The truth behind Prater verses Case?

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Now, I have heard everything. I'm a fan of customized Praters & Yellowhorse Customs knives. I noticed lately that the Yellowhorse knives are now using their own brands of knives. I wondered why, since they have been using alot of Case, Buck and other name brands to customize. I did some research and found out today, that they are using their own brand provided for by Queen knives.
Turns out Michael Prater was sued by Case for using their knives for customizing. David and his sons took notice and are no longer doing Case knives. Michael had to pay out about $100,000 to Case!
Stupid Case, dont they realize when they take a plain jane Case and turn it into the beautiful art that Prater does that its a win, win proposition! Talking about Case shooting themselves in the foot! Although the Yellowhorses havent had any problems with Case up to now they were afraid they might and therefore quit using Case knives as a platform for their art.

Its a sad, sad, day that I have to stop supporting a American Company like Case and stop purchasing their products! I am on the side of artistic freedom and their right to do whatever they like with Case knives after they purchase them. Heck, Case could have consigned Michael Prater to customize their knives under their own brand, but no they sued him! It makes no sense to me!

American Artisans and manufacturers of fine American knives should stick with their counterparts to be successful in this highly competitive world of knives.

I dont know all the details of this, but the infomation above was given to me by a person who sells Yellowhorse and Prater. He said he quit handling Prater/Case knives as Case was charging him a fee for every Prater/Case he ordered from Michael Prater. He has no reason to lie to me or give me misinfomation as I contacted him first with questions about why after all these years the Yellowhorses have their own brand of knives.

All I can say; if it is in fact true, Case better wake up before their company is pushing up daisies like so many other late and great American Knife Co. This surely will do their reputation no good at all! If you purchase merchanise you should be able to whatever you want to it without a fee.

I got into this innocent enough by emailing a seller of custom knives for answers. One another forum I posted similarly and the thread was closed due to my findings could may "goes to Speculation city."

I have been in fact sensored in a way on the another site. I realize now is evidently partially sponsored by Case itself. "eek"! I must say here I have been a fan of Case knives all my life and just want to know the true facts and want to hear it discussed in a public place.

Im the last one to want to stir things up, but I really feel betrayed by Case if this is in fact true. Why would a American company turn on USA home grown artisan who are promoting their knives by embellishing them with their masterful artwork.

What are your thoughts on this,and can anyone find any more infomation on this? I just want to find out the truthful and factual truth with this. I have no doubt that the seller who gave me this info. is indeed truthful as he had no reason to lie to me. He told me the Case knives have a better resale value, but for now he will stick with Buck, Queen and many others American brands that dont charge fees for artistic expression with their knives. :eek:
 
I dont know all the details of this, but the infomation above was given to me by a person who sells Yellowhorse and Prater.
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Yeah, I don't know anything about this and will hold my reservations about either company until more details are known....however, I can speculate:

If Prater or Yellowstone were authorized dealers for Case, they may have a clause in their contract stating that none of their knives may be customized or altered in any way that would compromise the original integrity of the knife under penalty of civil litigation and that any requested alteration of original designs must be ordered directly from Case as a SFO. If this clause was in their authorized dealership paperwork, then Prater/Yellowhorse may indeed have done this to themselves.

There are lots of companies out there that do exactly what Yellowhorse is doing and a couple prime examples of that would be the Saleen Mustang and the Callaway Corvette...souped up OEM's. Again, this is probably a special agreement between Ford and Saleen.

Case better wake up before their company is pushing up daisies
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Yeah, I just don't see this happening....

plain jane Case
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Isn't this an oxymoron?
 
Maybe, but did you ever look at a customized Prater? Makes it look like a Porsche instead of sedan for sure! (wink) I still like Case, but since I collect Prater and Yellowhorse none will be put in my collection until they start using them again.
 
I'd like to hear more about this case.

Seems like, once Case knives leave the factory and are bought by another party, said party can do whatever they want to the knives.

:confused:
 
This is a great subject!
But will take alot of information to include with a response.

I've been customizing factory knives for many years, and beleive that if you identify your art on the modified OEM part, you will be safe.
Want to hear more, any comments?
David Yellowhorse
 
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Seems petty to me. I am a fan of Case, but have know Michael for years and think very highly of him. He is a good man and a friend so that is where my end loyalty lies. Either way it is a shame and I agree that the action is a lot like shooting yourself in the foot.


I have another friend who does excellent work on production and custom knives. I sure don't want to see him get into trouble for the beautiful work he does either. I need to give him a heads up, but most of the work he does are on knives the owners or makers send to him.
 
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First off,
I have not been asked to stop customizing case knives. But have sat back to view and think in deep thought of the factories and customizer’s point.

I know Mike Prater, and also commend him and his team on the art they perform.

I think that case has had a problem when their knives are customized and the collector has no idea if the knife was made at case or customized. This alone will bring the customizer, problems.
This is why you see companies use their names (Saleen) plainly on mustangs they modify. And will let the world know that this Mustang was not released from the factory in this state.

Second, warranty!
Letting the world known that you are responsible for the modifications will make the factory much easier to get along with.

I have been asked to do custom work recently, on a case knife. I have finished the knife, and delivered. But I did something to the knife, which I will show next time with pictures.

You ask, why I’m I interested in this discussion with you?
The answer is simple, I like so much to customize factory knives, and have been pleased with many others art that show up on the factories. So, it is to my best interest to help with understanding, so that we the customizers and the factories can live side by side and live in harmony.
....more to come.

David Yellowhorse
 
What Keith said. Thanks David. I honestly had not thought about the things you brought up.
 
Glad to help with some thought on the issue.

It is real easy to jump on the negative, when someone contests to the hard work and effort performed on a factory knife.
I’ve had many that have stated that they would not buy a David Yellowhorse inlay knife, because it did nothing for them. It is just this, that makes the market, what is today. “Personal taste”, and I will not ever take this personal.

Anyway, I have a picture "click below" that shows how I signed my first work in inlay of a Buck 112, in 1978. I did sign these by hand with an Engraver pen.
Can’t believe I was 22yrs old when this was signed!!
...more to come.

David Y.
 

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Here’s three pictures of a knife that I had been commissioned to do. Although, I was reluctant to inlay a case knife, I was more compelled to fill a customer request.
So, I textured the blade and removed a few letters and “bamm” a SE “special edition” was born. Then I took the stock green box and painted it and put my info on it.
This is one way the customizer can complete his/her art on a case knife without a factory re-action.
Hope this helps get the thinking going for customizers.

Greg, Thanks for the welcome.

What are we thinking now..........
David Yellowhorse
 

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I don't know if this has been said elsewhere, but welcome to our Forums, David.

We could use a man of your talent and experience around here.


--Mike L.
 
Mike L. said:
I don't know if this has been said elsewhere, but welcome to our Forums, David.

We could use a man of your talent and experience around here.


--Mike L.
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What he said, David. I've long admired your modifications of Buck knives.

Thanks for the elaboration and the pics.
 
We used to pay a knife customizer to convert select Case knives to automatic. The knives we used were either knives we purchased or knives purchased by the converter. We had a dozen or so converted Case knives when Case threatened us with a lawsuit for "trademark infringement", for customizing a knife already purchased from Case by a distributer, retailer and end user. I told them their assertion was ridiculous and pointed out the customization of everything from cars to clothes with no manufacturer EVER claiming the RIGHTFUL OWNER of their product customizing their product. (Except CASE) They continued to harass us for months. I told them to be prepared to spend MONTHS in court as I provided the jury with never ending examples of customized goods, of every type, from Ebay with no threat of "trademark infringement" because the rightful owner should be allowed to make any customization they chose to any product they owned and sell it, if they wished, without paying any royalty to the manufacturer. They disagreed and would not relent, nor would I, so I told them if they didn't want me selling converted Case knives, the cheapest and easiest thing to do would be for them to purchase all of our converted Case knives at full retail price with my promise never to buy or sell another Case product. I made this offer to the superior of the law dog they sicked on me and he agreed immediately, leading me to believe he recognized the folly in their legal assertion. It was a pain in the ass and an insight into Case knives management but, in the end we made a handsome profit and, as promised, haven't bought a Case product since. What a win for Case, huh??
 
DYhorse said:
Glad to help with some thought on the issue.

It is real easy to jump on the negative, when someone contests to the hard work and effort performed on a factory knife.
Ive had many that have stated that they would not buy a David Yellowhorse inlay knife, because it did nothing for them. It is just this, that makes the market, what is today. Personal taste, and I will not ever take this personal.

Anyway, I have a picture "click below" that shows how I signed my first work in inlay of a Buck 112, in 1978. I did sign these by hand with an Engraver pen.
Cant believe I was 22yrs old when this was signed!!
...more to come.

David Y.
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Hi David. You might recall you and I discussing the issue above and I don't think I ever informed you of the outcome. The answer is below. Take care my friend!!
 
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