Fabricate spade anchor

[RaymondR]

Folks, we appear to have entirely overlooked the time element in patents. The exclusive use is awarded for a [U]specific period of time[U] and once this time period expires the patent becomes prior art and the idea is no longer protected as exclusive usage and anyone can copy it. I would imagine there are very, very few anchor patents which have not now expired.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Pete17C

you usually need to be selling an item you copied, if you're not selling them, what loss has the original designer suffered?

Yeah, it is against the law. Even today mattresses and pillows have "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" tags. Some laws are just not enforced for private use and not for sale.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Yeah, it is against the law. Even today mattresses and pillows have "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" tags. Some laws are just not enforced for private use and not for sale.

Maybe in america, can't say I've seen it on anything I have.

[thinwater]

Design something new. That would be worth your time and laudable as well.

[NYSail]

Seems everybody is pissed when the Chinese do it but it’s ok for us to do it? 10-4.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by NYSail

Seems everybody is pissed when the Chinese do it but it’s ok for us to do it? 10-4.

What your post omitted is that when the Chinese copy another’s design is they manufacture thousands to sell them commercially. A guy working in his garage trying to make an anchor for his boat is not in that category

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by foggysail

What your post omitted is that when the Chinese copy another’s design is they manufacture thousands to sell them commercially. A guy working in his garage trying to make an anchor for his boat is not in that category

This is a rationalization. It's still wrong, and is theft of intellectual property.

The patent holder probably doesn't much care if someone copies the invention for single personal use, but that's a different issue. I suppose you could ask for permission. Or copy some anchor with an expired patent. That's legal.

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

This is a rationalization. It's still wrong, and is theft of intellectual property.

The patent holder probably doesn't much care if someone copies the invention for single personal use, but that's a different issue. I suppose you could ask for permission. Or copy some anchor with an expired patent. That's legal.

Yes, you rang my bell. I just grabbed my scissors and with fresh determination, I intend to cut all those %$#&^

“DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW” mattress and pillow tags and turn myself in to the authorities.......later.

EDIT: And yes, I did purchase from authorized dealers my 33 and 44# Bruce anchors for my sailboat along with a 55 and an 88# Delta anchors plus my 80# Manson Supreme and my FX55 Fortress. And I do not share the extreme views here in the forum pertaining to a guy making his own anchor, one that resembles one currently for sale commercially.

As many have pointed out the commercially produced anchors would be almost impossible to copy because of the engineering that went into the design and manufacturing. That alone should provide enough difference between a guy in a garage with a welding unit attempting to ‘copy’ whatever.

[Paul Elliott]

It's possible that a home-made copy of an anchor will be inadvertently different enough from the patented anchor that the copy wouldn't actually violate the patent. The concept of an anchor itself isn't patented, so the patents are necessarily fairly narrow in scope. Again, I doubt if the manufacturer will care much if someone makes a close copy in their garage.

All I am saying is that if you intend to make an exact copy of a patented device, then you are stealing intellectual property and the fact that it's for your personal use and that you don't sell it makes no legal difference.

Let your conscience be your guide.

[foggysail]

Just in passing, I don't own a welding unit, I purchase my anchors. My time has too many demands for me to even consider fabricating an anchor. So my conscience has no challenges in this or any other questionable activities.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Spade Anchor

Very true. Its almost impossible to renew a patent, but a small change to the design qualifies for new patents.

Thats why I never went ahead with my Patent on my pipe bevelling tool,
Small changes to the original made my Patent worthless,

My new Gen anchor that I made for myself is quite different to the New Gen Anchors that I copied off,
I copied a concept, Not a design,
Whether mine is better or worse than others on the market, I have no idea,
Im not even interested in comparing them,
But it does work better than the Bruce and Danforth anchors my boat came with,
The three NG anchors i copied from, all had flaws I was not happy with,
So hopefully I have eliminated these flaws in mine,

I watched a lot of Panopes testing video's of anchors to make mine,
And thanks to him I have got the weight now on the point to dig in,
Minor alteration made all the difference,

As long as it works for me, Thats all Im interested in,

If you want to copy mine, Take a piccy of it and make it your self, Its free,

Cheers, Brian,

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Yes, you rang my bell. I just grabbed my scissors and with fresh determination, I intend to cut all those %$#&^

“DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW” mattress and pillow tags and turn myself in to the authorities.......later.

EDIT: And yes, I did purchase from authorized dealers my 33 and 44# Bruce anchors for my sailboat along with a 55 and an 88# Delta anchors plus my 80# Manson Supreme and my FX55 Fortress. And I do not share the extreme views here in the forum pertaining to a guy making his own anchor, one that resembles one currently for sale commercially.

As many have pointed out the commercially produced anchors would be almost impossible to copy because of the engineering that went into the design and manufacturing. That alone should provide enough difference between a guy in a garage with a welding unit attempting to ‘copy’ whatever.

Wow, With six heavy anchors on board it a wonder you havent sank from the weight of them, Hahahahaha,
You wont have a dragging problem with those ones out,

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Wow, With six heavy anchors on board it a wonder you havent sank from the weight of them, Hahahahaha,
You wont have a dragging problem with those ones out,

Weell..........not really! The Bruce anchors (used on my old sailboat) I gave away because they were too small for my Silverton. Earlier I found that Bruce has troubles now with our harbors filled with ell grass. My next adventure was with the Deltas, both plowed. I sold the 55# but I still have the 88# resting comfortably in my basement if anybody wants a good deal to take ownership of it.

So I am down to the Manson which is mounted on my bow and the Fortress still in the original box in one of our boat's closets.

[Pete17C]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Patent or copyright, the original designer has suffered because they used their time, money, effort, risk, and experience to develop something new and useful. When you copy their design for your own use you take advantage of all their effort to avoid paying the patent-holder for their product or design. That's their loss.

Most patent-holders won't bother taking action against a one-off copy, but that doesn't make it legal or morally right.

If the effort to develop a patentable product is so trivial, just design something original and build that. You don't have to patent it if you don't want to.

We are talking about an anchor, right? Something that has been designed and redesigned a thousand times? Something that has been around from...well, a long damn time.

It's not rocket science. Many designs have been a tweak of previous designs. This is how stuff gets better.

[hellosailor]

"the original designer has suffered"
So?
The founding fathers were not Bhuddists, as far as I know. (Bhuddist creed: Life is suffering, then you die.) And the Pope would say suffering here is just part of martyrdom and the admission price to the kingdom of heaven, or some such thing.

Patent, trademark, copyright, all are there to prevent economic loss (among other reasons) and I see something and decide to build "one just like it" for my own self? There's no loss of sales to the competition. The law allows me to do that.

Personally, I'm not going to fab up my own anchors, but if I had the welding gear and a handy supply of the right metal stock...versus paying some motor freight company a couple of hundred bucks to carry one cross-country to me?

The purpose of protecting intellectual property does NOT include paying UPS a hefty service fee every time someone makes a transaction. That just ain't the way the system works. Fair or not.