Will Moon "Spindle" lock?

If that's the only thing that turns you off about Will Moon, you should do some reading in the Good, Bad, and Ugly subforum.

On topic, it seems sleazy...like a lot of the things he's done.

 

Do you mean apply for a patent? Anyone can apply for a patent on anything, but that doesn't mean it will be granted. Will it be granted? That's a question for a patent attorney, or the patent office. Uninformed opinions won't really matter on this one.

That said, Will Moon seems to be able to do whatever he wants, so long as he remains a free man.

 

@Charlie Mike loves pimping Moon Knives.
As for the lock, Will can invent the mother of all locks, I'd still stay clear of him. I actually think the Stormcrow is a nice design, but I don't tend to give money to a-holes.

 

Looks like a bolt-lock x axis-lock hybrid...

 

Whatever that is, it's trash. Just like Will Moon.

 

I know we aren't supposed to like him, but I do like his designs. As to whether that lock will be granted a patent, I have no idea.

 

Will's personality and customer interactions aside, as they are irrelevant to the question...

Short answer is, in my opinion, it is ethical to apply for a patent on something that you have designed. I view it thru the lens of there is no harm or foul in trying, an application does not mean it is granted.

I do not see why licensing it is a problem. After all the purpose of a patent in to protect your intellectually property, and keep people who are not you from profiting off it. I seriously doubt that the majority of filed patents being submitted by people out of charity, just show to the idea.

I also interpret your post as you don't believe it is original enough to warrant patent protection,and that he knows this, and therefor it is unethical to apply. I am not going to presume to know what Will Moon thinks, and I am pretty sure I do not want to most of the time anyway. However,as covered previously, the patent office is more or less responsible to determine if a design is sufficiently different to warrant a patent. I do not think that you are implying that he wait to be told his design is sufficiently original, before it is OK to try patent it, but perhaps I am mistaken.

Ultimately I can understand that his action on this seems violates your personal ethics, but I do not see how that makes it unethical in a larger context. I am also trying to isolate my discussion only to the patent application.

Full disclosure, I own both a Stormcrow and a Banshee, and personally I have not had any major problems with them or Will, but I also live fairly close to him, and can pickup and handle items in person, face to face. He has always polite to me.

Edited to re-frame some comments after a re-read of the original post!

 

Not a lawyer by a long shot, but my understanding is you can get a patent on an existing design as long as you make a clear improvement to it. In which case, the patent granted would protect your new, improved design, but the original would still be available for use.

Will Moon is a scumbag and I wouldn't touch any of his knives with a 10 foot pole, regardless, but that's my understanding of the law.

 

(Will Moon is a scumbag and I wouldn't touch any of his knives with a 10 foot pole) +1 ! I don't care what he comes out with; that name is worthless to me just like Brad Duncan And Rob Dalton,to name a few...

 

Flashy blades, but there is a dark side of the moon. After a bit of investigation, you'll definitely reconsider buying anything from that guy.

 

Avoid will moon. There are several threads about him that are negative on this forum.

Here's two vids also.

 

From talking to him and his past customers, my subjective impression is this: He has sold knives with egregious defects, and he doesn't make it right with his customers — rinse and repeat, for years and years. I don't know how he's kept his business. He's likable and seems like he really wants to be a great knifemaker, and his attitude can come across as very serious, but the same complaints continue to surface and he doesn't express that he's learned deeply from those incidents. I've heard him argue more than once that he has "improved" and should be given yet another chance, but he seems willing to burn any number of customers along that path of improvement. I actually feel bad for the guy, that he can't translate his experiences into change. But I also feel bad for the people he's ostensibly harmed.

 

You've been here since 2007 and don't know how the search function works? There's a thread dedicated to him in the Feedback section, it's highly illuminating.

 

Since I am not a lawyer but I am curious, Benchmade's Axis Lock is basically free to be used now. What happens if Will Moon gets his patent approved, would it need to be worded clearly differently from what the Axis Lock was? Or could he potentially start doing a "CS San Mai" Thing and try to come after people for using "his lock" for example with the Hogue Knives?

 

No, it would have to be a "new invention". Wording is not what matters. Whether or not it's a "new invention" would be revealed in the patent process.

 

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This type of answer never works. Every time someone answers a question with "just search for it", their answer becomes the #1 search match for the question. It's like a law of the internet.