for anyone out there who have doubts.
here's 2 links to what Brandon Jackson and Steve Brown have to say about it.
i also copied and pasted the whole article here because you never know when they're gonna be deleted or stuff like that... now before u start reading. these are just for your information, so stop hating, do your stuff, practice more.
Hello Everyone,
As many of you have heard, Duncan Toys has recently had to protect our patent for counterweights, and counterweight play with YYF. I haven't been able to respond as the threads that discuss this have been quickly edited/deleted/locked before I had a chance to see them.
I'd like to bring you up to speed with the facts regarding the rumors you are hearing. As you all know, Duncan holds ownership of the patent for the “Freehand Method of Yoyo Play”. Steve Brown is the inventor and he sold the rights to the patent to Duncan in exchange for royalty payments. It is Duncan’s duty to keep an eye out around the yo-yo industry for companies that may be infringing on our patent because the patent is only as good as our willingness to defend it. Because of this we recently notified YYF that we took issue with their marketing “spin top buttons” as counterweights and also YYF using the counterweight style of play in their instructional videos that they sell and use to promote their brand. This is a good example of another company benefiting from a patent that Duncan holds and we would take similar issues with ANY company that tried to benefit from our patent.
A rumor being spread is that Duncan is trying to kill the 5A Division and sue anyone that competes in 5A or holds a contest with a 5A division if the people that are competing are not using a Duncan yo-yo. The rumor additionally is that if Duncan insists that every individual uses a Duncan yo-yo (and no other yoyo) that it makes the 5A division not an “open” division and thus it can no longer be a division.
Here is the real story: Duncan is changing NOTHING in regards to how we police the FH/CW/5A patent. We are treating this the same as we always have. It is our official stance that we will not hold any individuals accountable for using yo-yos other than Duncan in 5A performances or competitions. This goes for individuals as well as sponsored players from other yo-yo companies and thus has always maintained the “open-ness” of the 5A division. These individuals are not a problem for us and have never been a problem for us. We do take issue if a company decides to sell a product that violates our patent and we do take issue if a company uses the patent to market their own brand of yo-yos.
At the end of the day what it all boils down to is we felt YYF was getting too close to the patent, we said Aye! Stop that! They agreed to, and are taking things seriously to cover their butts.
Steve did a really good job of laying out the hard facts here.
If anyone has questions, I would love to answer them for you. I can be reached at Brandon@yo-yo.com
Steve Brown's. link listed in the article above.
Here's the deal:
Duncan has recently decided to more noticeably enforce my patent. The patent is for "Yo-Yo and Method For Using A Yo-Yo". So the patent not only covers the equipment, but the style of play.
Earlier this week, I spoke with a lawyer to get a firm idea of what that covers. As it was explained to me, it is illegal for any yo-yo company in the United States, Germany, or Switzerland (where the patent is active) to benefit from:
- Advertising their yo-yos as good for counterweight play
- Advertising their players as counterweight champions
- Sponsoring yo-yo events with a counterweight division
- Selling any item that is marketed as or may be reasonable construed as a counterweight
- Anything that can be reasonably construed as benefiting from the counterweight patent
Duncan has stated that they have no intention of preventing players from competing with whatever they want. But they CAN legally block any company from promoting their players as counterweight players or champions, because that is another company benefiting from the method of play covered in my patent. Duncan has stated they have no intention of preventing anyone from sponsoring a contest, but they have also stated that they will not allow any other company to benefit from the counterweight patent. These two statements are in conflict, and as such Duncan will need to sort this out as soon as possible with the major contest organizers.
No yo-yo company can teach counterweight play, because that is using counterweight play to promote their brand. Hence, the disappearance of the YoYo Factory instructional videos.
I have not been privy to any of the conversations between Duncan and YoYo Factory. I have no idea what was said, I have not seen any paperwork. I was advised by YoYo Factory, who is my product sponsor, that the patent was being enforced. I consulted a lawyer on my own to get a clearer definition of this.
Right now, there are clearly some legal issues that need to be discussed between Duncan and all contest organizers in the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. How Duncan will handle this is pure speculation, and without word from them there's no point in trying to guess.
I have many opinions on the matter, on both sides, and zero interest in airing any of them. Amazingly enough, I've chosen to speak directly to Duncan about them instead of airing them on a message board where it's not going to change anything or do any good. The simple fact of the matter is that Duncan owns something and they are protecting it from their competition. When I signed the assignment paperwork I gave up all right to decision-making on how they manage that piece of property.
In the meantime, Duncan is handling their business. YoYo Factory is handling their business. Everyone is obeying the law, and moving forward in the manner they see fit as best for their company.
There is no reason to boycott anyone. There is no reason to drag out your old grudges and shake them around in the air.
If you have issue with YoYo Factory, e-mail them. If you have issue with Duncan, e-mail them. If you want to utilize this patent in some way, contact Duncan about licensing it. To my knowledge, they are willing to entertain licensing proposals.
Otherwise, you are posting just to hear yourself speak. You are not accomplishing anything other than giving me a bunch of mindless crap to delete and a strong inclination towards kicking you out for being needlessly irritating and willfully ignorant.
Now behave yourselves, and please try being helpful and useful instead of bickering over how much you hate Company X and love Company Y. I've been listening to that same argument for 15 years and amazingly enough, the only thing that's changed are the company names.
Move along, please.
meanwhile, Freehand, Counter-Weight, 5A lovers, check out this site if you haven't heard/read bout it.
Labels: 5a, duncan, freehand, patent, yoyofactory, yyf
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