Mini Simmons Shapers....Watch Out!

General Discussion
41

This… Stand up guys.

42

Thanks again Matt. This is pretty interesting actually. (I Googled Mini SImmons and found hundreds of boards named “Mini Simmons”). Could Mr. Boughess file suit against these individuals? If he did file suit what might he gain from the action? If I were to shape a board and list it for sale on Swaylocks as a Mini Simmons what might I expect to happen if I had to go to court? A $30 fine? A $100 fine? Prison time? Just curious. No disrespect intended.

43

 

I think you guys are missing the point - protecting the use of the word/mark Bonzer wouldn’t have prevented others from using a particular combination of channels and fin configurations (or whatever), such as they innovated. It would have given them exclusive use of the word/term “Bonzer” so that if you bought a board called a Bonzer, you would know it was made by them (or made by one of their “licensees” - Eaton, whoever). Again - this is good.It’s good for them, and it’s good for the consumer.

 

Wouldn’t you prefer to know that if you were buying a board marked “Bonzer” on the deck that it was authentic (i.e., originated from them)? I would.

44

If the hyphen is taken out is that still copyright infrigement?

45

 

From the erBB

 

Malcolm and Duncan decided not to patent their design.
"There was a feeling among the magazine editors that this could be a financial opportunity," says Duncan, "and they said, ‘What are you guys going to do about it?’ And we determined, right from the beginning when we published all the dimensions and the technology, that we wanted to give it to whoever wanted to use it. We were in it to advance surfing, not so much for fame and fortune. And we didn’t feel right about taking all the credit. We truly believe that there is no original thought. All we claimed was that we were intuitive enough to combine existing ideas at a particular point in time to produce a superior surfboard design."
The brothers began writing slogans on their Bonzers: "Love Over Gold" or "Always For Love, Never For Money." Says Duncan, "Those were mantras that eventually bit us in the ass. We soon found out that you need a certain amount of commercial success to get your message across. The trick is to participate in the marketplace but not be driven by it, and in that way maintain your integrity."

 

In an era when most designers are looking for an edge, the Campbell brothers have chosen cooperation over competition, freely sharing their concepts in the hope their efforts will help spur board development. ... [Says Malcolm:] "Over the last three years we’ve been sharing our ideas with many top shapers and surfers, in the hope this sharing will blast surfboard design out of its prolonged period of stagnation. ... This is just the beginning for the Bonzer five-fin. But, as with all potential evolutionary changes, the mind-set must shift. Collaboration between shapers can produce a quantum leap in surfboard design — but the process of evolution comes before ego and self-promotion. We believe this is happening now."
Surfer (September 1990)

 

46

BONZA

 ausie slang long before  these guys are even born

**so just another idea borrowed from ausies    add that on to the 40 yr coocon
**

**
**

**BONZA SIMMONS   **

 

and by the way the day someone can patten chanells or concaves on a surfboard will be a joke to the whole system

so bonza to ya mates

 

**cheers huie
**

47

i respect your opinion...

and i haven't seen one of the above mentioned copyrighted thingys..up close

but i gotta say jim dunlop/mystic shaped me  a mighty fine mini gibbons.

a quick, fast ..responsive..little monkey... my favorite ride..here...

just saying...

that what did shakespeare say about lawyers?

48


Sorry to say, with the amount of shapers out there shaping this style board, the mini simmons and the amount of people calling this style of board, a minisimmons - his trademark is ever so close to a “genericized trademark” in the surfing community - think kleenex, bandaid, xerox.   


I will continue describing the mini-simmons boards I own as a modified Bob Simmons shape with no credit to Joe Bauguess.

My boards are mini simmons. Come get me 

 

 

49

hmm.

if he did file for patent without counsel from any patent attorney and then took recourse in an actual IP infringement case by getting a lawyer to defend his patent, i wonder how the lawyer will be able to come up with an airtight defense when s/he discovers that mini simmons has long been in the public domain, from a surfboard archetype designed decades ago by a fellow named bob simmons. not Bauguess

hmm.

win or lose, the lawyer gets paid " )

50

Hey Cleanlines -

 

I can reply when I get back. I’m leaving the country for two weeks tomorrow, though, and I’m swamped in the meantime.

Leaving for surf, thankfully.

 

Matt

51

Truth is we all know Bob Simmons was simply incorporating Lindsay Lords planing hull formula into a surfboard so you should call it a

Mini-Lindsay. I think that sounds better anyway

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52

wasn’t lindsay lord thinking about boats when he wrote his book that bob simmons studied ?

hmm

53

then lindsay lohan would sue you ;-)

54

what about the thruster ? Simon should sue the whoile farkin surfing world then…
my boards that are similar arent called mini-s****ns, they are ‘dim-SIMs’ ( SIM is to cred Bob Simmons )…

55

Well just like the for metioned comment about having a bonzer by the campbells youre gonna have a true bonzer. Well anybody can try to shape a simmons, but the best is gonna come from the apple that fell closer to the tree ie Joe B. So if you want the best bonzer on the market call malcom and if you want the best mini simmons on the market call Baugess, nuff said.

56

Well, for what it is worth.  Copywrite law may be a way to preserve the integrity and intellectual property rights of hand-built shapers versus the mass produced products coming out of China and SE Asia.  Joe is shaping me a board right now; we spent a lot of time on the phone working out the best shape for myself and the waves I ride.  I am stoked to be able to find a craftsman like that.  But if we want to keep the craftsmen around, we’ve got to support and fund them and patent copywriting designs might be part of that.  Either way, support your local shaper- good for you, good for the shaper, good for the soul of the industry…

57

I don't really care about "mini simmons" or Joe B..........What blows my mind is all the people that just jump in.....people that have never posted feel the need to jump in now...pro and con......It's up there...how many posts / points....what happend to "share the stoke"?

...We lost the stoke on this one............all of us lost a little stoke on this thread........

sad day......

Stingray

 

58

not sure what ya mean bout the posts, points etc, how does that effect peoples opinions, maybe some people read alot and dont often post or maybe they’ve had technical issues for the last 6 months and couldnt post…after all it is a forum open to surfers to give their opinions on varied topics, isnt it ? and I dont agree with comments from lostcoast above, a real bonzer might go great in waves over ther but here it might not, same as the mini’s , mini’s for running point waves in the states wont work here in Oz and shifting beachbreak conditions, so best to get a local shaper who makes alot of them…

59

To copyright the name is fine however the problem comes in through enforcement. Enforcement requires lawyers and money. For a manufacturer on the scale of most surfboard companies or builders, the enforcement costs become prohibitive and enforcement, if any, is usually confined within the country in which the patent is held. Without deep pockets, fighting an offshore company would be futile. 

As far as I can tell, what is being protected is just the name “Mini-Simmons” and not the shape, arrangement, or construction, right?

60

The primary motive of this filing is to lay claim to a name.

let it be a lesson to all copyright your own name.

Everything denoted or conotated to this name will

be yours and yours alone.All the $pent wealth

devoted to agrandizing the associations

with the afore said name will be yours

for ever or until you forget to refile.

 

the true greats never had to concern

themselves with such paper.

 

Cathrine the great was a lady in russia

not some elderly woman in kennebunkport

who owns the copyright on cathrine the great?

If you feel like researching the copyright of cathrine the great

do it  ,it will demonstrate your depth.

 

Matt Velzy told me a story last year

that he found out thet some chick

had copyrighted his last name

and was raising money on it…

 

the life of the litigant is so rewarding.

Dressing up and making court appearances

making a job for an attorney is a noble 

investment of a life. We can expect to have 

a long lasting conotation of the names

on this document.The question is what

will these names come to mean?

will the Beaugess foundation for

unwed mothers in central america 

be an honored university and hospital?

will the beaugess manufacturing facility

in chulavista produce enough Mini Simmions

to have it become the primary board ridden world wide?

Will the design become the standard for olympic surfing?

this could be a great step in organizing the fractuated

un organized design of the surfboard.We owe a great debt

to the farseeing individuals who choose to put their reputations

on the line by putting their names to documents like this.

I have printed this document and am putting it in my scrapbook

in the chapter I have reserved for future litigators.

LETS SEE,any body  ever heard the saying

according to Hoyle? well do you think of an argument playing  poker?

or do you think of a windsurfer universal joint?German industrialists

think of hoyle schweitzer who spent years in court …

perhaps we should research just what names remain un copyrighted

or who has neglected to refile when their copright run out.

 

…ambrose…

when you inherit the earth

who needs litigation

i think you need a real nice suit

to appear in court.