Mountain Biking - heard some weird stuff about Park Tools

I've been in touch with a small tool manufacturer who's business has basically gone to hell because Park stole his design. He says the same thing happened to the guy who designed the bike pizza cutter. Anybody else heard this kind of stuff?

Patent or perish, that's the way it goes. Also, R&D really stands for "Rip-off and Duplicate". I think there is an award at Interbike every year for best "R&D" work. Cannondale and Specialized have won several times.

I have seen this happen in other industries too.

I wouldnt doubt it, when you have the processing and patenting power I guess its normal to "steal" other peoples work. Chances are more than one person designed it or somthing similar they were just the ones to make it big or patent it.

That happened to the guy who invented the mood ring. Didnt patent, and no $.
The pet rock guy was smart and did patent!

I've been in touch with a small tool manufacturer who's business has basically gone to hell because Park stole his design. He says the same thing happened to the guy who designed the bike pizza cutter. Anybody else heard this kind of stuff?

Oh yes. The guy who invented the Snap-On tool idea took it to a major tool company and was rejected. A short while later they came out with a whole new line based on his idea. He sued and after a very long protracted case, won. And was essentially awarded the entire company that the parent corporation had built up. I have an uncertain memory of the award being over $100,000,000.

All that has to be proven to void a patent is "prior art". Meaning he had to have sold one or publicised it to a large enough group before the other guys tried to patent it. If he had a booth at a bike trade show for example.

So if the pizza cutter guy is sitting around and crying....tough luck...he should have patented it....if park patented it and he's whining, he had ways to void that patent and just sat on it....thus he's being a wussy.

Often times big companys buy the patent from small inventors for a fraction of the money the product is worth.

Most inventors dont have the money to develop or market thier excellent idea, so instead sell it to some company for say $10 000 and then watch said company make millions off it.