Hi, folks. Time to vent. Over the years, our team has created many world’s firsts in embroidery. As of today, almost everything we have patented is being ‘borrowed’ by others:
Density Maps, Removing Hidden Stitches, Splitting Designs automatically, Interactive Embroidery, Embroidery Project Advisor, Cut-file creation from applique, and others. Today I hear someone is stealing not only our patent-pending process, but the name itself, for adding knockdown stitches. Plus we have created numerous other firsts which we didn’t patent, because to us they were obvious, and not worth the patent. Those have all been ‘borrowed’ too, some by the very biggest of machine manufacturers.
I’m not trying to be overly protective. We who innovate should be able to borrow ideas from each other at some level. Ideas that are obvious to all which can benefit from an improvement should be competitively engaged. This is most true for those processes that people spend their precious time struggling with. If an improvement can be made to an existing solution, go for it. And most of the other folks in our industry are also innovators, so we don’t bother fighting with them over a feature here or there.
But don’t simply steal an innovation and sell it ‘for cheap’.
This gets tiresome. It’s a small mind that has to steal from others, claiming it as theirs. If they cannot innovate, its time to go into another field, and leave this one to those of us who care about it. Am I wrong to feel this way? Perhaps I should be more charitable? Maybe, but I’m not in the mood. Maybe it is time to call out the hounds.
Thanks for listening!
-Brian and the Team