crazy and as a result, copyrights last the life of the creator plus 75 years. That means that THREE GENERATIONS of heirs, who had nothing to do with the original work, will benefit from the protected status and royalties from that work. And no contemporary of the original artist will ever be able to extend its popularity by breathing new life into a tale or extending it to new media.

The longer terms of today's copyrights and patents have left many works lost in an intellectual property limbo, either because the current rightsholder chooses not to use those rights or because no one can figure out who the current rightsholder is. We have no mechanism to release orphaned works to the public domain. The most grievous examples are the pharmaceutical companies who stop making particular drugs because the market of users is too small to make a profit ... but want huge fees to release their rights to smaller companies who might be able make them economically.

Sorry, I know I've taken the topic off the rails a bit, but it's a pet rant. I get set off every time someone tries to attach a moral/ethical argument to intellectual property "infringement." Copying is not theft. Cloning is not cheating. And don't even get me started on those who think that because they were the first to try patenting some common sense idea that has been in the market in one form or another for years, they should be able to use the threat of legal action to get rich!
 

ennagizer

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Glen Snyder

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Again, you're not using the word capitalism correctly. Making a product of the same class to meet demand is capitalism. Grabbing someone's product, "making a mold of it" if you will, and selling it is not capitalism. It's theft.

Can you give specific example of mods that fit your criteria? ==> Grabbing someone's product, "making a mold of it" I don't see that with mods. It's prevalent with clearos and eGo type batteries though, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the OP had in mind. OP, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.
 

Coastal Cowboy

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And I blame corporate greed -- the lawyers are just enablers. Copyrights once lasted only 17 years. But then a company that built itself by retelling stories taken from the public domain (Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast? ... the list goes on and on) became concerned that its exclusive rights to those recreations would soon expire. They lobbied like crazy and as a result, copyrights last the life of the creator plus 75 years. That means that THREE GENERATIONS of heirs, who had nothing to do with the original work, will benefit from the protected status and royalties from that work. And no contemporary of the original artist will ever be able to extend its popularity by breathing new life into a tale or extending it to new media.

The longer terms of today's copyrights and patents have left many works lost in an intellectual property limbo, either because the current rightsholder chooses not to use those rights or because no one can figure out who the current rightsholder is. We have no mechanism to release orphaned works to the public domain. The most grievous examples are the pharmaceutical companies who stop making particular drugs because the market of users is too small to make a profit ... but want huge fees to release their rights to smaller companies who might be able make them economically.

Sorry, I know I've taken the topic off the rails a bit, but it's a pet rant. I get set off every time someone tries to attach a moral/ethical argument to intellectual property "infringement." Copying is not theft. Cloning is not cheating. And don't even get me started on those who think that because they were the first to try patenting some common sense idea that has been in the market in one form or another for years, they should be able to use the threat of legal action to get rich!

Patents last for 17 years.

Copyrights last for a lifetime or longer, depending on who holds it.

And don't blame corporate greed. Blame shareholders who hold board members and executives to the notion that their job is to maximize shareholder value. I do. Companies do not exist to serve anyone other that the shareholders.

ETA: As an investor, the last thing in the world I want a company I'm holding stock in is to make a bunch of moral judgments. Maximize shareholder value and you won't hear from me at the next shareholders meeting. Fail to do so, and...

If you have a 401(k) plan with your employer, then you are a shareholder and YOU TOO are to blame.

Live it. Learn it.
 
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peakcomm

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And don't blame corporate greed. Blame shareholders who hold board members and executives to the notion that their job is to maximize shareholder value. I do. Companies do not exist to serve anyone other that the shareholders.

I stand corrected. Corporations themselves have no ethics, no conscience and no morality. They exist solely to generate profits. And the degree to which shareholders are willing to hold corporate leadership accountable certainly influences decision-making.

However, in the case of intellectual property, legislation has given benefits and rights to corporations that once -- by default -- belonged to the public. Shareholder activism can't restore those lost rights and benefits to us. It can only be accomplished by legislative action. As long as the public swallows propaganda like "copying is theft" or "cloning is lazy and evil", they will never recognize what has been taken from us and never act to have it returned.

IMHO, there's a parallel to our situation as vapers. Right now, the rights and benefits of vaping are ours by default. And by "ours", I don't mean just vapers. The public stands to benefit greatly when millions of former smokers and their loved ones live longer, healthier, more productive lives. But there are those who profit from tobacco use and treatment; they may stand to lose if vaping becomes widely accepted. And there is absolutely no doubt that they will act in the interest of profit, not innovation.

Right now, the "wild west" nature of vaping development is serving all of us. Makers are extraordinarily responsive, technology improvements are announced almost weekly, and the market is growing exponentially. Embrace it, folks. Hobbyists will always be able to find expensive, custom-crafted, exclusive mods. But clones, copies, and cheap knock-offs are what will make us a demographic with a voice big enough to be heard in town halls and legislative chambers.

Vape on.
 

Absintheur

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Can you give specific example of mods that fit your criteria? ==> Grabbing someone's product, "making a mold of it" I don't see that with mods. It's prevalent with clearos and eGo type batteries though, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the OP had in mind. OP, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.

How about the clone of the Kick...they even used Evolv's pic of the Kick to advertise it. What about the Caravela clone? They used a pic of the real one to advertise it as well, when they started production they copied the look minus the logo just about 100%. Cloners are thieves, period. The K100 was a pretty obvious copy of the Empire.
 

crxess

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How about the clone of the Kick...they even used Evolv's pic of the Kick to advertise it. What about the Caravela clone? They used a pic of the real one to advertise it as well, when they started production they copied the look minus the logo just about 100%. Cloners are thieves, period. The K100 was a pretty obvious copy of the Empire.

You missed a spot.
Due to the Sigelei-K, Evolv is now preparing to release and updated Kick. Higher output, lower ohms capability and hopefully less buggy.

Competition has its rewards

Noticed you Included the Sigelei-K - but excluded the Crown(US designed)hmmm
 

Traver

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Again, you're not using the word capitalism correctly. Making a product of the same class to meet demand is capitalism. Grabbing someone's product, "making a mold of it" if you will, and selling it is not capitalism. It's theft.

In a capitalist system there would be no government controls and no patents. So it would not be theft. The morality of capitalism is money and profit.
 

xan13x

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It's kinda funny that you all are defending these knock offs as though though one style line makes them legit. As I've said SEVERAL times in this thread. If you want to say "I don't think xyz is worth 150 bucks, when someone made a copy for 50" just say it. No need to fall on the sword defending their legitimacy.

Saw several posts talking about pure capitalism. If you think businesses operate without morals or ethics, aka strictly profit driven, please get out of your college class and work at a major corporation. Yes, profit is the goal, but ethics and morality are a HUGE part of everything. As long as customers value those qualities, businesses will as well.
 

Bmannator

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The Chinese are pretty casual about copyright laws. If you fight them in a Chinese court, you'll lose. There's a market for the clones, and the original makers can sell everything they produce. Their customers are willing to pay for the quality when it's available, and they'll settle for a clone when they can't get the real thing.
 

Glen Snyder

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How about the clone of the Kick...they even used Evolv's pic of the Kick to advertise it. What about the Caravela clone? They used a pic of the real one to advertise it as well, when they started production they copied the look minus the logo just about 100%. Cloners are thieves, period. The K100 was a pretty obvious copy of the Empire.
I think you're pretty naive. No sense continuing for me, I'll never agree.
 

VIPOD

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sorry, ford only figured a way to manufacture on an assembly line to mass produce- he cloned the actual car from someone else.

Ah, picky, picky.....just trying to be domestic here!

Karl Benz = Hon Lik (Ruyan)

Benz Patent-Motorwagen.jpg


Looks for like a bike imo.

But are you happy now?
 
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