A little "legal" advice on a design similarity

[kneadle]

Hi all,

A friend of the forum forwarded to me this site, whose proprietor has a patent pending on a design eerily similar to mine from a few years ago.

First, is his design lifted from mine? Is that even a pertinent question? His are a horn and a FR design; mine is neither.

What say those in the business? Should I pursue this or should I just be flattered?

Thanks,
Dave

[adolphe]

Do you know for sure that he has actually submitted for a patent, or is the only clue that he says "Patent Pending" on his website? I'm by no means a lawyer, but I thought I remember being told once that sometimes people just put "Patent Pending" to try to ward off people from taking the design and patenting it.

-Scott

[kneadle]

That's a good question. I don't know.

[gary f]

Hello.
I'm not an expert on this subject but:

First of all, you can check if he really made a patent demand. If it is the case, check the demand date . If you can prove that your design was published before, no problems, the patent should be refused I think, if you advise the patent agency. From what I understand, you cannot patent anything that has been published.

And check what part of this design is "patent pending". I'm not convinced at all that you can patent a tube transmission line, whatever the shape...

F

[Cloth Ears]

Originally posted by kneadle
First, is his design lifted from mine? Is that even a pertinent question? His are a horn and a FR design; mine is neither.

Dave,

I remember noticing your design when you posted it on this website and how similar it was to one of my test speakers from about 7 years ago. But it wasn't a full-range, using a Focal tweeter in a 'branch-pipe' off the main one.

But mine was also based on another design (a fixed diameter pipe design, like yours). Mine was a tapered TL (going from 10cm to 8 to 6 via standard fittings). It looks like the one you posted was an expanding TL.

In all these cases, unless your design is specifically copied then you won't get very far - and in this case, you cut all your PVC pipe to fit, whereas this guy has used standard pipe fittings. Hey, he's stolen my idea !

[kneadle]

Yeah, see, I've never made any claims to originality myself because I was positive I wasn't the first to think of it or implement it. But that's the point: how can anyone patent an idea that isn't original? What's original here, the spiral? The horn? The combination of spiral, PVC, horn and/or FR design?

Oh well. I'm not terribly worked up about this. It just seemed worthy of attention.

Good artists borrow; great artists steal.

Dave

[gary f]

Filling a patent is expensive (10 000$ +) and long. I'm not convinced at all that this guy has spent that kind of money for trying to patent this design, and if he did, I am not sure a all that it is gonna get accepted.
F

[kneadle]

Okay, thanks all!

Believe me; I'm not going to lose sleep over this.

Thanks again,

Dave

[Cloth Ears]

Originally posted by kneadle
Good artists borrow; great artists steal.

Definitely with you on that one. I remember a show which explained how a number of artists used their apprentices/pupils to create much larger volumes of work than they would have been able to create by themselves.

In this case, it's difficult to tell what the originality is. And I wasn't accusing you of not being original - as that clever sound absorbing stuff on the outside of your enclosures is definitely the buzz!

I had definitely seem PVC pipe speakers before, but they were mostly speaker attached to pipe/straight pipe leading to the ground(base) and then sometimes curving up a bit.

Mine were essentially 'snake speakers' Free-standing with one-and-a-half coils to the ground, then a full coil on the ground, and then the 'tail' in the air. Did I mention they were joined together with grease only, so that the shape could be altered at will.

Yours went a step beyond, by actually cutting the bits to shape and glueing them together and then mounting them up high.

This new one has reinvented my wheel, but hasn't impinged on yours - yet. If someone comes out with a similar idea but based on the sections being cut to shape, then I'd say you have something to follow up on.

Based on Aussie retail prices, his price doesn't have much of a mark-up unless he's not including stuffing for the pipes - in which case, they'll sing (but possibly not in the way he's intending).

[kneadle]

My idea came from Rob Sampson's Audio Lego and a desire to have a really big speaker in a compact form.

Right now I'm working on a variation (if I ever have time) for a TL subwoofer. It's tentatively called "Buddha Bass" until I actually build it; it'll be a squat little man-shaped thingy holding a woofer in his lap, all made from winding pipe like a 1950s era sculpture.

So progress goeth.

Dave