How do you feel about copying premium flashlight designs?

The title says it all.

How do you feel about copying premium flashlight designs?

Imagine someone (designer) coming up with a great flashlight design, and manually building the flashlight from the ground up to a 'high end flashlight', and a knock off comes along the way, trying to get a market share.

How much do you personally care about the artist (designer) vs the knock off?

Fake Rolex’s are sold everyday and it does not affect the Genuine article one bit.

So, the knockoff has it’s expectancy as does the original.

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Whether it takes money out of the original designer’s pocket or not (sometimes it definitely does, sometimes it may not…), I don’t like it and I won’t knowingly support it. “Idea” theft is still theft and I hate a thief.

That said, derivative and iterative designs come along all the time and I don’t usually think there’s anything wrong with that. Its a gray area though, and just one of those things that I think each person has to define for themselves. I know when I see something that I think crosses the line from “inspired by…” to “stolen from…”, but my line may not be exactly where everyone else’s is.

Let’s say, there are only so many ways a flashlight can look like if you use cylindrical cells and the product design involves a reflector. Traditional flashlights are almost like smartphones. They more or less all look similar or have very similar design traits. They are like T-shirts.

Three quarters of all my flashlights are black, round, have 1 cell and an emitter behind a reflector. If I showed those to random people I know they would never see a difference.

It would be a different story if someone purchased a flashlight, disassembled it completely and re-engineered the entire product down to the driver circuit and then mass produced a light under a different name. I am sure this has happened in the past, but that effort would not always be worthy of your time, effort and investment.

First and foremost: I’m afraid that how I feel does not matter. Certainly not in a material/financial sense.

- If the designer has not taken any steps to “protect” his design, anyone can make countless copies.
It would not be the first time that a copycat wins a patent-race and then sues the designer of the original.

  • If the designer has taken every possible step to protect his design and it still is copied,
    it will be difficult and costly to win the legal battle. Especially in certain parts of the world.

The good news is that anybody can make a copy of anything as long as it is ment to be for own use.

I welcome it. This also translates to say…. grocery store items. The “store brand” , more times than not but not always, is identical to the “higher priced competitor’s brand”. Most of the time, it saves me lots of bucks. Money in my pocket.

Same goes for electronics.

I pay for the physical product and the labor that went into it’s production, not the ownership of an idea, which is a ridiculous concept.

i would have to think really hard to squeeze any clear answer out of me. i never cared for 500$+ premium flashlights say McGizmo Mac's Customs HDS Oveready, i'm simply not in that kind of market. so if ReyLight or FW is able to copy a design with similar HQ materials, then it's all good and fun and imho an enrichment to the market and i might bite.

so far i haven't bitten. i find Reylight and FW flashlight designs equally awful thanks.

I don’t mind it as long as the replica doesn’t try to mislead buyers into thinking that it’s the real thing.

And still. Remember who said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
If you wanna pay just for the glowbulb that works, who will get the bill for the 10,000 that did not?
So Thomas Alva Edison did the wise thing, he patented his invention.
In fact he was so wise that he bought patents from other inventors, by the thousands!
He lost money on most of those patents, but struck a bonanza with a few of them.

If you’re talking about just a basic form (a specific led, built-in charging, dual switches, etc) then I don’t see a problem with that. But if you’re talking about reverse engineering proprietary parts (patented, etc) then to me that’s theft and as such I’m against it. Companies/people should be rewarded for their efforts and if not then what’s the incentive to create new and better things?

I don’t understand this question.

If you’re making a product, did you come up with the design? If you didn’t, it’s not yours and shockingly, you can’t use stuff that isn’t yours without permission.

As consumers, I guess it’s up to the individual if they want to help support thievery.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I welcome copycats.

My little sister is a prominent US Patent Attorney, so that’s my answer…

Chris

I think this is a big deal. DO NOT try to sell me something that is counterfeit.

I think there is a difference between a design “inspired by” another product and one that is “blatantly ripped off”. I have no problem with something that build on the innovation of others, but to simply steal the whole thing and just “clone” it feels wrong to me.

If there’s no patent then anyone can copy. Like someone mentioned above, Costco, Safeways, Walgreens, etc. Have tons of copycat products that shamelessly say “compare with” identical name brand products that they copy from. This saves consumers a ton of money.

Even Apple, Samsung, Huawei copy each other constantly. One company comes out with a new feature and the following year you see it on competitors’ phones. Apple comes out with the 2x zoom, Samsung copies, Apple removes earphone jack, everyone copies, Apple comes out with Live photos, everyone copies, Apple introduces Touch ID, everyone copies, Apple comes out with the notch everyone copies, Huawei comes out with the multiple camera with TOF, Samsung and Apple copies, Huawei comes out with reverse wireless charging, Samsung copies and renames it Powershare, Huawei comes out with gradient finishes, Samsung and others copy, Huawei releases night mode, Google and Samsung copies, Huawei developes ultra fast charge, Samsung and others copy, Huawei uses large batteries and have incredible battery life forces Samsung and others to follow suit, Samsung uses curved oled screens, Huawei and others copy, Samsung finds success in large screen phones, Apple eventually followed with the the Plus, Samsung comes up with idea of foldable phones, Huawei, Google, Apple copies, Huawei does it better with the much more practical outward folding MateX phone, Samsung will copy in future versions of the Galaxy Fold.

I am not a fan of knockoffs. I will not support someone or a company that makes knockoffs.

Are there even 100% knockoffs in the flashlight world? Which lights are exact copies of the original, down to the driver and firmware? I have heard on forums and videos that people do clone items, but I have never seen them personally.

After years of buying/testing electronics I have yet to see a complete carbon copy. And, if they were exact copies - how would a customer go about detecting them? (check the serial number on the OEM website?)

The wording of the OP sounds like their talking about the appearance and physical design, more specifically of small high end makers.

You’re asking how I feel about thievery? About someone not having the skill or respect to create something original, like what I offer with a sense pride and accomplishment to people that support my artistic creations? About capitalizing on my hard work and financial risk?

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