Found on the Garage Journal:
"So I’m in my local O’Reilly Auto Parts store and while waiting on the incompetent parts guy to look up the irrelevant year, make, and model of a part that I was looking for, I peeped something on the “impulse buy” rack that shocked me. A company selling tools under the name of “PowerTorque” had apparently ripped off my great uncle’s wrench design and are now hocking them at O’Reilly."
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329396
So you're saying that the patent DID expire, thus the rip off. That suck! It looks like the head of the wrench swivels. Yes? How did it stay in place, and where's the adjusting worm screw? Very unique design your great uncle created and patented. This also begs another question, can one renew patents to keep the design safe from hacks?
ReplyDeleteyup, 1917 was the original, Yes it does seem to swivel, and I posted this poorly, it was a story I found on the Garage Journal, and not my personal relative, and no... design patents are done after 14 years. You have 14 years to make money off your invention, and then it's open season for everybody else to try and make a better thing than you did.
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