Patented Mods (Mirandus)

[KAI789]

Hey guys! I've recently, or recently as of last week, acquired a Mirandus, and I must say, beautiful mod, made from a very impressive company, and I say this due to this being Circle of mod's first mod, with great support, and an elegant website.

Doing a bit of research, I've discovered that the Mirandus insignia is patented under the international 011 code, which covers lighting, steaming, cooking, and whatnot. The US Patents are 013, 021, 023, 031, and 034. I have yet to be able to find a simplistic meaning for each of these, but from what I've been looking at, this is the first mod to have a patent on any part of the design (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Out of curiosity, do you think other companies will go this route? I'm sure that there will be a clone eventually made of the Mirandus, however, due to the patent, I doubt that anything 1:1 will ever be released in the U.S. If that's the case, is this something that companies will look at in order to retain profits?

The Circle of Mod sells the Mirandus for 240.00 with 316L SS, or Brass H62, I'm unaware of the brass component, but I know 316L SS is a fairly high grade, with a low carbon amount that is more resistant to corrosion, due to this being the grade used in medical implants. You can choose your accent colors between steel and brass for the top cap, bottom cap, locking ring, and an option for name engraving up to ten characters. Four magnets, a spring, spring loaded positive contact, or adjustable positive contact, three tubes for various batteries, and so forth. From what I've seen, at 240US, this is a hell of a mod with a plethora of factory customization options, practically unbeatable. My spring load had an issue, and they sent me two extra magnets and two extra spring loads as an apology, within two days of contact.

Back to the original point, do you think patents will harm the cloning industry while helping the authentics? Or will it harm both, or vice versa. To me, this seems like an interesting concept to consider, as while a company could clone the Mirandus (the lion on the firing button is not patented), the Mirandus insignia could never in itself be made to a 1:1 quality, not in the US anyways. And if there were a 1:1 clone, the Mirandus insignia would be noticeably different from the original, excluding the engraving process. However, I myself find a 1:1 being released in the U.S. highly unlikely.

What do you guys think? Sorta hoping for a discussion on this and what it means for other companies.

For the TL,DR, The Mirandus is patented, effects of this on cloning and the other companies possibly going this route?

 

[retired1]

Highly unlikely that any type of patent enforcement will occur. Getting the patent is just a tiny fraction of the cost of having one. Enforcing it through the courts is what costs millions of dollars. Doubtful any ecig company short of a huge conglomerate has that kind of money to throw into a legal defense of a patent.

 

[KAI789]

True, but do you think a possible impedence into cloning patented mods will occur? Or at the very least, distribution in the US? My understanding of this is fairly limited

 

[retired1]

Nope. There are countries who have a long and illustrious history of ignoring US patents. And unless there's a court order directing customs to seize items as they come into the country, enforcement is pretty much non-existent.

 

[KAI789]

Interesting, so a patent is pretty much useless on APV's even in the US then you would say?

 

[tj99959]

Actually I agree with the concept of patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Hell even the graphics on my coffee mug are ©.

Point blank, IMO, when a company doesn't protect their intelectural property rights, they don't have a complaint coming when someone copies their material because it is deemed 'open source'.

In reality every bottom button mechanical mod out there is a knock off of "Trog's" origional design.

 

[LDS714]

Nope. There are countries who have a long and illustrious history of ignoring US patents. And unless there's a court order directing customs to seize items as they come into the country, enforcement is pretty much non-existent.

It doesn't necessarily take a court order, just making Customs aware is generally enough. You should see the volume of literature sent to individual US Customs offices by Disney. They identify specific items and sources of counterfeit merchandise and literally send out catalogs almost on a monthly basis. The officers love catching this stuff, and most ports/offices have huge display cases of counterfeits they've caught.

 

[KAI789]

So in the end, it's up to the company. Based on the amount of product service and customer service, I see no reason why Circle of Mod wouldn't want to protect their intellectual rights to the Mirandus. As retired said, a court case might be too large of an expidenture, but I have the 221 serial, and my friend the 225, so assuming they haven't sold more than that, that's 54000 dollars worth of revenue they could use to send such information to customs

 

[Skorpeyon]

I would say, based on the appearance of that mod and even the packaging and so on I could see them wanting to avoid knockoffs. They really are beautiful and are the first purely mechanical mod I've considered buying. I don't even know that I'd want to take it out of the package if I did, though!

 

[KAI789]

It really was beautiful, the wooden box is carved, with a wax seal, and same for each of the tubes, wrapped in a sheet, and then wrapped in a microfiber cloth after. I'd imagine the resell value on these would still be be relatively high given a few months/years.

But despite that, is there a need for a patent on mods? Aside from protecting intellectual rights, and the deal that the Mirandus provides, because other mods can run for higher without the same options, many people do buy clones and then the original, so if you have to jump straight in, a deterrence value may be in effect.

 

[BuzzKill]

Patents are worth the $ you have to protect them , a small Patent on some thing that is not a gamechanger is really just money poorly spent.

 

[Rossum]

The subject line of this thread is all wrong. The OP is confusing patents and trademarks.

Circle of Mod Corporation filed an application to register name "Mirandus" as a trademark on on September 30, 2013. The application's serial number is 86078073 and you can easily find it searching the USPTO's TESS database.

 

[SingedVapor]

Regardless of whether or not it is trademarked or patented, it will neither deter not slow any company who wants to clone them. As it is only the engraving that is patented, all the company would have to do is make the mod without the insignia. (That is if they even decide to enforce it) If it is there it will be cloned. Just look at the DNA's. We never thought we would see the day when it was clone then bam. It happened. It's just the way it is unfortunately.

The fact is most small business simply do not have the resources to compete with the big companies that clone. As soon as they manage to take down one, another would pop up. Really if you want to make any kind of difference you just have to say "I'm not going to buy any more clones" other than that... Yeah

 

[Unforeseen]

Moved to APV Discussion

 

[NC_Fog]

A patent is only as good as your resources to defend it.

 

[Bad Ninja]

Mirandus clone is old news.
Fastech has em.
$22.19 Mirandus Style 18650 Mechanical Mod - brass / gold plated at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

 

[Nuclear Cowboy]

Mirandus clone is old news.
Fastech has em.
$22.19 Mirandus Style 18650 Mechanical Mod - brass / gold plated at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

So much for the patent/trademark/etc.

By this time next week the chinese will own the world. (sarcasim)

 

[Ed_C]

You're a small builder who is selling all the mods that you can make, would you spend what could, be tens of thousands of dollars in an attempt to protect your design?

 

[Rossum]

The ignorance in this thread is just shocking. It costs a few hundred bucks to file a trademark registration.

 

[p7willm]

Hana is currently suing a couple of stores for infringing on their trade mark. I'm not sure where it stands now but I think at least one of the vendor's insurance companies says they are going to fight.

The simple act of putting the logo on the mod and selling it, by hana, made it a trade mark. They registered the mark, didn't have to do it but it will help with the suit.

The clones were originally sold using pictures by Hana of real Hana mods. This advertising should be enough to count as a violation of Hana's trade mark. Hana could also fight over "trade dress", the way the mod looks and is used. This was a large part of the suid between Apple and Samsung. However, outside of the logo, I think Hana would have a hard time claiming the mod was unique.

In the suit Hana will have to show that the trade mark identifies the product as a Hana and that the use of the pictures and mark by the stores harmed Hana.

Hana MUST enforce their mark or risk losing it. Aspirin was once a trade mark of Bayer but they lost it because they did not defend it as it became a generic term for acetasalacilic (I have no idea how to spell it) acid.