Loggerhead Tool vs Sears / Craftsman

[Hartwell]

This video bothered me a lot, to the point that I got rid of every craftsman tool I owned. I spoke with my brother on this issue and he said that stealing patent ideas was common practice among tool makers, and that maybe I didn't even know the whole story. Perhaps his patent had expired or wasn't complete.

However, the tragedy still rubs me the wrong way: man has clever invention, employs americans and contributes to the infrastructure of our fine country; sears reverse engineers his idea and manufactures it in china; sells his invention and he gets screwed.

Screw Crafstman.

 

[woody 73]

If you are upset with sears you ain't seen nothing yet look at the guy who invented the push button ratchet and his fight with you guessed it Sears...

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-14/business/fi-19337_1_wrench-case

 

[davewo]

Loggerhead's next commercial should show them installing the shutters on Sears' corporate office.

 

[Petro55]

I went to school with Dan. Great guy and after taking the patent class it made me sick on how large corporations can steal your design than leave you with no records because the cost to litigate.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

[jdlong]

This is daily practice by DIY tool suppliers and has been for decades.

 

[3baygarage]

Loggerhead's next commercial should show them installing the shutters on Sears' corporate office.

Wow!

Great post OP. The YouTube video dates back to Dec. 2012 surprisingly. I remember wondering why Craftsman put their own version out. Sounds like the obvious cheap labor = greater profit.

 

[tjpavlov]

Bringing back an old thread. Not sure if anyone posted this, but this case was thrown out. Sears won.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=b7db3272-a457-4e2d-a8ab-dc9d9aa7cd22

 

[EOC_Jason]

Intersting, the news bit makes no comment about patent infringement? Was the Loggerhead tool patented or was it a design that stemmed from an older / expired patent?

Copying a product and figuring out how to make it cheaper seems to be the name of the game for EVERY product in every big store these days. Tools, clothes, housewares, TV's, everything down to rubber bands & paperclips...

 

[yamaha0343]

Sears doesn't manufacture anything. Almost seems like they would have had to go after Apex or whoever makes the thing. Sears just buys the product and slaps a logo on.

 

[yamaha0343]

Loggerhead's next commercial should show them installing the shutters on Sears' corporate office.

Agreed

 

[neophyte]

Intersting, the news bit makes no comment about patent infringement? Was the Loggerhead tool patented or was it a design that stemmed from an older / expired patent?

Copying a product and figuring out how to make it cheaper seems to be the name of the game for EVERY product in every big store these days. Tools, clothes, housewares, TV's, everything down to rubber bands & paperclips...

The lawsuit didn't mention Patent infringement, and I believe it was mentioned that the Sears wrench was based on a decades old patented design, that looked and worked somewhat the same.

The lawsuit complaint from Loggerhead tools, was that they had an exclusive arrangement to sell their USA made wrenches with Sears, and Sears strung them along, before dropping them to sell an imported version of the wrench leaving Loggerhead without a retail outlet or orders for a holliday season.

 

[Cope]

The lawsuit didn't mention Patent infringement, and I believe it was mentioned that the Sears wrench was based on a decades old patented design, that looked and worked somewhat the same.

The lawsuit complaint from Loggerhead tools, was that they had an exclusive arrangement to sell their USA made wrenches with Sears, and Sears strung them along, before dropping them to sell an imported version of the wrench leaving Loggerhead without a retail outlet or orders for a holliday season.

Sears has done this since forever. Easco at one time made their tools solely for Sears, but when Sears started slowing down, Easco began marketing under their own name. They changed the raised panel slightly. Later Danaher bought Easco.

 

[zeke67]

He agreed not to sell to someone else = restraint of trade if it was an exclusive supply agreement to Sears?

 

[WWheeler]

If you are upset with sears you ain't seen nothing yet look at the guy who invented the push button ratchet and his fight with you guessed it Sears...

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-14/business/fi-19337_1_wrench-case

Yeah the Bionic wrench was a piece of junk gimmick tool no matter where it was made or who it was made by. The kind of thing someone who knows nothing about tools gives someone else for christmas and then it gets thrown in a drawer to rot from justifiable lack of use.

The poor kid, Pete Roberts, who invented the quick release though, he got royally screwed. Sears deliberately lied/tricked the teen Sears employee back in 1964 into signing away his patent rights for $10,000 and then Craftsman became the only ratchet that had a quick release for decades afterward, which really helped solidify the Craftsman line of tools with the American do-it-yourselfer. They made tens-of-millions upon tens-of-millions off of that swindle.

It took that kid 20 yrs to finally see Sears exhaust their appeals and settle with him for 8.9 million in 1989. Roberts then went on to form the company Link Tools, which never really yet managed to get a foothold anywhere that I know of. Not even sure if they are still around, though I do still see some of their sets for sale on ebay and whatnot.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Yeah the Bionic wrench was a piece of junk gimmick tool no matter where it was made or who it was made by. The kind of thing someone who knows nothing about tools gives someone else for christmas and then it gets thrown in a drawer to rot from justifiable lack of use.

Glad you said it and not me, but that's exactly what I was thinking. If it really worked then we wouldn't need bolt extractors... lol.

 

[Stadger]

By golly, you should all boycott Craftsman and make a statement by sending me ALL of your Craftsman tools so I can dispose of them properly.