Of course. Meant that it would be awful publicity for a company that is already falling behind and wouldn’t gain them many fans. Also I doubt they have the resources, time, or desire to actually do anything about it, nor should they.
Is there an underground yoyo market where Tyler could sell these? :
If they don’t enforce the patent they could lose it which I believe they don’t want happening.
How well that works out for them? Dale Bell has customers like John Deere. I bet he’s got an attorney on retainer that would make this little guys head spin.
Yeah, let’s see…large corporation vs. teenager. All it would take is a cease-and-desist letter and the threat of further legal action most likely.
Yeah again not saying they couldn’t do it, just saying they would look like bullies and further alienate themselves in a market that already sees them quickly heading towards irrelevancy.
One would think they should not have to take legal action, as this kid knows full well whether he is in violation or not.
The kid making the yoyo under the impression he can sneak under YYJs radar is the one bullying in on their scene- under the assumption copyright law doesn’t apply to him.
It’s not copyright law, it’s patent law.
A cease and desist letter, drawn up by a lawyer, is already more expensive than the damages this little side project could possibly cause YYJ. A cease and desist letter is just a formal recognition (for the paper trail) that the patent infringement has been noticed. It is not legally binding to anybody. People issue them because if the infringing party complies, it’s cheaper for everybody. Might as well try to save money, no?
If the infringing party ignores the letter, the patent holder may litigate. In some cases, they have no choice-- you have to show reasonable enforcement of your patent in order to hold it. But it’s not black and white here either. It’s not like suddenly on the first time you choose not to litigate, your patent is null and void…
So, is the infringing party morally in the wrong? Depends entirely on your view of patents.
Is the infringing party breaking a law? No, they are infringing on a patent, which the holder may now legally enforce through litigation.
If you believe in the patent system then you are predisposed to think this project leeches on it. If you are skeptical of the system, you might feel that it’s just pushing forward with an “obvious” technology. That’s your own call to make.
Side point: we all recognize that this is more derivative of the Draupnir than anything YYJ did, right?
I think it’s in YYJ’s best financial interests to just not bother. The damages they could potentially be awarded might cover one hour of their lawyer’s time if they’re lucky. And I do not think they will be obligated to abandon their patent over this, either. Though it’s another brick in that wall and they can’t “always” look the other way. I assume they didn’t look the other way with YYR. I believe they are reasonably enforcing their patent, but I’m not a judge.
For my part… I have a general tendency to supporting the protection of people’s intellectual contributions. You should be rewarded for innovation. I’ll leave it there.
Tyler(azunyan) said he did contact YYJ about it but they never responded back…
Looks sort of like a Next Level.
I agree with pretty much your entire post, except for this part. You’re certainly right about the damages not being worth pursuing in the short term, but failure to enforce their patent could lead to numerous other yo-yo entrepreneurs believing they can violate the patent with impunity, which ultimately, might not be in yoyojam’s interest.
But it’s hard to say whether it would really be in yoyojam’s interest to enforce the patent here without knowing how many people would try to violate the patent in the future.
Ugh, I knows dis. My brain just writes them off as interchangeable for some reason.
Shai, they have to enforce it at SOME level. I just don’t think this particular case is it. Like I said, you don’t instantly lose all your rights for not litigating every single tiny case that comes along. They would not want to make the mistake of never enforcing, though.