love/hate knockoffs? vent here

[irax]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

I am not sure where the $100 figure comes from, the last time I filed for a patent, the patent filing fee alone was over $1k. I engaged a law firm to file the patent, and for a relatively simple patent everything cost around $10k.

Now if you spend $10k, you will have a really hard time just trying to get to break even on a product in this market. If you try to re-coup the cost in, say, 100 sets of the product, you are tacking on $100 per set. That's alot, considering the prices of parts in this market. And my experience is if you sell 100 sets of a product, that's a pretty good selling product for this market.

But the biggest problem is this, the current wait time for a patent filing to be processed is 5-8 years:

How long does it take for the Patent Office to make a decision?

Where would this market be in 5-8 years? Who could afford to wait? It is easy to blame companies for not protecting their own intellectual property, but the truth is the system simply doesn't work -- patents are too costly and take too long.

now can we lock this thread?
/thread

[n240sxfnatic]

I love me some knock-off Rice Chex

[40cal]

i buy knock off cereal all the time.... hahaha
wtf is this all about!??!?!?

buy what you can afford.
live within your means, be realistic
research all the items you buy before you buy them!

knock off or not we are all in it to have fun be cautious with your money.
damn 4 pages just for this?

[NismoSilvia270R]

love knockoffs. they make dreams come true for the average person.

i want a hemicuda. no way in hell im going to pay 6 digits for one.

clone it. i get my hemicuda without breaking the bank.

its only when you get lazy and the difference quality shows through your work.

or someone cares enough to check the numbers/tags/labels. whats it to you?

Dont tread on my dreams.

[lainardisboss]

ebay turbo kits need to be re-welded but i kinda love everything!

[speedgod^s13]

It cracks me up, how people get so serious, when this topic comes up. This is my view: It's your car, and your money. No one has the right to tell you what to buy. If you can afford the real deal, good. If not, that's ok too. What matters, is that you are happy with your purchase. Fuck what everyone else says. Unless they are buying the parts for you, they have no say. But, if you are running knock off parts, don't you EVER try to pass them off as real. Have some balls, and be straight up. To end this, there will NEVER be an end to this arguement. Just like people will never agree on religion, politics, environment, etc. That's life.

[BURSTspeed]

This thread was a good read, good debates. Wait or is this a knockoff read with knockoff debates. It doesn't matter cuz I like it. And for what I used it for(which was reading) it was exactly the same as any other thread. But BETTER! lolwut
And OP(g6civcx) is my hero.

[josephin510]

I used to live for knock off parts until. My rota rims cracked from the center of the rim outwards then exploded. My Megan Coilovers were so shit made I hit a minor pot hole and it broke the strut. Megan Sr manifold broke smooth off at the flange. EBay turbo literally blew apart at 20psi of boost. Kragen oil gauge made me buy two new oil pumps and a set of brand new oil squirters . Egay rucas snapped while on my way to work. Knock s13 coupe tails had to be drained of water daily. I could keep going..... PM ME but just buy quality parts don't be a idiot like me. Save time headaches money tears.

[ericcastro]

Knock off Definition

A counterfeit is an imitation, usually one that is made with the intent of fraudulently passing it off as genuine. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the established worth of the imitated product.







I dont know why you guys argue this. If you buy a gucci purse for $15 on the boardwalk, thats a knock off.
I get a little confused when everyone argues how this company copied that company.
But unless they were established the year the coil over was invented, then they themselves are a knock off.

Under your "no knock off" policies,

Is Maaco knock off?
Western Family?
Axe deoderent?


Just wondering how far you guys all take this miss guided argument?



Maybe you should start saying, "Cheap parts" instead of "knock off".

BTW, I drive the shit out of my car, street and track, and despite some really gnarly dirt drops, front and rear, my godspeed suspension is perfect.
Can't say the same for all the quality arms i saw break last month while i kept going.

[josephin510]

Originally Posted by ericcastro

Knock off Definition

A counterfeit is an imitation, usually one that is made with the intent of fraudulently passing it off as genuine. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the established worth of the imitated product.







I dont know why you guys argue this. If you buy a gucci purse for $15 on the boardwalk, thats a knock off.
I get a little confused when everyone argues how this company copied that company.
But unless they were established the year the coil over was invented, then they themselves are a knock off.

Under your "no knock off" policies,

Is Maaco knock off?
Western Family?
Axe deoderent?


Just wondering how far you guys all take this miss guided argument?



Maybe you should start saying, "Cheap parts" instead of "knock off".

BTW, I drive the shit out of my car, street and track, and despite some really gnarly dirt drops, front and rear, my godspeed suspension is perfect.
Can't say the same for all the quality arms i saw break last month while i kept going.

You sir are correct I believe we all mean cheap/low quality parts.

[ericcastro]

I think people should start saying cheap parts.

And on that note, how many people are currently against the cheap parts and are tracking their cars once a month or more?
I do, so I buy cheaper parts that work. No reason to buy a Dmax carbon fiber body kit for $2000 when a $300 genaric one will work just as good.

I just dont get where the line is then??
Everything has a name on it.
and everything is a copy of existing technology that was already there.

Maybe thats why you dont hear the professional level drifters talking about "no knock offs", cause they dont give a shit and run them on their personal cars all the time.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by ericcastro

I just dont get where the line is then??
Everything has a name on it.
and everything is a copy of existing technology that was already there.

A copy is something that is physically/dimensionally identical (to manufacturing variances) to the original part.

Counterfeit is to pass off a copy as an original.

We are not talking about copying a concept here. A Gucci handbag is not a copy of handbags in general, a Nissan GT-R is not a copy of a Ford Model-T, and our suspension arms are not a copy of Nissan's factory arms. Our arms look physically quite different from, say, Cusco's arms or Nissan arms. Just because they serve the same function does not mean they are copies of each other. 10 different companies can work on developing 10 products that serve the same function, and if they are all developed independently, all 10 products wouldn't be identical.

Copying is a quite simple line really, it is taking an existing product, and making something physically the same. It is like making a copy of a movie DVD (which is protected by copyright laws, which unfortunately does not apply to physical/functional products).

[redline racer510]

The way I see it, if a product works use it if not find an alternative. Money really has nothing to do with it. I am probably going to get someone that's gonna say "what about the money spent on R&D" what about it? The last thing these company(greddy,hks,arc,cusco,apexi,etc) thinks about is customer satisfaction. Most of these companies re-badge products from a general manufacture or do slight modifications and sell them at a ridiculous price. I think real R&D is done by the customer by figuring out what works best for them without taking other peoples BS. Not saying these companies are bad(hell I rock some of there parts) just look at them as if they had no brand name, and look at the quality,fitment etc.

[scoobyjoe]

I'm surprise Wake BHR is not on this thread. Lol

[Walperstyle]

Knockoff clothing and fashion. Yes, because it IS the same thing in most cases. Why pay more for some stupid name if its the same thing.

If its actually made somewhere else, with the wrong material, then yeah its can be bad.

[daryl337]

Originally Posted by scoobyjoe

I'm surprise Wake BHR is not on this thread. Lol

OH SHI- you are right.


INCOMING WAKE in 5.... 4..... 3....

[truckmtrS13]

xxr wheels with the big chrome lip....

just figured out that the lip is glued on... I bet its the same for the 526's
lol never thought about getting any but wow thats weak

[Mikey213]

If a "knock off" is cheaper better and looks the same I'd buy the damn thing. Unfortunatley competition now a days just requires the opposite.

[Evan8683]

You get what you pay for. It's silly to believe that a company can create a copy of a genuine product, sell it for half the price, and it be up to par as far as materials or the contruction process is considered. Here's some fake WEDS and real WEDS

YouTube - ‪Dangerous imitation wheel !!‬‏

[word sux]

cheap parts suck


how is there even an arguement

[Gizmo_S13]

I got a knockoff hub. Man... FML...

It's like it was stated. If the part works then use it. Sometimes cheap parts end up being better than the "real" brands. I used to hear nothing but bad things about Megan now all I hear is, "yeah! Their coilovers are awesome!" same thing goes to Godspeed but that's the way it is. I went to a drift even and saw a Tomei powered SR20 with a Godspeed Intercooler. Shit! If he has that it must work right? I'm a budget kind of guy I don't blow all my money on parts and from time to time I will drop bills for name brand parts but nowadays I'm mostly fabricating my own stuff. You can call it a knockoff cause I just look up the part I want and try to copy theirs as well HAHAHAHA

[Robb]

Expensive and brand name doesn't always mean quality. Hell, Apple makes six times as much as HP when selling just one computer.

[yabeet]

Hate knockoffs. Knock off buyers are simply putting innovative companies out of business.

If you buy knockoff parts:

Fuck you.

[S13Boosts]

Who gives a fuck..we all know no one aint ballin on this forum LOL

[sidewaysil80]

double post

[sidewaysil80]

Originally Posted by yabeet

Hate knockoffs. Knock off buyers are simply putting innovative companies out of business.

If you buy knockoff parts:

Fuck you.

ok well selling name brand parts used is hurting them just as bad if not more. if someone can't afford to buy a brand name part and are not going to save up for god knows how long it takes for an overpriced exhaust (arc)...they have two choices, buy it used or buy a knock off. EITHER WAY, the money was never going to go to the original company.

and one more thing...these companies are doing it to themselves...look at the hks filter and compare it to the greddy one...same thing, tomei fpr and the sard one...same thing, apexi makes a v-afc or w/e it's called and greddy comes out a version of the same thing, or my favorite..dmax lighting products, they buy them from junyan and literally triple the price, you can go on ebay and get the EXACT SAME ITEM FROM JUNYAN for a 1/3 of the cost. knock off's are doing the exact same thing just introducing a product at a lower cost that MIGHT not have the same quality but hense it's cheaper.

fyi on my last track car i rocked alot of knock off parts....the new project is an hpde/street car and i'm not using any. it just depends what you want to spend your money on.

[irax]

Originally Posted by truckmtrS13

xxr wheels with the big chrome lip....

just figured out that the lip is glued on... I bet its the same for the 526's
lol never thought about getting any but wow thats weak

actually, if you think about it is pretty ingenious, if you damage the lip you can take it off and replace it cheaper than you would pay to have a wheel fixed and refinished. but hthen at the price xxr wheels are, its probably just cheaper to buy another wheel to begin with.

and no its not the same for 526 but maybe the 502

[irax]

Originally Posted by ericcastro

Knock off Definition

A counterfeit is an imitation, usually one that is made with the intent of fraudulently passing it off as genuine. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the established worth of the imitated product.

Maybe you should start saying, "Cheap parts" instead of "knock off".

Making a wheel that looks exactly the same as another wheel for example, to the uninitiated, is what knock of companies want to go after. But more so they thrive on making a copycat part and undercutting the 'authentic' part. Which is a great business tactic especially when the big names are not even going to try to compete. Instead they bring back the wheels they haven't made in such a log time like Enkei has. Rota already makes copies of those wheels without missing a beat.

But at the same time, if Enkei lowers production cost, and makes a lower quality of wheel, Rota would do the same. It would be an endless battle on dropping prices until one company just can't do it any further. And then in the end all we are left with would be cheaply made wheels that are now overpriced.


My favorite Enkei wheel the NTK03


or the Rota GK-R


wait... which one is which?

[soreballz]

^Why in the world does that rim have two valve stems?

[irax]

Originally Posted by soreballz

^Why in the world does that rim have two valve stems?

because racecar