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Grizzle · 03-01-2008, 01:42 AM

Respectfully--

Careful now. The maker of the NY Flight Cases and the Osman bags are not Osman or Slidebone. Those cases are marketed to them by an unbranded third party in Brazil.

There is nothing illegal going on here. It's not counterfeiting unless they put the MB logo on the case, so that is the wrong word to use in this discussion. The third party is copying a good product, which happens all the time in business. Look at all the generic groceries I'm sure we all buy from time to time. If it's an exact copy, it's still legal unless the product has international patent protection, which is very difficult to get for very good reasons (and if MB had that, these imitations would never make it into the country). If someone actually broke into MB and took drawings, that's another issue involving the authorities in Brazil and has no bearing on slidebone or osman at all.

It's a drag for MB, to be sure, but nothing about it is illegal. Even so, the perceived error is again on the manufacturer, not the stores buying the product. SB and Osmun are free to buy whatever they want.

Full disclosure: Slidebone carries my Torpedo Bags. Slidebone's been beat up on these forums as of late, but I've been doing business with him for 7 years and have never had or heard of a problem until recently, and I'm not sure this complaint is very fair.

03-01-2008, 01:42 AM	#10 (permalink)
Grizzle Pianissimo User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 61	Re: NY Flight Cases Respectfully-- Careful now. The maker of the NY Flight Cases and the Osman bags are not Osman or Slidebone. Those cases are marketed to them by an unbranded third party in Brazil. There is nothing illegal going on here. It's not counterfeiting unless they put the MB logo on the case, so that is the wrong word to use in this discussion. The third party is copying a good product, which happens all the time in business. Look at all the generic groceries I'm sure we all buy from time to time. If it's an exact copy, it's still legal unless the product has international patent protection, which is very difficult to get for very good reasons (and if MB had that, these imitations would never make it into the country). If someone actually broke into MB and took drawings, that's another issue involving the authorities in Brazil and has no bearing on slidebone or osman at all. It's a drag for MB, to be sure, but nothing about it is illegal. Even so, the perceived error is again on the manufacturer, not the stores buying the product. SB and Osmun are free to buy whatever they want. Full disclosure: Slidebone carries my Torpedo Bags. Slidebone's been beat up on these forums as of late, but I've been doing business with him for 7 years and have never had or heard of a problem until recently, and I'm not sure this complaint is very fair. __________________ Instead of PM: gtp@bitstream.net Quicker response to questions! --Steve Last edited by Grizzle; 03-01-2008 at 01:46 AM.