Same thing I heard. I feel bad for anyone that has their stuff, that takes years of work and money, copied. Ringbrothers are a class act.

In my opinion Mike, you guys have earned the respect of the general public and that can only help your business. We know who to go to for the best service and products. The copy cats are just going to hurt themselves in the long run. We got your back. :cheers:

What he said ^^^

According to Fesler himself, he is banned forever!

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...d=197873614029

I'm surprised here. I was completely expecting Mr. Fesler to get on and make all sorts of claims about everything he's done for the Hot Rod business and do his usual "Screw You" approach when challenged in matters concerning integrity. I also heard he has been banned from Good Guys events for an "Incident" involving someone on his staff.

Trust me, I've been screwed by someone over a design "issue" and he knows who he is and the truth. Those that matter know the truth and that is all that matters now.

You RB boys are first class, something you just can't write a check for. Everyone here knows the truth.

dont worry im sure he will... he prob just has logged on yet.

I love this site!

I, for one, can completely understand the frustration you must be going through.

In my industry(clothing) the courts have ruled that any garment can be copied to a tee as long as the label doesn't denote the brand of the original. That means that I can copy any piece of clothing as long as I don't use their brand label.

I've had many graphic designs copied and used by other brands and, in the beginning, tried to sue them for copyright infringement but as long as they change some small element in the design they can claim that it is not an exact copy. It cost me a lot of money and stress only find out that I didn't have a leg to stand on and that my efforts were in vane.

As mentioned, you have to weigh whether the cost of litigating the issue is worth it in the end.

John

This thread has brought to light a very prevalent issue. Staci - you did the right thing by bringing this up (should have been done sooner but your job is also important :lol: ). You deserve a raise for bugging Mike & Jim about this matter.

We are going to commodotize this industry way too soon if this keeps happening to you and any other innovators (thank God there are still lots of them left).

Most of us know that you are the original designers and many people will support you if only for that reason. Others will stray to save $100 and unknowingly hurt the industry pioneers.

I purchased 3 Ring Brothers items and they are all first class craftsmanship with a keen eye for design. I would buy anything I needed from them again.

Tell the brothers to not be discouraged by people saying, "this is inevitable - it's not worth the investment." It is this indifference and and pursuit of instant gratification that will deteriorate this relatively new and awesome hobby of ours.

off the :soapbox: now :)

I started thinking about what you wrote Matt.
On my camaro I have the old style Ringbrothers Hinge. It has the shock pointing downward. Also my early version has an adjustable link that tie the 2 arms together (they stopped doing that) . These were the only Hinge at the time of purchase. attachment 1.

I did a search here for when Fesler announced his hinge summer of 2007 this thread.
https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=10434

Looking at the pictures you can see that his hinge is more then a 10% difference. The base is different, his shock placement is different, the arms are different.

The weird thing is that now Ringbrothers changed the camaro hinge to a base and shock position that look more like the Fesler ones. attachment 2.

One reason why I can think of is cost of manufacturing. The base being smaller and the one arm being smaller.

Like I said before I have both the RB and Fesler stuff on my car. What you shouldn't do is call out someone for taking an idea when its happened the other way around also.

Billet parts is a hard business to get into and not have competitors run with your ideas. Look at the Billet motorcycle parts. Most of it is now made in China. It hasn't reached the pro-touring parts yet but it will. Ever walk the Asia market section at SEMA?

You need to market and brand yourself as the First, and having a more superior Quality than the competitors. Also to be successful you have to be first to market with new products. That way your selling as much as you can before the competition can make a similar product.