2006 Windwing Rapture
-
- Regular
- Posts:403
- Joined:Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:16 pm
- Location:Bellingham, Washington
- Contact:
As for me, before today, I had no idea what those labels were for and which kites had them. I checked out the website and found that this guy feels like he has been taken advantage of. According to the site, it takes a long time and money to go to court... I don't know... I am not a lawer, or a manufacturer, or a sales rep. Everybody had their choice and I respect that.
I haven't ever even talked to anybody about this... just posted my own thoughts on the forum..
As for Walmart, I don't try to go often... but sometimes they have what I am looking for though whereas others dont.
I haven't ever even talked to anybody about this... just posted my own thoughts on the forum..
As for Walmart, I don't try to go often... but sometimes they have what I am looking for though whereas others dont.
- bdawg
- Valued Contributor
- Posts:237
- Joined:Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:12 pm
- Location:sacramento
- Contact:
- OliverG
- Old School
- Posts:5326
- Joined:Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:03 pm
- Location:Oakland, CA
- Contact:
Andy, no worries. I believe you're sincere and your participation is always welcome - your posts are always clearly meant to be helpful and they are. That is appreciated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion as well.andyandmarlys wrote:
First off, lets be clear about something.... You are accusing me of posting something I did not.
I DID NOT POST THIS, and do not know who posted, or from where it originated. Appearantly Oliver does...but I don't know. HONESTLY!
I honestly posted that I was unaware of the purpose of these kite labels depicted on page 2 of this thread. I figuted it had to do with china kites or something....Andy
The person(s) stirring things up by making accusations has other motives and is clearly misinformed. This site is here for all of us to entertain and educate each other and to promote safety and unity amongst us and to interact in a positive way.
A downward trend toward kiteforum-style posts won't be tolerated. If you want to make an effort to discredit other brands, any brand, at least do your homework.
-
- Regular
- Posts:403
- Joined:Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:16 pm
- Location:Bellingham, Washington
- Contact:
- dewey
- Old School
- Posts:1079
- Joined:Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:28 am
- Contact:
I really don't know either, but I was just trying to find out about a kite. This thread was hijacked with the patent talk. I want to know how it flys. If you want to start a ethics thread start one.patent wrote:Sounds like a lot of you don't respect patents???
I would not support a company that rips off inventors.
Of course consumers should care about such things.
(I have no idea where WW stands in all this ... but patents are a good thing!)
Dewey
-
- Contributor
- Posts:27
- Joined:Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:34 pm
- Location:San Francisco
- Contact:
Patent,
You're point of view on patents is much more simplistic than it ends up being in real life. In reality, patents are just another point of competition in business. Many companies attempt to patent things that were clearly in existence before they came along or are common sense... and in a lot of cases are successful. Do you really think Amazon.com deserved to have a patent on saving user information for 1-click checkout?
Patents are a good thing in general, but just because one company chooses to challenge another's patent, doesn't mean they're wrong or evil. It simply means that the company doesn't believe the original patent was legitimate, and is willing to challenge that in the legal system. The Legainoux brothers are certainly within their rights to challenge anyone they think is infringing on their patent as much as anyone else within their rights to argue that the Legainoux patent doesn't apply to them.
In any case, I don't mean to let this discussion get farther away from the original topic. But I do think it's important to recognize that just because someone has a patent doesn't mean they should (or will be able to) keep it. If the companies want to argue in court that's fine... in the meantime I'll be enjoying my kites on the water, regardless of what brand they are.
You're point of view on patents is much more simplistic than it ends up being in real life. In reality, patents are just another point of competition in business. Many companies attempt to patent things that were clearly in existence before they came along or are common sense... and in a lot of cases are successful. Do you really think Amazon.com deserved to have a patent on saving user information for 1-click checkout?
Patents are a good thing in general, but just because one company chooses to challenge another's patent, doesn't mean they're wrong or evil. It simply means that the company doesn't believe the original patent was legitimate, and is willing to challenge that in the legal system. The Legainoux brothers are certainly within their rights to challenge anyone they think is infringing on their patent as much as anyone else within their rights to argue that the Legainoux patent doesn't apply to them.
In any case, I don't mean to let this discussion get farther away from the original topic. But I do think it's important to recognize that just because someone has a patent doesn't mean they should (or will be able to) keep it. If the companies want to argue in court that's fine... in the meantime I'll be enjoying my kites on the water, regardless of what brand they are.
-
- Valued Contributor
- Posts:113
- Joined:Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:35 pm
- Contact:
Patent
Sounds like what happened in windsurfing ... the inventors of the freesail system (Hoyle and Schweitzer) spent ten years in court getting european manufacturers to pay the required license fee.
On the other hand, there are many frivolous patents out there (I actually hold one myself), so it can work both ways.
My point is that consumers should be aware of who they are supporting, in order to keep the manufacturers a little more honest.
(Again, I know nothing about WW's situation)
On the other hand, there are many frivolous patents out there (I actually hold one myself), so it can work both ways.
My point is that consumers should be aware of who they are supporting, in order to keep the manufacturers a little more honest.
(Again, I know nothing about WW's situation)
-
- Valued Contributor
- Posts:140
- Joined:Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:46 pm
Well, looks like I may have jumped the gun here and wrongly assumed that you posted as "Guest". In which case, my bad, and I would like to offer my sincere apologies to you, Andy.andyandmarlys wrote:I DID NOT POST THIS, and do not know who posted, or from where it originated. Appearantly Oliver does...but I don't know. HONESTLY!
...
I truely don't think that this comment from you is warrented. I am not trying to do anything but participate in a dialog. Furthermore, I don't think this comment is even directed at the right person.
I guess what got me started on this whole topic is that my original post was intended to be a discussion on the upcoming '06 WW Rapture, and how it flies (or might fly, since it's not out yet) compared to the Crossbow, Nova, and Sonic. Somehow, the thread digressed into an issue of patents, and while I understand that all retailers and manufacturers want to promote their products/services over and above their competitors' offerings, informative/constructive posts are far more helpful to forum readers than comments of the "this kite sucks / this manufacturer sucks / this kite is a cheap knockoff" variety that you see all too often on KiteForum. BayAreaKiteboarding.com (and the BAK forum in particular) is a great resource for me (thanks, Ollie!), and together with word-of-mouth and demo days, are how I make purchase decisions.
For the record, I'm not affiliated with WW in any way, and have previously flown Gaastra, GK, and Best kites. I have a lot of confidence in WW's customer service, like the good performance and safety features at a reasonable price, and all else being equal, will likely stick with their products. (However, if customer service or product quality/technology were to take a serious downturn, I'd switch to another brand in a heartbeat. Thankfully, this hasn't been the case so far.) And really, most kites are of sufficiently good quality nowadays that it's hard to go wrong, so it comes down to personal preference and how much you value certain flight characteristics and product features on an incremental basis versus the purchase price.
Lastly, regarding patents, I'd chip in my $0.02, but I see exsailor has already read my mind and posted on the topic :)
- charlie
- Old School
- Posts:1254
- Joined:Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:15 am
- Location:alameda calif
- Contact:
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 53 guests