A Wakeup Call

[nam6869usmc]

Been out of the new pistol offerings for a while now...just went over to Pro Bass to get some 9mm Ammo & a guy was looking at a pistol. I stood there thinking nice "Glock", Wrong, when I got my Ammo I move back down there & looked & it was an "XD". I was totally shocked how I couldn't right off the bat tell the difference. Then in the "Net' I saw a S&W that looked like a clone to "Glock", are these companies allowed to get that close to the Real Thing without any 'Patent" repercussion from "Glock". Is the Patenting laws that loose that you can clone another manufacture & actually get away with it?????

[XD45]

Been out of the new pistol offerings for a while now...just went over to Pro Bass to get some 9mm Ammo & a guy was looking at a pistol. I stood there thinking nice "Glock", Wrong, when I got my Ammo I move back down there & looked & it was an "XD". I was totally shocked how I couldn't right off the bat tell the difference. Then in the "Net' I saw a S&W that looked like a clone to "Glock", are these companies allowed to get that close to the Real Thing without any 'Patent" repercussion from "Glock". Is the Patenting laws that loose that you can clone another manufacture & actually get away with it?????

There are knockoffs of just about every product made, but as far as the XD being an knockoff to the glock? i'm gonna have to go with a big no

[Lycanthrope]

Yeah, the XD is single action and the grip angle is totally different.....has a grip safety......different trigger.......

Big differences from a Glock.

[nam6869usmc]

Well one thing for sure, you could through all 3 of them in a box, reach in & pull one out & you'll have an excellent handgun no matter what...

[Kaos]

Well one thing for sure, you could through all 3 of them in a box, reach in & pull one out & you'll have an excellent handgun no matter what...

truth sir, truth.

[LittleRedToyota]

also remember that patents expire.

and, once they do, anyone is free to copy the design exactly and make their own version.

can't call it the same thing...copyrights and trademarks do not expire as long as you keep renewing them...but you can build *exactly* the same thing and call it something else.

(the reason patents expire is to prevent monopolies and encourage competition. however, there still needs to be some kind of "first-to-market" advantage or there would be no incentive to pump lots of money into R&D...it would be smarter to just wait for someone else to spend all the money on R&D and then just copy their design.

of course, some companies still do exactly that, but tweak the design just enough to avoid infringing the patent.

btw, whether or not to patent something can become a difficult business decision. on one hand, if you patent it, you get guaranteed protection from anyone copying your design for a certain amount of time. on the other hand, by patenting something, you have to make the design public knowledge...which makes it much easier to copy once the patent expires.

so, some companies don't patent their new technologies...prefering instead to rely on secrecy to protect the design from being copied. after all, secrecy never expires...as long as you can keep the secret.

the formula for coca-cola is a good example. coke has never patented it...which means, if you could figure out what it is, you could make the exact same cola. but, they chose to rely on intense protection of the secret formula rather than a patent which would eventually expire.

of course, some new technologies are so easy to reverse engineer that there is no chance of keeping the design secret...and, so, a patent is the only way to go.

/end of off-topic discussion)

[mrnyman]

In 1994 Smith and Wesson Paid Glock $3.5 million fromLawsuit stemming fromSmith's development of the Sigma,the onlything significantlydifferent in a Sigma is the trigger,Backthen a Gun writer put a Sigma Slide on a Glock and the "Gun" worked.Smithcopied even the flat firing Pin of the Glock.

THe XD isdifferent froma Glock,theyonlylook alike ,The Sigma is almost the exact copyof a Glock.

Nyman

[tdyoung58]

Yeah, the XD is single action and the grip angle is totally different.....has a grip safety......different trigger.......

Big differences from a Glock.

And doesn't explode

[Lycanthrope]

LOL. Not as often....but I did have the privilege of being peppered with plastic when one Kb'd from a double charge in a 9mm.

Springfield fixed the frame for a small fee even knowing it was user error. Can't get much better than that.


Lycangoodservicethrope

[XD45]

Well one thing for sure, you could through all 3 of them in a box, reach in & pull one out & you'll have an excellent handgun no matter what...

Just dont grab the springfield or smith and wesson(considering your talking about the sigma)

In 1994 Smith and Wesson Paid Glock $3.5 million fromLawsuit stemming fromSmith's development of the Sigma,the onlything significantlydifferent in a Sigma is the trigger,Backthen a Gun writer put a Sigma Slide on a Glock and the "Gun" worked.Smithcopied even the flat firing Pin of the Glock.

THe XD isdifferent froma Glock,theyonlylook alike ,The Sigma is almost the exact copyof a Glock.

Nyman

They didnt copy it all correctly, because sigmas suck big chocolate salty balls