Smart Parts - again ...
- Thread starter *Manuel*
- Start date
OK lets think about this...
surely Smart Parts's head manager thingy..(who ever it is)
he/she must love paintball?
... but as it seems they dont..
it just goes to show that smart parts's head manager is not for the well-being of the sport and dosn't diserve the right to be a part of the paintball comunity...
as i see it all paintball companies help eachother to make the sport what it is today.. (well there is a lil bit of compertition)
now ime not saying you should stop buying smart parts products it you realy want/need to.. but i think we should go on an anti smartparts rage! (like dont buy anything from em)
and this will give em a good f**n kick in the arse for being lil b@stards!
surely Smart Parts's head manager thingy..(who ever it is)
he/she must love paintball?
... but as it seems they dont..
it just goes to show that smart parts's head manager is not for the well-being of the sport and dosn't diserve the right to be a part of the paintball comunity...
as i see it all paintball companies help eachother to make the sport what it is today.. (well there is a lil bit of compertition)
now ime not saying you should stop buying smart parts products it you realy want/need to.. but i think we should go on an anti smartparts rage! (like dont buy anything from em)
and this will give em a good f**n kick in the arse for being lil b@stards!
You're right. It has NOTHING to do with marker quality. It also have NOTHING to do with what SP are APPARENTLY doing to the industry.
What Smart Parts are doing is simply what ANY company would do in their position. It's called BUSINESS. Do any of you even run one?!?!?!
ICD will survive. WDP will survive. Dye will survive. SP will survive. And if any of them don't, there'll be another company ready to buy up the remains and take over the production of any viable products. That's how capitalism works. If you don't like it, go move to China - you'll be free to copy what the hell you like over there.
If a company is trading on borrowed time, then they're lucky they've got that far. Just because such and such a product is going to be "lost forever" due to some shoddy lawsuit doesn't make it a good one. There are plenty of "good ideas" lost to the world all the time. A patent is a patent, and if a company owns one, they sure as hell should chase up any lost revenues from companies who infringe it.
So what if it was awarded erroneously? This kind of thing happens all the damn time in all areas of technology and nobody takes a blind bit of notice. Stop jumping on the "let's boycott Smart Parts" bandwagon and use your own brains for a change.
Patents aren't for STOPPING companies from using technologies - they're for making sure people LICENCE them properly when they are used.
I'm fed up with seeing those nazi logos all over the place. If you don't want to buy from SP, then don't. Cos today it'll be SP enforcing a patent, tomorrow it'll be WDP, or WGP, or... etc.
Quite frankly I don't give a sh!t what these companies want to spend their legal budgets on. I'll keep buying what I want to buy.
Considering the amount of negative press SP are getting for something which is really quite trivial, I feel I may as well give them some support. So yes, I AM serious. Yes, I am 100% behind them... all the way.
What Smart Parts are doing is simply what ANY company would do in their position. It's called BUSINESS. Do any of you even run one?!?!?!
ICD will survive. WDP will survive. Dye will survive. SP will survive. And if any of them don't, there'll be another company ready to buy up the remains and take over the production of any viable products. That's how capitalism works. If you don't like it, go move to China - you'll be free to copy what the hell you like over there.
If a company is trading on borrowed time, then they're lucky they've got that far. Just because such and such a product is going to be "lost forever" due to some shoddy lawsuit doesn't make it a good one. There are plenty of "good ideas" lost to the world all the time. A patent is a patent, and if a company owns one, they sure as hell should chase up any lost revenues from companies who infringe it.
So what if it was awarded erroneously? This kind of thing happens all the damn time in all areas of technology and nobody takes a blind bit of notice. Stop jumping on the "let's boycott Smart Parts" bandwagon and use your own brains for a change.
Patents aren't for STOPPING companies from using technologies - they're for making sure people LICENCE them properly when they are used.
I'm fed up with seeing those nazi logos all over the place. If you don't want to buy from SP, then don't. Cos today it'll be SP enforcing a patent, tomorrow it'll be WDP, or WGP, or... etc.
Quite frankly I don't give a sh!t what these companies want to spend their legal budgets on. I'll keep buying what I want to buy.
Considering the amount of negative press SP are getting for something which is really quite trivial, I feel I may as well give them some support. So yes, I AM serious. Yes, I am 100% behind them... all the way.
Yes I do.Originally posted by QuackingPlums
What Smart Parts are doing is simply what ANY company would do in their position. It's called BUSINESS. Do any of you even run one?!?!?!
In business, as in life, you can be successful regardless of whether or not you are an honest person. You can be predatory or not, and you can succed in life either way, or not.
Part of capitalism is censure by the consumer of industry practices that the consumer does not like. It isn't socialist, communist, or Chinese to boycot a produst or company, it is the reason capitalism works so well.
It is true that all this is unrelated to the relative quality of Smart Part's gear (some of which is good, some of which is bad). But that (relative quality of goods) is not the only valid factor to consider in deciding what companies to patronize. Behaviour of the companies is also a valid consideration. If Smart Parts were clubbing 3 baby seals to death as part of the process of manufacturing a 2003 Shocker, it would be ok to decide not to buy a Shocker based on that, regardless of how well that Shocker works, how good it looks, or how many accuracy pixies they squeeze into the receiver body.
Are the Nazi symbols in poor taste? I think so. Is taking advantage of the patent office and demanding royalties like some feudal lord demanding tribute in poor taste? I think so.
I think you're right that ICD, WDP, and the others will survive. I do not think this will mean the end of competition in the paintball industry. If nothing else, there will be some quid pro quo with Dye due to the similarity between the new Shocker and the design for the Matrix covered in Dye's patent. The companies that aren't in a position to make such arrangements will not be bled to death, they will be milked for what they can produce sustainably.
I think that EPIC will be less likely to develope an electric marker. I think this is where the door closes on garage based paintball marker manufacturers growing to enormous companies like those that we have today.
Short memories!!
Smart Parts is doing what any other company would do right?
Do you not remember these?:
In the early eighties, Bob Gurnsey passed up a chance to patent all paintball- the very idea of the game- since it would stifle the nascent sport and keep it from growing.
In the late eighties, Tippmann declines to patent the CO2 tank "pin valve", since doing so would prevent it's widespread use and adoption, and Tippmann knew it was far safer and more useful than any of the other cobbled options players were using.
A year or two later, Glenn Palmer passes up the chance to patent pneumatic automation- the method by which an Autococker, Typhoon and Blazer work. He wasn't interested in keeping a stranglehold on the idea, and wanted to see it used and improved.
In the very early nineties, FASTech declines to fight PMI over the stacked-valve blowback semiauto patent. This opens the door to low-cost semiautos, which by themselves are singularly responsible for a major percentage of paintball's growth through the ninties.
About that same time, Tom Kaye refuses to patent the regulated nitrogen system, since he felt it was a superior power source over CO2. Without the HPA systems, our current high-speed, high-ROF markers and ultra-stable regulators simply wouldn't have worked.
Paul
Yes I also run one.Originally posted by QuackingPlums
What Smart Parts are doing is simply what ANY company would do in their position. It's called BUSINESS. Do any of you even run one?!?!?!
Smart Parts is doing what any other company would do right?
Do you not remember these?:
In the early eighties, Bob Gurnsey passed up a chance to patent all paintball- the very idea of the game- since it would stifle the nascent sport and keep it from growing.
In the late eighties, Tippmann declines to patent the CO2 tank "pin valve", since doing so would prevent it's widespread use and adoption, and Tippmann knew it was far safer and more useful than any of the other cobbled options players were using.
A year or two later, Glenn Palmer passes up the chance to patent pneumatic automation- the method by which an Autococker, Typhoon and Blazer work. He wasn't interested in keeping a stranglehold on the idea, and wanted to see it used and improved.
In the very early nineties, FASTech declines to fight PMI over the stacked-valve blowback semiauto patent. This opens the door to low-cost semiautos, which by themselves are singularly responsible for a major percentage of paintball's growth through the ninties.
About that same time, Tom Kaye refuses to patent the regulated nitrogen system, since he felt it was a superior power source over CO2. Without the HPA systems, our current high-speed, high-ROF markers and ultra-stable regulators simply wouldn't have worked.
Paul
Just imagine....
if Mr Benz had patented the internal combustion engine all those years ago, when the motor industry was as paintball is now, still a small 'cottage' industry, would we now have the choice, variety and development that has let all of us be owners of increasingly better cars? Or would you all rather drive a fecking beetle?
I understand the need to protect your business, but they should really focus on product development and marketing to improve their balance sheets. They were not the first company to apply patents for electronically controlled gas propulsion projectiile systems were they?
Competition is healthy for the consumer, as it brings developement and value for money out of the producer. Without those factors do you think they would have produced the Impy?
Ask yourself this, 6-7 years ago when we were all shooting mags or cockers at tournaments,£400 quid guns, would we have thought that you could buy an electronic semi today for £130.00?
Can't agree with Billy and Adams course of action here. it stinks of pure greed and faliure to beat the opposition by those essentials of quality and value. What next? Loaders, they put a battery on one first? (unreal I know!)
if Mr Benz had patented the internal combustion engine all those years ago, when the motor industry was as paintball is now, still a small 'cottage' industry, would we now have the choice, variety and development that has let all of us be owners of increasingly better cars? Or would you all rather drive a fecking beetle?
I understand the need to protect your business, but they should really focus on product development and marketing to improve their balance sheets. They were not the first company to apply patents for electronically controlled gas propulsion projectiile systems were they?
Competition is healthy for the consumer, as it brings developement and value for money out of the producer. Without those factors do you think they would have produced the Impy?
Ask yourself this, 6-7 years ago when we were all shooting mags or cockers at tournaments,£400 quid guns, would we have thought that you could buy an electronic semi today for £130.00?
Can't agree with Billy and Adams course of action here. it stinks of pure greed and faliure to beat the opposition by those essentials of quality and value. What next? Loaders, they put a battery on one first? (unreal I know!)
Short memories!!
how often do we see generousity (sp) in this sport, not just in these examples, but when we are out playing, would you ever have expected somebody to lend you a 800quid marker. shows you the trust we have ine ach other.
what im saying though is these guys paul mentioned have severely helped the sport grow thanks to not being selfish money grabbing b******s.
the sport would be nowhere near where it is now if they hadnt made these decisions.
if smart parts are going to be enforcing these patents, fair play, they are gonna make a whole loada money, and well done to the guy who made the patents, as it was a great business move, however, it could/will slow down the rate at which this sport can grow.
good post paul.Originally posted by Paul_collier
Yes I also run one.
Smart Parts is doing what any other company would do right?
Do you not remember these?:
In the early eighties, Bob Gurnsey passed up a chance to patent all paintball- the very idea of the game- since it would stifle the nascent sport and keep it from growing.
In the late eighties, Tippmann declines to patent the CO2 tank "pin valve", since doing so would prevent it's widespread use and adoption, and Tippmann knew it was far safer and more useful than any of the other cobbled options players were using.
A year or two later, Glenn Palmer passes up the chance to patent pneumatic automation- the method by which an Autococker, Typhoon and Blazer work. He wasn't interested in keeping a stranglehold on the idea, and wanted to see it used and improved.
In the very early nineties, FASTech declines to fight PMI over the stacked-valve blowback semiauto patent. This opens the door to low-cost semiautos, which by themselves are singularly responsible for a major percentage of paintball's growth through the ninties.
About that same time, Tom Kaye refuses to patent the regulated nitrogen system, since he felt it was a superior power source over CO2. Without the HPA systems, our current high-speed, high-ROF markers and ultra-stable regulators simply wouldn't have worked.
Paul
how often do we see generousity (sp) in this sport, not just in these examples, but when we are out playing, would you ever have expected somebody to lend you a 800quid marker. shows you the trust we have ine ach other.
what im saying though is these guys paul mentioned have severely helped the sport grow thanks to not being selfish money grabbing b******s.
the sport would be nowhere near where it is now if they hadnt made these decisions.
if smart parts are going to be enforcing these patents, fair play, they are gonna make a whole loada money, and well done to the guy who made the patents, as it was a great business move, however, it could/will slow down the rate at which this sport can grow.
I guess the point is that Adam and Billy are taking an opportunity to make a ton of money. They don't have the same level of class that Tom or Glen had when the sport was young, but then again they're not doing anything that will put a strangle hold on the market. No one is going out of business because of Smart Parts Patent, because the industry is strong enough to be able to endure this, which maybe it wasn't a few years back.
All i can say, is that i've never liked smart parts business practice, and i'm prepared to boycot their products. Besides they're generally crap anyhow!
All i can say, is that i've never liked smart parts business practice, and i'm prepared to boycot their products. Besides they're generally crap anyhow!
The industry will survive, kit will get cheaper. And if we weren't the mercenary bunch we are, SP wouldn't have risked it..........they know there will be no big boycotts. How many people stopped using microsoft stuff when they tried world domination?
So carry on, whinging about bad business practice whilst you chugg down your coca-cola and munch on a big-mac, probably listening to your Sony stereo too.
BTW, is anyone actualy doing anything about this? 'cos complaining isn't a particularly effective means of defence.
So carry on, whinging about bad business practice whilst you chugg down your coca-cola and munch on a big-mac, probably listening to your Sony stereo too.
BTW, is anyone actualy doing anything about this? 'cos complaining isn't a particularly effective means of defence.
If they are winning lawsuits, and people are caving in, that can only mean one thing- these other companies stole or infringed on Smart Parts patent. I think that people or companies that do that are lower than the greedy idiots at smart parts.
So you guys can yell and scream all you want, the truth is that if they did not steal ideas that were patented by Smart Parts, none of this would be happening.
Do I like what sp is doing? not really, but is it right? probrably.
-Anglacon
So you guys can yell and scream all you want, the truth is that if they did not steal ideas that were patented by Smart Parts, none of this would be happening.
Do I like what sp is doing? not really, but is it right? probrably.
-Anglacon