Beside that for help, I requested from Trail Sport company, date of the bar
design, designer name and pending patent case number. I also informed
Cal-Trac and gave them the website of Trail sport to check for any patent
infringement.
-------------------------------------------
Steven St.Laurent
Test Engineer
Test Branch, GSD, MCTSSA
MARCORSYSCOM, USMC
760-725-2506 (DSN 365-2506)
Work:mailto:stlaurents@mctssa.usmc.mil
Home:mailto:saint1958@home.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Schroeder [mailto:schroema@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 3:34 PM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: DML: Re: Re: DML and Patent violation problem
You are correct there John. They might be able to file papers but I don't
know if it would stand up at all since the bars weren't sold. There are no
real damages being done. There aren't even proper blueprints to make sure
that everyone who wished to build them would all build them the same.
I am not sure but I believe you could skirt around liability in regard to
accidents with a simple disclaimer stating that the bars and their design
have not been tested for durability or use on a motor vehicle. (As well as
a few more sentences stating that what you do is your own fault etc. etc.)
Personally I think it should be that way anyway. If I shoot myself in the
foot I'm not going to sue the ammunition company.
I could possibly check out the designs for anyone interested on paper if I
had some dimensions and material specifications but I won't claim that they
were checked and tested either. ;-)
Matt Schroeder
Burnsville, MN
----- Original Message -----
From: "L. J. Morris" <ljohn@alltel.net>
To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 4:25 PM
Subject: DML: Re: DML and Patent violation problem
> Jon;
>
> They do not have a case, HOWEVER that does not preclude them from filing
> litigation papers, of which you will have to defend yourself.
>
> I designed a trench padding machine for a client once, **DynaPad** for
> cross-country pipe lines. A competitor filed a suit against the product
> which took 4 years to settle, claiming patent infringement, we were
> in-the-right, deemed not to be infringement, but still cost $100,000 to
> defend in court.
>
> Not to mention the liability if someone builds them and their use causes a
> catastrophic accident.
>
> Just my $0.02
>
> L. John
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jon" <jon@twistedbits.net>
> To: "Dakota Mailing List" <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
> Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 4:19 PM
> Subject: DML: DML and Patent violation problem
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > I thought I would post this here to see if there is anyone on the
> > list with any experience in this realm, so I can figure out what to
> > do. What do you folks think?
> >
> > The short story is:
> >
> > I got a message from this guy saying Rob Cobb's homemade traction
> > bars on the web site are in violation of their patent. I did a search
> > on www.uspto.gov but couldn't find their patent. I wrote back and
> > they said it was pending. (See the text included below for the full
> > correspondence.)
> >
> > The page in question is:
> >
> > http://dakota-truck.net/upgrades/TBARS/tbars.html
> >
> > I am not sure of the exact date, but I do know that it has been
> > on-line since March of 1997 at the latest. According to them,
> > Rob's traction bars are "an exact replica". If they are just getting
> > their patent now, do they have a case? Does anyone have any
> > suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks very much in advance!!
> >
> >
> > -Jon-
> >
> > .---- Jon Steiger ----- jon@dakota-truck.net or
> jon@twistedbits.net ------.
> > | Affiliations: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA; Rec & UL Pilot -
> SEL |
> > | '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly
447
> |
> > `------------------------------
> http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ----'
> >
> > --------------------------------------------
> > > > >Jon,
> > > > >We would like to notify you that the traction bars illustrated
> > > > > in the page that we have fowarded, are an exact replica of
> > > > >our traction bars. We would like to inform you that you and
> > > > >the author are infringing on our patent rights.
> > > > >Please remove this item from
> > > > >your page immediatly. This is just a friendly notice, as you
> > > > >were probably unaware of this. We consistantly check different
> > > > >pages to ensure that none of our exclusive products are being
> > > > > duplicated in any way.
> > > > >
> > > > >If you have any questions please e mail or call 909 825 2818.
> > > > >Thank you,
> > > > >Julio Monroy
> > > > >Trail Sport Unlimited, Inc.
> > > >
> > > > Julio,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for writing. You are correct, I was unaware that there
were
> any
> > > > patent claims for that traction bar design. However, I have been
> unable to
> > > > find any patents filed by yourself or Trail Sport Unlimited. (I am
> > > > assuming it was filed under a different name.) Could you please
write
> back
> > > > to me with the patent number to assist me in locating it? Thanks
very
> much!
> > > >
> > >
> > > Jon,
> > > Thanks for your e mail. As of today, the patent is pending. It
> will be
> > > issued any day and at that time our company plans on
> > > enforcing it to it's full extent. This means that both you and Rob
will
> be held
> > > liable for any damages. Just for verification do a search (you
probably
> already
> > > have) under traction bars or Trail Sport and you will see that this
> corporation
> > > owns the product Rob copied.
> > >
> > > Thank you for your time,
> > > Julio Monroy
> > > Trail Sport Unlimited, Inc.
> >
> >
>
>
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