Halcyon sueing OxyCheq, US Divers and others?

[scubasean]

nm

We aren't going to agree, it seems....

 

[ElectricZombie]

It really does not matter if something has been around for years...if you patent it first, it's yours. That said, I still think that trim weights were a stupid thing to patent.

 

[jonnythan]

Just because there's a connection between JJ and Carmichael doesn't mean that JJ condones or even cares about Carmichael's actions

 

[chrpai]

You zealots are too funny. The parent company of an equipment manufacturer is suiting competitors over alledged patent violations, and now your telling me the CEO of the manufacturer would just be passively in the background not condoning that action?

JJ said it himself on this veryboard has admitted to "Yes, we have initiated some defense of the term DIR because of the rampant misuse of this name." And he has also complained repeatedly of companies "copying" their course and gear. They have obviously now taken the next logical step of trying to protect not only IP but also "inventions". Repeatedly we have seen GUE instructors like MHK bitterly complain about other manufacturers ( namely OMS ) "stealing" from Halcyon. This from a guy who is allededly supposed to be telling students "brand doesn't matter".

Come on, the truth is obvious if you would just put down that plastic kiddie cup.

 

[jonnythan]

You zealots are too funny. The parent company of an equipment manufacturer is suiting competitors over alledged patent violations, and now your telling me the CEO of the manufacturer would just be passively in the background not condoning that action?

JJ said it himself on this veryboard has admitted to "Yes, we have initiated some defense of the term DIR because of the rampant misuse of this name." And he has also complained repeatedly of companies "copying" their course and gear. They have obviously now taken the next logical step of trying to protect not only IP but also "inventions". Repeatedly we have seen GUE instructors like MHK bitterly complain about other manufacturers ( namely OMS ) "stealing" from Halcyon. This from a guy who is allededly supposed to be telling students "brand doesn't matter".

Come on, the truth is obvious if you would just put down that plastic kiddie cup.

If it is JJ behind this, @#!%! him. That's retarded. I very very rarely decide not to buy stuff from a company because of legal actions taken by them, but it's one more reason to recommend Oxycheq/Sartek/OMS/FredT over them. Those damn blue H's on everything is another big one.

I do think that OMS and even Oxycheq have "stolen" the idea of the low profile donut singles wing from Halcyon. AFAIK, they more or less invented it. But the patents in question seem to have nothing to do with that. Oh well, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Still, perhaps JJ is vehemently against the action, but is powerless to do anything in the face of the rest of the corporate higher-ups. I happen to think JJ is a peachy keen guy, so I'll give him personally the benefit of the doubt til we hear something more substantial.

 

[chrpai]

Also if you do a search you'll notice that I was the first one to notice that Halcyon had filed for a trademark on DIR

http://www.scubaboard.com/t35054.html ( this was August 23)

Now according to what I've seen the patent lawsuits were filed in September. This was the same time JJ came on here and said:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=383526&postcount=1 ( September 6 )
"Yes, we have initiated some defense of the term DIR because of the rampant misuse of this name."

Notice he says "we" (Since its Halcyon filing the trademark we can only assume he means Carmicheal) and "defense of the term"..... I submit he new damn well that they weren't just filing a trademark but that they were also starting patent litigation. He only admitted to the first part since I had outted him and was keeping the rest as quiet as he could.

 

[Scubaroo]

Just a quick clarification - the reason I passed on my concern about mentioning JJ is that he's not mentioned on any of the limited court documents that have surfaced. As someone said, he could be "passing out bricks" right now. There's plenty of interesting discussion going on in this thread, and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be discussed in public like this - but as convenient as it sounds to blame Halcyon for this lawsuit, it's not their name on the document. If my initials were "JJ" I'd be right pissed off that my name had been dragged into this conversation.

But it would be impossible to have a conversation around this without looking at business associations and the history of those involved. I'll leave that to the people that appear to know a lot more about it.

I was not trying to get ScubaBoard to censor this thread - it would suck it if was "disappeared" which apparently happened to the second thread someone started on the subject. But it might be prudent for people to be careful about what they say - I was just thinking of the way some of this could be viewed as defamation.

Hmmm, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia. Didn't see much of the US at all in my couple of years there. Maybe I'll see some more when I return in June for my wedding in Maryland.

 

[scubasean]

It really does not matter if something has been around for years...if you patent it first, it's yours. That said, I still think that trim weights were a stupid thing to patent.

Sorry, but had to weigh back in...excuse the pun...

The statement above is likely meant to be sarcastic, since it certainly isn't fact.

 

[caveseeker7]

That said, I still think that trim weights were a stupid thing to patent.

Not if everybody uses them, that's where the licensing $$$ are.
Just checked a couple of '04 catalogs: Oceanic 5, Scubapro 6, SeaQuest (Aqualung) 11. Those are the numbers of BCDs with backmounted non-releasable weights. I wonder if they all paid to use that design?

AzAttorney & the guy from S.F.: Can you loose the right to a patent like you can to a trademark (e.g. Aspirin)? If so, wouldn't the owner of the patent have to enforce it across the board?

 

[scubasean]

AzAttorney & the guy from S.F.: Can you loose the right to a patent like you can to a trademark (e.g. Aspirin)? If so, wouldn't the owner of the patent have to enforce it across the board?

No...Trademarks and patents are very different.

There is no requirement for a patent owner to sue all infringers, nor is there a requirement to sue everyone that is on your hit list all at the same time.