Au contraire, a competing trade name or marque that "is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive" with regard to the original trademark does not qualify as parody under trademark law when the product in question competes directly with the earlier, trademarked product. See Trademark Law, Trademark Anti-Dilution Act of 1995, Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006
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Are there any patents on our favorite discs?
- Thread starter DiscFifty
- Start date
Au contraire, a competing trade name or marque that "is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive" with regard to the original trademark does not qualify as parody under trademark law when the product in question competes directly with the earlier, trademarked product. See Trademark Law, Trademark Anti-Dilution Act of 1995, Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006
It's kinda a moot point because McBeth is going to be with Discraft and they are an actual business. Releasing a "Distroyer" disc would only happen if McBeth had signed with Quest AT. :|
jakebake91
* Ace Member *
Is distroyer that much different from destroyer than wraith is to wrath? I understand that one has an added letter and one a changed letter but really....differences???
Pronunciation, for one. For another, "Distroyer" isn't a real word, so the intent of using that for a disc designed to be similar to a Destroyer seems pretty transparently an attempt to confuse or deceive consumers.
ChefKoolaid
Birdie Member
I did. That patent applies to 27 specific versions of 'flying disc' not all flying discs. E.g:
7. The disc of claim 6 wherein the specific gravity of the ring with the weighting product is between 1.0 and 2.5, and the specific gravity of the hub is between 0.95 and 1.18.
The patent only applies to these 27 specific disc innovations. Not a blanket patent for all flying discs.
mizunodave
Birdie Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2015
- Messages
- 336
When I made my first failed attempt at playing disc golf as far as I knew there was only two manufacturers, Innova and Discraft. I came back a few years later and there were a dozen manufacturers. Someone told me it was because a patent expired that allowed these new people to enter the market.
Was that true?
Was that true?
Right. Which MVP was trying to cover. What are you arguing?
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
It certainly helps not having to pay Innova a fee for every disc you make. Notice all the new Thumbtrac putters that have recently been released by competitors? Guess what patent expired.
ChefKoolaid
Birdie Member
Perhaps nothing. I may have just misunderstood your original post.
100% true. Innova held patent #4568297. To make a golf disc while they held that patent, it required licensing and paying a royalty to Innova. If you look at any Discraft or Lightning or Gateway disc produced prior to 2004, it says "Licensed under U.S. patent no. 4568297". Once the patent expired (late 2003), manufacturers no longer needed permission nor did they need to pay Innova to make golf discs, and that opened the door for a bunch of new companies to start producing.
^^^ Very interesting, thank you for that. So a startup company could come out with clones of popular discs and not have any legal ramifications, as long as the name was changed of course. Just seems like once the sport goes nuclear, it's going to be gobbled up by someone fairly easily.
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
Why copy though? If you have the ability to replicate, why not try to make it better for those that want something different? If those flagship molds were perfect for everyone, no one would buy anything else, and we'd all be bagging Aviars, Rocs, TeeBirds, Firebirds, and Destroyers.
For sure. Why would anyone (outside of signed pros.....maybe) need a Discraft Destroyer? Just to sate my need to have a branded bag? If I want to throw a Destroyer, I will........well, buy a Destroyer.
biscoe
* Ace Member *
Wraith comes out and sells like gangbusters- within a year the very similar Surge is out.
Destroyer comes out and sells like gangbusters- within a year the very similar Force is out.
Boss comes out and sells like gangbusters- within a year the very similar Nuke is out.
Let's be real, all discs by all manufacturers can arguably be called copies of some other disc already in existence. If not copies, than attempts to copy and improve. The discs may not be exact in dimensions and shape but a lot are pretty damn close. At this point in the game, there isn't a whole lot of innovation left in disc design...just improvements and tweaks on existing ideas. With a lot of discs, if you removed the brand tooling on the molds, most folks wouldn't be able to tell two different models apart (or even name them) just by feel or look or perhaps even flight.
So I can't picture any company getting too up in arms about an upstart coming along and producing a disc that appears to be a direct copy of one of theirs. If a new company puts out a "speed 12", wide wing, overstable driver, it's going to be compared to the Destroyer, or called a copy of it, no matter what they do or what their intent is. As long as the new company isn't calling itself Inneva and calling that driver Distroyer, there's nothing that can be done to stop them, nor do I think anyone would try.
As for when the sport goes "nuclear" and some large outside company decides to swoop into the market, I think they're far more likely to buy out an existing company (or two) and put their brand on existing discs than to start from absolute scratch. In other words, Nike isn't going to jump in and try to create copies of Aviars and Destroyers and Rocs. They're likely going to buy up a Legacy or Prodigy and slap swooshes on the Rival or H3 instead of trying to clone a Teebird.
So I can't picture any company getting too up in arms about an upstart coming along and producing a disc that appears to be a direct copy of one of theirs. If a new company puts out a "speed 12", wide wing, overstable driver, it's going to be compared to the Destroyer, or called a copy of it, no matter what they do or what their intent is. As long as the new company isn't calling itself Inneva and calling that driver Distroyer, there's nothing that can be done to stop them, nor do I think anyone would try.
As for when the sport goes "nuclear" and some large outside company decides to swoop into the market, I think they're far more likely to buy out an existing company (or two) and put their brand on existing discs than to start from absolute scratch. In other words, Nike isn't going to jump in and try to create copies of Aviars and Destroyers and Rocs. They're likely going to buy up a Legacy or Prodigy and slap swooshes on the Rival or H3 instead of trying to clone a Teebird.
Hence my quote.. "Just seems like once the sport goes nuclear, it's going to be gobbled up by someone fairly easily."
Totally agree.
My comments about patents, was just an interest if a particular flight style of a disc could be patented, I guess it can't. Interesting that the disc golf market will mainly be battled via marketing and not by product.
Is this a point of any discussion?? Seem like hyperbole at best, laughable at the least. Disc golf is not going nuclear, nor mainstream even. It is a tiny, niche game that we here are so immersed in that we have a gossip thread, thousands of pages long. Man, I love this game, but our perspective gets so skewed sometimes, lol.
I guess you don't think Paul getting a million+ dollar contract doesn't point to the possibility of getting attention from much potential bigger players in the future? Hence.....discussion.
Not trying downgrade the decision of Paul to go to Discraft, though I have not seen any indication that it is anywhere near a million plus. Just voicing my opinion that regardless of any signing, disc golf will not be as popular as bowling, ultimate, rugby, cornhole or darts. Nuclear said to me that the game was going to explode to those kind of heights. Maybe I took the word in the wrong context.
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
Where are you getting the million dollar plus figure?
