Does the patent really matter? Chinese productions have long ignored this and while other manufacturers around the world may choose to respect the patent it will surely by “violated” and conical skimmers will be made in China.

I would like to see more of what first attracted me to this site. And that was the modern design and reef aquarium combination. New equipment and rare fishes are nice too… but what happend with the design issue? And what is happening with your glassbox?

I have been following it for some time now, and had some hot-shot patent lawyer buddies of mine in DC look it over, and I know Victor has had two opinions given as well from his lawyers as well.

The KZ patent was rejected twice by the USPTO and revised so much that it no longer includes anything that would include the ATB designs. They came looking to patent the cone body, but instead, ended up with somethint very different. In short, KZ patent in its final form actually shares more with the Royal Exclusive Supermarine skimmers… and I cant imagine T. Pohl telling Klaus to stop making them… they are ‘partner’ companies under distribution. Besides, if you all remember some time back, Pohl gave permission to ATB in the Zeovit forums to make the cone skimmers because ‘he and Anton good friends… ATB small company (not even in US at the time)… not a concern’.

Dont worry too much guys, I know ATB is covering their bases on this one. If anything, it would be in KZ’s interests NOT to restrict cone skimmers. Put it this way: they are complimentary products. For a long time, people questioned the bubble plate. Not until lower cost alternatives came along by other makers did this feature seem to really make sense and gain popularity. In short… if one company makes something with radical claims, others may question the claims. If more makers adopt the design though… then the feature gains public recognition and is accepted among more people. In short… KZ stands to make more money by letting other companies make cones as well. Just look at how the ATI Bubblemaster… not even an exact bubble plate copy… boosted interest and popularity of the BK’s. The same is true of the KZ’s. Sure, they may have to compete with ATB and some others, but those few will become the new ‘high-end’ which KZ alone cant do. Its alot like how restaurants are located close to each other… in clusters… they dont compete with each other as much as they keep people from going to the other side of town to eat. They are complimentary competition. I have seen it in other ‘low volume-high margin’ industries (most recently, paintball: look up Smart Parts vs. AKALMP vs. WDP of the UK and their electronic paintball gun patent disputes) where one company starts to get crappy with the rest… and as a result, everyone suffers, and consumers turn their backs on the ‘bully’ in the end.

Regards,
Jon

Jon,

As always I respect and appreciate your opinion.

I agree with much of what you’ve said, but many of your analogies are questionable at best. These are not complimentary products. Quite the opposite, they are substitutes. By having more products utilize the cone it may make aquarists more comfortable with the “technology”, but that is far from the benefit gained from complimentary products. That’s the learning and adoption curve of new technology, that can be sped up with the addition of competitors.

If you believe that “KZ stands to make more money by letting other companies make cones as well”, I believe you are looking at some serious information bias. You cannot anchor KZ’s Revo sales on other companies that are using the said technology!

While I feel other companies producing conical skimmers will not significantly hurt sales of the KZ Revo, they certainly are not going to help.

You did make a very good point regarding bullying. Patents are relatively new to the hobby, and if KZ does enforce, they must do so with grace or risk alienation from potential buyers.

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