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The right to pursue the manufacturing of a design ideal free of competition.

Trboatworks

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Location
Maryland- USA
I have tools and machines ads pushed on my FB feed.
Not a problem but I noticed a fairly cool artisan designed drawing aid and read some comments on the item.

Turned out this is a direct copy of a crowd funded item which is still at preorder and offered through the FB ad at half the price of the crowdfunded page.

This is the item on Kickstarter:

Iris - The Drawing Tool that Inspires Creativity by Makers Cabinet — Kickstarter


So the question- what the hell?
I made a mistake once to buy something advertised on FB- it was a drone which used the exact images and video as the manufacturer has on their website and offered much cheaper.
I in my ignorance thought that manufacturer was just off branding the item to any market they could find.
(It turned out they send a little piece of shit not as pictured no recourse as it was shipped from somewhere in China etc - lesson learned)

But this iris widget- as soon as I looked once on FB I was flooded with five different companies selling the same thing- all same ad content and price and shipped from China.
All the FB offers are using exact pictures and video as the kickstarter ad.

So again- what the hell...?
I see the kickstarter company is having this made in Asia.
Are the FB just stealing the design and selling them right from the assembly line that kickstarter contracted?
Would I get a plastic circle drawing template if I ordered one or?

The whole thing pisses me off- the ideal was quite novel and a well put together artisan item- great Christmas gift for your crafty guy/gal etc.

Now it seems the China companies are trolling FB and undercutting the whole project.

Seems immoral in a most basic manner.
This is not about copyright protection- just what seems should be fair business practices.
Give a guy a minute to bring something to market.
I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t design this thing and jumped in front of the guy who did.
Or...
Maybe this is just fraud like the drone deal- where the hell is FB- can’t they block this crap.



I know I know - I am naive as crap.
 
Yeah- and who is running the algorithm that pushed five more clones of the same crap at me once I looked at one.
Isn’t there any standard at all for who is hosted on FB?

I’m an idiot and see it- the whole flock of smart folk at FB can figure this out blindfolded.
The fact that they aren’t acting on that means they couldn’t care less if outright fraud is swimming through their platform.
It’s bs.
It pisses me off in about five different ways..
 
I understand that but would’ve hoped there was at least the pretense of protecting the “community”.

LOL ! You aren't being serious are you, C'mon? FB only cares about their revenue. The community? The community is their cash cow to be exploited to their advantage.

If I was king... I'd break FB up into lots of smaller pieces.
 
I agree.

This is just the hypocrisy of FB. They tend to censor comments and certain postings that have political opinions that they disagree with but they do zilch when it comes to unsavory sources of click bait.

I use them as little as possible. My data is MY data, not theirs.
 
I think that is a nifty little tool. There are a lots of sleazey people all over who will steal a concept and reproduce it with or without their own logo. I worked at a decoy company that had it's decoys copied directly by a big box store, even made at same factory in China. Used 'our' companies local bribes to keep the illegal gypsy workers in the factory. yeh, can not blame china, asia, Europe, et al... it is all.
There is no answer for counterfitting that truly works, it has been going on for a few centuries now. You tell google (the most valued (advertising) company in the world) that they should do half hearted attempt to make sure the product they are advertising is legit... biggest company in the world vs you the consumer.
 
LOL ! You aren't being serious are you, C'mon? FB only cares about their revenue. The community? The community is their cash cow to be exploited to their advantage.

If I was king... I'd break FB up into lots of smaller pieces.

Look- it took me freaking forever to find just the right rose colored glasses that are comfortable, look good and cast the world in just the right hue of bubbly optimism.
 
Google manipulates your searches as soon as you start typing, and has no qualms about using their power for partisan ends. It's very subtle but also very powerful.

Google and Big Tech bias hurts democracy, not just conservatives

The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections | PNAS

So true and deep the actual manipulation which happens with these. We have to keep our wits to avoid being completely taken away. There is so much actual manipulation going on that it challenges any free will it seems.

AI is on the job now helping to control things. Amazon and everything else is set up to influence us in some way. Every manipulative player sinners and saints have their hands into it.
 
It bothers me a bit when something has a fancy advertising campaign promoting it as being all craftsman built and special then you find out it's just another bullshit china widget.

Fuck them. They made their bed.

Make it here. Do something worthwhile. They are just as guilty as the consumers buying the shit.
 
I'm no fan of facebook (and never joined) but in this case I think the problem is no real intellectual property basis. Iris diaphragms have been around for so long that the tool is probably un-patentable, and given how the Chinese operate once the idea was made public it was probably only a matter of time before it was copied. I think the phrase "Chinese copy" is older than I am and I'm in my 60s.

The real issue with China is the illegal copying of patented, copyrighted, or other legally protected products which truly are counterfeits. U.S. Customs have in recent years become more aggressive in seizing such products when they can but the problem is huge and part of current trade talks.
 
Now it seems the China companies are trolling FB ..

I'm not sure what this has at all to do with FB. I imagine China is trolling Kickstarter looking for something to knock off. If the idea is really good, they should have got a patent started. If you're putting your idea in public on the cheap to find out how good it is, this is the price you pay. If they were making it themselves, I'd feel bad for them, but at least then they could revert to advertising on that merit.
 
The real issue with China is the illegal copying of patented, copyrighted, or other legally protected products which truly are counterfeits. U.S. Customs have in recent years become more aggressive in seizing such products when they can but the problem is huge and part of current trade talks.

It would help if US patents were not such a pathetic joke. By Jefferson's standards (he created the patent office) about 20% of current patents would count. Maybe less.
 
If the Chinese were prevented from having access to free freight by screwing the International Postal Agreement,half their crap ripoff industry would collapse overnight.Chinese officially sanctioned mail fraud has bankrupted the postal systems of every first world country with large land area.
 
It used to be said if you brought some simple product to market you only had 13 weeks to make all your money because that's how long it took for the Chinese to make a copy and get it over here. That timeline is a lot shorter today.

Facebook and Google are just advertising companies disguised as a user service. They make their real money selling your clicks to the highest bidders. And they DON'T care who it is.
 
There have been a few Kickstarter projects that have failed or been ruined because they got involved in the cutthroat industry of Chinese manufacturing. They have a good idea, but no way to make it so they try to farm it out to a Chinese company who immediately begins copying it and marketing it as their own.

Another incident I have seen is that the Chinese company sees that the Kickstarter is doing really well and demands double the money to make the item even though they already have an agreement.
 
Another incident I have seen is that the Chinese company sees that the Kickstarter is doing really well and demands double the money to make the item even though they already have an agreement.
Reminds me of Leapfrog freight forwarders in Charlotte, North Carolina. We prepaid cash money $16,000 for a shipment, they "forgot" to send the ocean bill of lading even though we asked several times, when the shipment arrived oh gosh ! They needed another $3500 ! The trucking company had to tarp the machines !

Of course they conveniently forgot to mention this until the shipment was at the port and we were liable for demurrage - which ended up costing another $10,000 by the time all was said and done.

What was her excuse ? "We need to make a profit, you know." This from the president of the company, Amy Pugh-Parris, who is, in short, a thief.

You don't want to get me started on ripoff US companies. For every China story, I can hand you back a US one, bigger and worser.
 








 
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