The total cost of litigation for the 3 firms involved was 10 million dollars with SP bearing the major chunk of it ....... ouch!
I hope this is not true. Apparently a big company is in very serious trouble
- Thread starter john251282
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It would be really interesting if someone informed could write up a brief summary of what happened with the SP/WDP patent litigation and what the final outcome was - I've read so many conflicting reports that I've no idea what really took place.
I think it's down to each individual to decide where they stand on the pro/anti/neutral stance towards SP or any company within paintball. Personally I made a conscious decision not to buy SP again after the crummy 'magic-box' (aka a bit of pipe), although I do still love my original SP mag barrel.
I think it's down to each individual to decide where they stand on the pro/anti/neutral stance towards SP or any company within paintball. Personally I made a conscious decision not to buy SP again after the crummy 'magic-box' (aka a bit of pipe), although I do still love my original SP mag barrel.
Im pretty sure that how it went down is SP tried to patent the idea of electronics firing a paintball and wdp tried to do the same.
The judge threw this out for some reason.
SP and WDP went to war trying to patent different parts of how paintball markers worked, with SP coming out on top.
this is what ive put together at least.
You sure about that Pete?
As someone who knows pretty much exactly what went down, I think the most important thing said so far is that around 10mill went out of paintball, that should have stayed in it. In my, somewhat educated, opinion, this predominantly was down to SP's actions. Yes, it was a smart move to buy up a patent from Pneu-ventures and have your names added to it as inventors, no doubt about that, but in draining the industry of these funds the entire game was effected, including, but not limited to, WDP and Pure Promotions. Personally I would like to have seen what PP would have done with another 3 million at it's disposal. You could also argue that the suits decided the partizan spit in the industry between the PSP and NPPL, as without that I believe one league would have been far more possible. The fall-out of the suits is still evident, and the 10 mill would certainly help everyone out right about now.
Having said that, I don't want SP to go under. They are the value-providers in the industry, with a solid product portfolio, and if they can't stay afloat then there is no chance for the independant company in our game, and we might as well hand over the reins to KEE, who's shareholders will then let us all know when the time has come to find something else to do for a living. SP had every legal right to do what they did - I just wish they had done it differently.
I'm not going to start painting SP as a saintly organisation just because they have hit some rocks, and I don't see why anyone else should, but they deserve credit for what they did with the Ion, Vibe, SP1 etc. They took a direction at that time, and recognised a gap in the market when no-one else did. For me that was their smartest move.
I'm not going to write the SP/WDP patent history for people, or detail who currently gets what from whom, but I will definitely look forward to ridiculing the people who start making shxt up on here while pretending to know the outcome of the suits. I can tell you that anyone that actually knows - ain't telling.
..About as sure as anybody can be I spose mate, it broke down to a 6:3:1 split as I was told, with your confederates in the middle.
Missy, I agree 100% with this but (there's always seemingly a 'but'
) I don't think, in fact I am damned sure it wasn't SP's intention to force this money out of paintball, I think it was one of those situations that ran away with itself and neither party could let the ball go for obvoius reasons.I am pretty sure if both parties had realised what the tail-end cost would be up front (esp SP) they would have stopped then and there.
Having borne witness to exactly what PP achieved, and as I hope you remember, I was one of, if not your biggest media advocate and this was refelcted in what I wrote, so much so, I was accused by 'you know who' of being in your pockets ..... anyway, that's another story, the point is, PP did what they did and it was great but unsustainable with the finances they had available at that time.
I think it speculative to suggest you guys could have made the HB model actually pay but like a lot of things at that time mate, an awful lot was contingent upon the big fat TV execs and maybe, just maybe that extra 3 mill would have ended up in the pockets of production companies with us all still sitting in exactly the same place because paintball just doesn't work on TV no matter how much money you throw at it, just ask Dick Clark.
Agreed, 100%