For those that are interested John Economaki, the inventor of the Kerfmaker has responded and you can read it at the LJ forum.
He has agreed to make drawings available for a nominal fee (donated to a charity) for those that want to build their own and to open up new orders for those that want to buy one.
He did request that I take down some posts that reference the geometry which I have requested the administrator to remove.
All in all it will be a win/win for everyone.
Kerfmaker Prototype - IT WORKS!!
Moderator: admin
I read the LJ thread and I suddenly got aggravated by the comment the John Economaki made. "That said, because this tool has patent pending status and is copyrighted, Tony has opened up a little can of worms for himself regarding the copyright. So… what to do?"
He cannot do anything. Patent Pending does not mean squat. I would think that if he did have a patent he would hate himself especially seeing you can make this tool yourself. Everyone would be able to see the dimensions and theory of work for free. The overseas company's have perfected this method, Just ask Shopsmith about the 10 in 1 tool offered here http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=96067
Now I have no qualms about donating to a good cause for the plans. Infact I would probably do that before spending 60.00 for the tool and shipping to get it to the house.
I hope he is not giving you any problems. To help if he is giving you a hard time, here is some cut copy paste from the USPTO site. All clippings can be found here. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/do ... index.html
"The patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling or importing the invention"
"A patentee who makes or sells patented articles, or a person who does so for or under the patentee is required to mark the articles with the word “Patent” and the number of the patent. The penalty for failure to mark is that the patentee may not recover damages from an infringer unless the infringer was duly notified of the infringement and continued to infringe after the notice."
Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. The protection afforded by a patent does not start until the actual grant of the patent. False use of these phrases or their equivalent is prohibited.
Although I cannot find it right now, I believe I have read that you only need to be 10% different from the original patent. I want to also say that you can build anything patented for personel use without any legal actions against you.
Eitherway your looks great. I plan on making one for my father.
He cannot do anything. Patent Pending does not mean squat. I would think that if he did have a patent he would hate himself especially seeing you can make this tool yourself. Everyone would be able to see the dimensions and theory of work for free. The overseas company's have perfected this method, Just ask Shopsmith about the 10 in 1 tool offered here http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=96067
Now I have no qualms about donating to a good cause for the plans. Infact I would probably do that before spending 60.00 for the tool and shipping to get it to the house.
I hope he is not giving you any problems. To help if he is giving you a hard time, here is some cut copy paste from the USPTO site. All clippings can be found here. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/do ... index.html
"The patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling or importing the invention"
"A patentee who makes or sells patented articles, or a person who does so for or under the patentee is required to mark the articles with the word “Patent” and the number of the patent. The penalty for failure to mark is that the patentee may not recover damages from an infringer unless the infringer was duly notified of the infringement and continued to infringe after the notice."
Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. The protection afforded by a patent does not start until the actual grant of the patent. False use of these phrases or their equivalent is prohibited.
Although I cannot find it right now, I believe I have read that you only need to be 10% different from the original patent. I want to also say that you can build anything patented for personel use without any legal actions against you.
Eitherway your looks great. I plan on making one for my father.
"Sua Sponte"
regnar wrote:I read the LJ thread and I suddenly got aggravated by the comment the John Economaki made. "That said, because this tool has patent pending status and is copyrighted, Tony has opened up a little can of worms for himself regarding the copyright. So… what to do?"
He cannot do anything. Patent Pending does not mean squat. I would think that if he did have a patent he would hate himself especially seeing you can make this tool yourself. Everyone would be able to see the dimensions and theory of work for free. The overseas company's have perfected this method, Just ask Shopsmith about the 10 in 1 tool offered here http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=96067
Now I have no qualms about donating to a good cause for the plans. Infact I would probably do that before spending 60.00 for the tool and shipping to get it to the house.
I hope he is not giving you any problems. To help if he is giving you a hard time, here is some cut copy paste from the USPTO site. All clippings can be found here. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/do ... index.html
"The patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling or importing the invention"
"A patentee who makes or sells patented articles, or a person who does so for or under the patentee is required to mark the articles with the word “Patent” and the number of the patent. The penalty for failure to mark is that the patentee may not recover damages from an infringer unless the infringer was duly notified of the infringement and continued to infringe after the notice."
Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. The protection afforded by a patent does not start until the actual grant of the patent. False use of these phrases or their equivalent is prohibited.
Although I cannot find it right now, I believe I have read that you only need to be 10% different from the original patent. I want to also say that you can build anything patented for personel use without any legal actions against you.
Eitherway your looks great. I plan on making one for my father.
Everything here is OK. I had several correspondences today and he was a nice guy. He never threatened or did anything the least bit offensive. He had no problem with my project being posted nor the original project pictures. He told me that I was NOT violating their patent since I have no commercial interest. The only question was whether there was any copyright infringement. He doesn't know for sure and neither do I. He asked that I take down certain content and I agreed. That's really all there was to it.
He even sent me a copy of the drawings they use to make their Kerfmaker. It suprised me how close I got. Every piece that I made had the grooves and ways in the right places. His groove and hardware dimensions are a little different than mine as he is machining metal and I was accomodating wood. I also had to accomodate the hardware I ordered and the tools I had. His hardware is custom made.
Everything is cool here.
You and John E., as well as Bridge City, display a whole lot of class.tdubnik wrote:For those that are interested John Economaki, the inventor of the Kerfmaker has responded and you can read it at the LJ forum.
He has agreed to make drawings available for a nominal fee (donated to a charity) for those that want to build their own and to open up new orders for those that want to buy one.
He did request that I take down some posts that reference the geometry which I have requested the administrator to remove.
All in all it will be a win/win for everyone.
Thanks,
Gene
Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton
Thanks for the followup. Tool budget is a bit thin right now, but I'll definitely order the plans. Seems to me that this kind of tool would be a great offering for ShopSmith. It would augment their pitch that a Mark V can be accurate and convinient.
Jim
510 upgraded to 520, bandsaw, Homecraft jointer, universal lathe rest, Craftsman tablesaw w/Delta fence, standalone belt/disc sander, power miter saw, a bunch of smaller stuff
510 upgraded to 520, bandsaw, Homecraft jointer, universal lathe rest, Craftsman tablesaw w/Delta fence, standalone belt/disc sander, power miter saw, a bunch of smaller stuff
Sorry, the comment got me fired up again. I have had heated conversations with un-educated patent holders saying they are going to sue me. I dont sell anything but have a tools to make a lot of what is out there. I started to make my fathers today. I finished up the knobs. I just have to mill them down a few thousands. I made mine out of aluminum but I think they would look great in an exotic wood. Basically it is 11x 1/8th holes around the 5/8 circle. Then I cut out the circle. Picture is before I tapped it but you get the picture. Thanks for the inspiration.
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"Sua Sponte"
Cool knob.
In honor of John Economaki's generous offer to provide plans for a donation to a woodworking charity and my desire to own one of his tools, I've bitten the bullet and put a down payment on a KerfMaster.
I'm still going to build my own.
I appreciate his design and the effort he put into designing the tool. I recognize that putting an object into the public space makes it a target for uncompensated duplication by others. Without John's creativity, knowledge and business skills I wouldn't have a cool object to replicate for my own use.
Good designs look obvious to us. A good design makes us say "yeah - that's the way it should be". Good design doesn't generally come easily.
Thanks John for many good designs - and I look forward to appreciating more good designs in the future.
I feel the same way about the design of my ShopSmith Mark V. And I appreciate the craftsmanship and quality that went into both tools. I expect both to be around long after I'm gone.
In honor of John Economaki's generous offer to provide plans for a donation to a woodworking charity and my desire to own one of his tools, I've bitten the bullet and put a down payment on a KerfMaster.
I'm still going to build my own.
I appreciate his design and the effort he put into designing the tool. I recognize that putting an object into the public space makes it a target for uncompensated duplication by others. Without John's creativity, knowledge and business skills I wouldn't have a cool object to replicate for my own use.
Good designs look obvious to us. A good design makes us say "yeah - that's the way it should be". Good design doesn't generally come easily.
Thanks John for many good designs - and I look forward to appreciating more good designs in the future.
I feel the same way about the design of my ShopSmith Mark V. And I appreciate the craftsmanship and quality that went into both tools. I expect both to be around long after I'm gone.
Jim
510 upgraded to 520, bandsaw, Homecraft jointer, universal lathe rest, Craftsman tablesaw w/Delta fence, standalone belt/disc sander, power miter saw, a bunch of smaller stuff
510 upgraded to 520, bandsaw, Homecraft jointer, universal lathe rest, Craftsman tablesaw w/Delta fence, standalone belt/disc sander, power miter saw, a bunch of smaller stuff