CH4x4 Ripped My Design

Damn, yeah you wonder what kind of scum run that whole company thinking its OK to do that in an already niche community

their address appears to literally be a storage space…

 

yea, he created it first

 

well if the goal of a business is to make money, then you should sue if you know you are right and can win.

 

Ehhh it doesn’t really work that way man.

 

Let me know when you enter reality. Your time has value and Lawyers charge for every minute they think about your case.

 

At least have your lawyer partner send them cease and desist letter. It usually works wonders.

 

China is great at copy/cut corners. Much of this comes from two things that will take generations to shake off, if ever. The first is the Cultural Revolution where they executed and/ or imprisioned intellectuals, artists, scholars, et. al. They effectively eliminated the best and brightest from their society and set their own progress back so far there is no standard by which it can be measured. It’s no wonder they can’t design anything. It’s a society which does not value individual pursuits and creativity. The second is their adoption of old school, Russian, manufacturing priorities with a Chi-Com twist. Daily numbers matter, operating costs matter. Quality, safety, and composition do not. Not only do they ever seem to come up with new designs, they can’t even make long used designs with decent quality. Their whole system revolves around producing a large number of widgets as cheap as possible which is why there are rampant QC problems aside from direct supervision.

 

Why didn't you secure a design or utility patent? If your configuration is distinct and unique it should have been protected with a design patent that would have cost somewhere aroung $1k - $3k. If your item has a unique way of operating or functioning a utility patent should have been secured. Did you really expect to sell something and not have competition?

 

Sorry, not going to sugar coat it for you, but you weren't ripped off.

It's not an original or remarkable idea to daisy chain switch illumination. It's not "your design" it's the way a daisy chain circuit is wired. You can't be ripped off, because you never owned it.

 

I can’t tell if you’re trolling or wildly mistaken. I’ll get down in the weeds just for a bit and then get back to our original program here: A design can be specific to a certain application (and most times is) — not global as in “I own a design for all daisy chains.” For that you are wrong. However, the main (relevant) points here are: 1. They are using identical lengths of wire, pin maps are the same, tape is the same, connectors are the same — this establishes the product as a replica which isn’t illegal 2. The product name is the same — literally. The name of the product is identical to the one I produce. This gets a little more gray. 3. The product descriptions are the same. Even more toward the illegal side. 4. People are mistaking those harnesses as being produced by me given those similarities. I’m not sure if you have an attorney on retainer, but those are fraudulent indicators. In my day job I am a neuroscientist and help design brain recording tech. We own over 30 patents that are incredibly “narrow scope” and have also sued for people simply using technology that looks similar (even if the internals are different). It is against the law to profit off the likeness of another without their consent. You must change something — really anything — to avoid product confusion. Regardless of all of that, it is very appropriate — at the absolute minimum — to say I was ripped off.

 

Never seen so many people get so up in arms over a couple plugs and a handful of wires

 

I don't think OP is concerned with competition, if thats what you're getting at. Seems that he's established with a handful of vendors, knows what he's doing, and found someone who literally copy/pasted his product title/description and selling as their own. It doesn't seem that he's concerned that someone else can work with wires and connectors; its that someone is selling his product as their own, and he seems to be fine if someone wants make some sort of distinction on their own similar product to differentiate it from his. Don't want to speak for OP though, thats just what I've gathered. And if thats correct, I don't blame him for putting out a clarification post.

 

Yep! You absolutely nailed it. It’d be one thing if it were simple competition. We live in a world full of it. However, this is a direct copy/paste and passing it off as their design. There are a handful of people on this forum, and many more all over the world, that can make this simple harness in their sleep. But they don’t… because like… morals, legalities, and such. It would be a lot different if they had improved it somehow. But they didn’t, and for my business with vendors and others I kinda have to make it clear I didn’t produce those.

 

Damn I saw them and thought they were buying from you

 

Just a thought, it might be a good idea to link all your vendors, and not link the product supplied by your competitor.

Also, just purchased through CaliRaisedLED with free shipping and using discount code: HONEYPROMO

Found here: https://caliraisedled.com/products/plug-and-play-switch-illumination-harness

Also, I just wanted to confirm this will work in the traction control switch overhead, so I can add illumination to my small OEM style garage door button?

 

Just so you all know, @kmorgan3 is more than a stand up guy, and innovator for us Tacoma owners... His communication, attention to detail, quick shipping, and ENDLESS CUSTOMER SERVICE, IS WHY YOU BUY FROM THIS GUY! Try getting in touch with CH4x4 on a friday night, or early saturday morning after hours for remedial questions, during your install, and have them respond and help you.

way above and beyond. appreciate you and your partners bringing these inventions to life, and to us, for a very reasonable cost.

dont buy from the imitators, buy from the originators. support those, who support us.

Thank you @kmorgan3, Ski

 

That isn't the point. The point is they just copied everything to make it look like @kmorgan3 design and are retailing it as such. It seems they didn't even reach out to @kmorgan3 to work out some kind of re-sale of his product like other honest vendors. That is a lazy and dishonest way of doing business.
For example, although the TRD Pro shift knob illuminations that I custom build was not my original idea I did reach out to the original TW member that posted his and also corresponded with @MESO to get the ok to refine the design and sell under my own moniker "Boomer".

 

OP is completely right. There is no magical legal tool here. The cost-benefit at this volume and money would be a quagmire that would just screw OP over.

Remember people, laws are made by politicians so it’s nothing to do with what is right, only what the politicians wrote.

What you can do, which they cannot, is update your product descriptions and advertise it’s the original quality product made by a small business Tacomaworld member with active product support. Get the word out!

 

"Not to be mistaken for other similarly advertised products that may be of less quality"

 

Thanks for the link. That’s exactly what I was going to say…. Don’t link your competition!

I had to learn what it was he was selling from his competitors website