a new chinese 7x7 with VCUBE quality

[Hyprul 9-ty2]

China cube cheappp.. Mmmm me likey.

 

[V-te]

I just have one question. Why do you keep advertising KOs?

alright then, i'll stop advertising for KOs, but i'd still post objective information about them.

it's not right to shut-out information from people just because it is about unethical things, as you cannot deny its existence. there is no reason to make people ignorant of what is happening. you cannot stop people from knowing what is going on in the other side of the world, nor could you stop me from revealing the truth.

+1. Not only that, sometimes the manufacturer just wants to keep selling the same things, and other Chinese companies at least make progress in the knockoffs they make.

 

[esquimalt1]

Yeah, Daniel. It's generating the wrong kind of interest. Please stop!

@3:55 in the video. You are saying that you shouldn't respect a Rubik's brand cube? The only 3x3x3 cube that isn't a knock off? And now you're "fighting against knockoffs"?

 

[rachmaninovian]

mm&pi: i understand your concerns, but this is not twistypuzzles....

 

[daniel0731ex]

yeah i think some people are really influenced by twistypuzzles nonsense now.

i heard they bann youtube on their forum because there are too many info about KOs on there?

 

[ElderKingpin]

i was joking...

 

[blade740]

I think more information is a good thing. Otherwise, we'll just get a post in a few months (not that we won't anyway) asking if the cubes are legit/any good/etc. At least this way there's an informative post to link to.

 

[idpapro]

Yeah, Daniel. It's generating the wrong kind of interest. Please stop!

@3:55 in the video. You are saying that you shouldn't respect a Rubik's brand cube? The only 3x3x3 cube that isn't a knock off? And now you're "fighting against knockoffs"?

Wow, you are very observant, and PI if you own a DIY cube or any other cube that isnt Rubik's, then you have a knockoff

 

[qqwref]

As a forum with some of the most knowledgeable and fast cubers in the world, I think it's important that we (as a community) keep on top of the happenings in cubing, whether they be really good or really bad. Sure, topics like this might be giving free advertising to the knockoff makers, but they're also giving information to anyone in the community who might be interested in it. From the standpoint of the community, I think it's a positive thing - it's true that knockoff makers get supported, but on the other hand many people are given the opportunity to get cubes that they want and otherwise wouldn't know about.

 

[daniel0731ex]

yes, because this forum is about speedsolving the rubrik'd cube, not about twisty puzzles.



@ pie

btw, your pyraminx is prabably one of those taiwanese knockoffs of meffert's pyraminxs in the eighties, which uwn mefferts mentioned here:

Puzzle News as of March 01. 2009 - 777 cube and Holey cube survey now completed!!!


Hi all!

The survey was successfully completed, we thank everyone that contributed their valuable comments. Even so the overall support was astounding, it appears that some of you were under the impression that we were going to sell copy cubes, even if they are of a high quality without the consent of the original Inventors, this is most definitely not the case. If I choose some wrong words please forgive me. The strategy as outlines in my previous Newsletters is intended to protect my own puzzles which are being copied and I believe that this strategy will be successful, the reason I included the void cube and 777 cube in my survey, was because these two items are very nice puzzles and I respect the brilliance of their respective inventors, and do not like to see these beautiful puzzles being destroyed by cheap copies flooding the European and world markets through China’s copy puzzle websites. By allowing these puzzles to be sold, all that will happen is that a few Chinese will be made rich at the expense of the legal Inventors. Not only will the inventors not receive any royalties on copies being sold in this manner, they will also be missing out on the lucrative local China market as some larger China companies register a mechanical and design patent the moment they see a new puzzle on U-Tube or the Twisty puzzle site, that they believe has potential for mass marketing. My Father used to tell me, you can do business with the Devil if you know he is a Devil, but beware of so called friends that may stab you in the back when the chips are down.

The present China copy plague that is just starting can set the puzzle industry back 5 to 10 years as the Taiwan Copy Kings did in 1985 with in the end 700 factories copying the Rubik’s cube and my Pyraminx, which resulted in a partial collapse of the puzzle market and forced me to suspend my own puzzle operations for 5 years until 1990 When Sega Enterprises asked me to develop the Mickey’s Challenge puzzle ball which sold close to 3 million in the first two years followed by other puzzles which put me back on track. Without the shutting down of these copying factories, many of the new puzzles I have brought you over the years would not have seen the light of day.

I believe that this time China being a much bigger country it will be much worse. If this is allowed to happen again it will be a great disaster for the puzzlers at large as there will then be very little new puzzle development and money for world championships and the like.

Under China law for local companies, once a patent application has been accepted the full patent certificate will automatically be issued after 6 months. For a foreign company to challenge such a patent I was told is extremely difficult and would take many years during which time the China patent holder has the legal right to manufacture his patent approved product. This is quite different from the patent process in the west.

As I already mentioned previously the Chinese Judicial system, still being a communist Country has no provision for foreigners to sue small companies or identities, this can be done only by the legal China Patent holder if they have strong internal Government connection.

As I have not heard from Konstantinos Verdes, Katsuhiko Okamoto san or Cronus Co. Ltd. the Licensed distributor of the Void cube, I will not include them in any of my efforts to legalize copy puzzles in China for their local market to ensure that the Inventors receives a just royalty. With this in mind, if later my predictions should come true Konstantinos Verdes and Katsuhiko Okamoto san cannot blame me for not offering to help. My intentions were much more honorable than the companies now producing copies of their brilliant puzzles. However I am willing to assist to the best of my ability anyone whose puzzles have been illegally knocked off. If you are interested in my assistance, please feel free to contact me directly on [email protected] .

Just in case that you did not receive our last Newsletter, the balance of the limited edition Tony Fisher Golden cubes, plus a small quantity of silver, copper and white cubes will be available around Wednesday of next week. The black cube version with Cubesmith chrome labels will follow around two weeks after that. The Tony Fisher Golden Egg limited edition will be released around the middle of March in eight colors. Several other exiting puzzles are being tooled or are in the final debugging stage, more details about these when we are closer to producing them. Also several of the more popular out of stock items will be reproduced within the next few month. I have just posted a couple of old popular puzzles on the -Reserve out of Stock Items- page to determine just how many we will need to make to satisfy everyones requirements. The white body original solid pieces, tiled Prof. cube will be available from Wednesday March 3rd.

Registered mail: We have added an additional shipping option for Registered Mail to our order form at a charge of US$2.00. As we have been informed that in some countries like Italy and Mexico parcels just magically disappear during the holidays, or if your mail box is not secure and the parcel is stolen we are not responsible for that as well. We only guarantee that the parcel will be delivered to the postal service in your country. If any of the above conditions applies to you please choose the Registered Mail option to protect your puzzle order from theft.

Should you wish to be removed from this mailing list; just click "reply" and type "remove" in the subject line. Please make sure that you show clearly the email address you wish to have removed so that we can honor your request. Or click on the following link to remove yourself by entering your email address and clicking enter Link you may have to copy and paste this complete link into your browser if the hyperlink does not work.


Happy Puzzling
Ulrich and Uwe

 

[puzzleaddict]

I feel that its kind of hard to say you can't post KO threads....when the very advertisements of this site (for Ebay and such) have listings for KO cubes :confused:

 

[daniel0731ex]

I feel that its kind of hard to say you can't post KO threads....when the very advertisements of this site (for Ebay and such) have listings for KO cubes :confused:

well obviously it's because they payed the advertising fee, which means that if we post reviews about KOs without paying money they will be deleted

am i right?

 

[HowSuneIsNow]

thanks for the useful info Daniel

I don't think improving on an existing design is a KO. I would call that inovation. That's what verdes did with their 5x5x5.

 

[pwndnoobcuber]

i heard that Mefferts are making "V-Cubes" is that true? i was wondering because Uwe Meffert is very against KO's

 

[EE-Cuber]

just buy v-cube cubes, they are of excellent quality, and i saw on their site they are making bigger cubes and will make 3X3X3 cubes

Yes but why buy what sounds like now an inferior design? I dont have stock in Verdes company so too bad for Verdes.

 

[d4m4s74]

if this KO has adjustable screws, does that mean Verdes will have to add screws to his original so they don't lose costumers?

 

[Me Myself & Pi]

@3:55 in the video. You are saying that you shouldn't respect a Rubik's brand cube? The only 3x3x3 cube that isn't a knock off? And now you're "fighting against knockoffs"?

Here's something I found from this website:

Under recent changes in the laws, in the United States patents are now granted for a term of 20 years from the date of application (14 years for design patents). Different rules apply for patents covered by applications filed before June 8, 1995. Patents may be extended only by a special act of Congress (except for certain pharmaceutical patents).

After expiration of the term of the patent, the person holding the patent loses the right to exclude others from utilizing the invention, so that anyone can go ahead and make use of the invention without permission of the patent holder.

So 3x3's & pyraminxs AREN'T KO's anymore. But as for the cubes that are KO's, why should we even discuss them? They're made illegally, they hurt the original inventors who built them, & they give intensives to future inventors to not produce their own puzzles. Can't you guys see that logic? If you can't, you I'll just leave it at that. I don't wish to argue this anymore.

 

[dunpeal2064]

umm... we were discussing marajuana for like a week, and thats illegal... In my opinion, I think they should be discussed. they might be KO's now, but verdes needs some competition! i can see the negative side of it as well... but i dont think it should be up to a few people to decide what everyone knows about. thats just the way i feel about it though

 

[Mike Hughey]

So 3x3's & pyraminxs AREN'T KO's anymore.

I agree with you, but Seven Towns (and their lawyers) don't. They try to enforce illegality of knockoffs by virtue of copyright and trademark infringement, instead of patents, so from their perspective your argument doesn't hold water. And they have convinced some judges of their opinion.

 

[Lux Aeterna]

So 3x3's & pyraminxs AREN'T KO's anymore. But as for the cubes that are KO's, why should we even discuss them? They're made illegally, they hurt the original inventors who built them, & they give intensives to future inventors to not produce their own puzzles. Can't you guys see that logic? If you can't, you I'll just leave it at that. I don't wish to argue this anymore.

This.

The primary difference between the twistypuzzles forum and this forum is not censorship, it's maturity, from what I've seen on these boards. This is a forum where (mostly kids) like doing a specific task as fast as they can, so they're interested in any hardware that allows them to complete said task faster. Twistypuzzles is a forum where (mostly adults) are interested in the design and production of mechanical puzzles, and hence they care about the legal and ethical issues surrounding said puzzles.

Don't get me wrong, I like fiddling around with my plastic toys quickly just as much as the next guy and find this forum a useful resource, otherwise I wouldn't be a member here, but it's a shame that most people here don't see beyond buying toys on the internet. Twistypuzzles isn't a place where people are sticklers about legal issues, it's a place where people have informed opinions about ethical issues.