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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 12:09 am 
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At least the electro ones.. and I was wanting to get a Viking.

Quote:
March 1st, 2004

AKALMP, Inc., Low Pressure Experts, has reached an agreement in the lawsuit with Smart Parts, Inc. AKA is not a licensee of Smart Parts and the terms of the agreement are strictly confidential.
Within the terms of the agreement the current production run will be the last of the Vikings and Excalibur's. Contact your local dealer or AKA for availability and price.
AKA will still repair, service and upgrade Excaliburs and Vikings and will honor all applicable warranties. AKA will also continue to manufacture and sell their line of marker upgrades and accessories as well as develop new products. There are several exciting and new products debuting in 2004. AKA looks forward to the 2004 Tournament season and meeting all of you at the tournaments.

AKALMP, Inc,


Now recently because of the patent lawsuits that Smart Parts has been doing, we have seen an effect in the industry. It is a factor in AGD discontinuing the E-Mag and X-Mag, and now AKA.

I don't think this will be the last effect we will see. I know that Arron from AKA wouldn't fold to Smart Part's phony patent, and now he is putting his money where his mouth is.

So far,
Jerry Dobbins (ICD) has settled

Bob Long (NPS) has settled

WDP I believe has yet to get in court

Kingman, Brass Eagle, PMI, and Tippman have yet to be in court or have it threatened

Tom Kaye (AGD) has stated it is one of the factors in discontinuing and a hold on development on their E-guns. That includes AGD Europe.

And now AKA.

Wonder what will come next? And all with the changing of some legal words in a patent.

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www.riversiderenegades.com
[url:3eidvjl2]http://www.PaintBallCity.org[/url:3eidvjl2]


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:03 pm 
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Yes that really sucks...Smart Parts is really setting back our sport. I hope Kingman can put up a good fight, because they are a pretty big company as well and I'm sure they have some money. I really hope they atleast try. I refuse to use anything Smart Parts.

Atleast my soon-to-be 2004 WGP 'cocker will be safe.. :?


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:19 am 
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SP will make enough money from this that they dont care if they shoot themselves in the foot


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 2:49 am 
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I might be in the minority here, but i still believe that Smart Parts makes some of the best products on the paintball market, and i'm proud to use them. sorry if ,y spelling is bad, i'm very drunk right now, but my beliefs in Smart Parts is still true. .................sorry azzy, i'm a fan of Smart Parts. :?

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:44 am 
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S'ok, have one for me bud :) :beer:

I'm not saying smart parts doesn't make anything good, the maxflow reg is one of the best on the market.

It the legal actions they take which many see to be dishonest, and downright illegal. How can you change a patent on a gun, so it no longer covers that particular gun, but to cover all electronic guns that use a switch to fire?

I don't think they shot themselves in the foot much, your typical player doesn't know / care. Not until their choices are limited and the prices rise for any product that has a manufacturer that pays royalties to SP.

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Bryan "Azzy" Spiegel
www.riversiderenegades.com
[url:3eidvjl2]http://www.PaintBallCity.org[/url:3eidvjl2]


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:48 am 
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inspite of the lawsuits and such I still see alot of people buying impulses, and I played with smarts parts team (all americans) at a charity game(alle-kiski make a wish game). My little bro snuck up behind one of them with a short barrel GZ 2000 and shot him, and the guy turns around and shoots him like 20 times with a tricked out automag(best guns back then). My bro was like 10 or 12 then.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 7:42 am 
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People still buy, because they don't know, or frankly don't care. They think it means nothing, where as now, it is causing companies to loose their main source of income. In the big picture, this means people loose jobs, and a lot of money stops moving around. Annodizers don't get product to anodize, SMC does not get orders for thousands of solenoids, etc.

I have also talked to Aaron quite a few times on the Tinker's Guild, and I am sorry to see something like this happen to such a nice an honest guy.

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Bryan "Azzy" Spiegel
www.riversiderenegades.com
[url:3eidvjl2]http://www.PaintBallCity.org[/url:3eidvjl2]


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:48 pm 
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well it's sad to say, but that's how buisnesses are run, do what you can to get ahead of the competition. Smart Parts makes good quality products, they have a ton of patents, and they have a corner on the market with a good reputation. as far as the law suits are concerned, that's how it is in buisness. you can rant and rave all you want about how the patents are worded and how SP is putting people out of buisness, but it won't do any good.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 7:35 pm 
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Quote:
well it's sad to say, but that's how businesses are run, do what you can to get ahead of the competition.


Like breaking the law? Changing a patent to cover such a broadly used concept is not legal. That would be like ford changing a transmission patent to cover the use of gears in a transmission, and make everyone else pay for them.

Quote:
Smart Parts makes good quality products, they have a ton of patents, and they have a corner on the market with a good reputation.


SP uses some of the lowest quality materials in their products, an mainly sell by hype. They have a ton of patents, but very few are their own. They got the original Shocker and Maxflow (originally the Shocker 2000) patents through underhanded dealings that screwed over pVi. They have a patent on how their barrels are ported, but how hard is it to think up spiral porting? It is argued where the impulse design came from, some say the prototypes for the Bushmaster came first. Granted, in operation they are the same as how many other guns on the market. The main reason for their popularity is cost. A stock Impulse cost less then a higher quality BKO, BM2k, Viking, Intimidator, Nemesis, or Cyborg. The only cheaper gun was kingman's Em1, which is a cheap bushmaster clone.

Good reputation? Lets see, when the turbo Shocker came out, they neglected to tell tournament officials that their factory teams had a firing mode on their guns that goes full auto after a certain amount of trigger pulls. They are known for shoddy workmanship on their guns, from the low quality "Velveeta grade" aluminum they use, to the quality control on the product. The freak barrels are known to be off of their marked sizes, and when you compare them to an Equasion set, there is no match. Heck, why do you think it took so long for the 03 shocker to come out? 'Cause they couldn't get it to work. Rumor has it that the one they showed off at it's debut was actually an automag in disguise. And when you get down to the new shocker, look at its main feature that they have patented. "Seal Forward Technology", where the gun is open bolt, until the act of firing, where the bolt closes to fire the gun. Hmm, if I remember correctly, the only open bolt gun that does not do that is the Splatmaster. Look at your spyder, it does the same thing. The Nerve was supposed to be released by now, and if you look at what it incorporates, it is just a much upgraded pVi Cyber 9000. That was the first gun to be made with an LCD screen, the first to have an onboard chronograph, and the first to have a self-regulated dwell to control velocity (which cannot safely work, no matter how it is done, but that is another discussion).

Heck, even out of paintball, the Garderners have been in trouble with the law before over a patent fraud business. Looks like old habits die hard.

Quote:
you can rant and rave all you want about how the patents are worded and how SP is putting people out of business, but it won't do any good.


I can inform players, I can inform those who will be spending their money, and I will. as I type this, a group of us are contacting the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) of Smart Parts predatory and monopolistic business practices. What they are doing is wrong. What they are doing is illegal.

The only reason they have won so far, is because of the companies they have gone after do not have the funding to keep in court. Todays legal system is structured to where if you can not win by the law alone, you can win by outlasting your opponent in court via cash flow. And every new licensing agreement fuels that, until we all are paying our Smart Parts electronic gun tax on every new gun sold. Did they go after Kingman or Brass Eagle yet? No, because they know they don't have the cash flow to go after these 2 paintball juggernauts. But once they get a few notches on their legal bedpost, they have previous court cases (jorus prudence?) to ride on.

Thats no way to run a business.

Granted, will it do anything good for the sport?

When this started, we say a rise in pump / stock class play. We have seen the development of super light triggers for mechanical guns (the ULE trigger for the AutoMag) and will see more of that in the future (Tom Kay says he is working on a trigger with a pull just over the poundage of an electronic switch). Heck, it should be a good thing for the redesigned Vector, now to be called the Valkyrie, when it is released.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but just think if a gun manufacture changed a patent to cover "bolt action in a firearm" and charged every rifle manufacturer royalties to make a bolt action rifle? Where does any new manufacturing cost go? Not onto the company, it goes to the consumer in the price of higher costs and lower selection.

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Bryan "Azzy" Spiegel
www.riversiderenegades.com
[url:3eidvjl2]http://www.PaintBallCity.org[/url:3eidvjl2]


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:36 pm 
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If Smart Parts truely believed they made quality products, they wouldn't have to elimate the competition via legal procedures. If they were a competent paintball company, they could outdo them by having better products and a good reputation. Not that I'm saying they don't, but if they really did, they wouldn't have to do this.

I don't care what you say, but the fact that AKA is virtually out of business due to nothing else but SP's patent is total bull. What adds fuel to the fire is that AGD has stopped producing their E-guns as well.

I remember when people said that this patent thing would just blow over and nothing would happen.

My point? Smart Parts is gay as hell.


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