Posted by Vic on 21/08/2022 10:15:03:
This looks to be such an exact copy of the Noga, how do they get away with it?
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David George says he's owned a couple of Noga deburrers for about 50 years. In most countries patents only last for about 20 years, so the idea has been fair game for decades.
Patents try to balance giving a fair return to the inventor without blocking others for too long. The development and roll-out of the steam-engine was famously delayed because Boulton and Watt had to get round a patent on the crank held by James Pickard. Today, I don't think Pickard would have been allowed to patent the crank because it was prior art even in his time, but the law allowed it then. It was evaded by the Sun and Planet gear invented by William Murdoch, and patented by James Watt, because Murdock was an employee.
Trouble with patents is they often delay progress by stuffing up better technical solutions simply by getting the patent paperwork done first. Alexander Graham Bell was accused of bribing US Patent Office employees to delay competing applications until his was ready. He certainly didn't invent the telephone!
On the subject of cheap imports, the expression 'On the Fritz', comes from the USA, where between 1900 and 1914. allegedly cheap rubbish made in Germany was bought in preference to allegedly top quality US made goods. It could be a slur – progaganda. Whether German stuff was actually cheap and nasty before WW1 I don't know, but I always suspect the quality vs rubbish argument is rolled out whenever less expensive goods arrive on the market. Better I think to compete by reducing costs by increasing productivity than to expect customers to cough up money in hope expensive items are automatically superior. Of course it's much easier to claim quality advantages rather than make the painful changes needed to increase productivity.
Dave
Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 21/08/2022 11:58:58