Imitation/Replica Montblancs

[bushido]

Am I missing something here? I am not aware of any MB pens that resemble any of the pens shown. They aren't replicas, they are just plain cheap pens that would only show up the owner of one of these pens as a wannabe cheapskate.

 

Besides it is illegal to sell such pens as MB's or Rolex's even if you say up front that they aren't real, it is still breaking laws to sell them.

 

 

edited to add "of questionable character" to wannabe cheapskate.

 

for this particular pen in question, it has the clip of the imperial dragon, an ip owned by mb. so even if it doesn't have the name, it is still a knock off and is against the law.

Edited March 20, 2010 by bushido

[bushido]

Am I missing something here? I am not aware of any MB pens that resemble any of the pens shown. They aren't replicas, they are just plain cheap pens that would only show up the owner of one of these pens as a wannabe cheapskate.

 

Besides it is illegal to sell such pens as MB's or Rolex's even if you say up front that they aren't real, it is still breaking laws to sell them.

 

Sadly nobody's going to get prosecuted because host countries in Asia regularly allow local companies to steal products, patents, identities, etc. from other countries (the US and Europe is specifically what I'm talking about), and simply refuse to do anything about it. The US government claims bureaucracy, inertia, nationalism, ad nauseum, but of course something might be done for a (HUGE) fee and legal bills in the millions. Usually a foreign company will approach a domestic one and ask for a license, and if the price is too high, they will just say sorry we're going to do it anyway thanks for your time. I have seen this first hand with a popular coffee chain here in Seattle copied in minute detail (except the quality of the product of course) by a Japanese company and we had zero recourse.

 

a large corporation will seek legal action and spend millions because that prevents others from doing the same. however if the company is relatively small then there are other ways to make it hard on the thieves. i'd dedicate one employee for 8 hrs a day calling on the retailers that buy the product to let them know they are infringing on your product. if they seem unmoved then you threaten to sue them, the retailer. the point is to make it too risky for them to bother and so they will stop retailing the product.

[karmakoda]

Shows what a name can do.

I know people with fake Louis Vuitton and Rolex's and I always wondered why (why do I know them?)?

That would be like introducing myself as a Nuclear Physicist, which I am not. I could not enjoy the temporary prestige and cheap joke that I had fooled everyone, because at the end of the day you go home with your lie.

I don't like frauds of any kind.

And these have to be the ugliest fake Montblancs I've ever seen.

Edited March 20, 2010 by karmakoda

[mahkie]

I know people with fake Louis Vuitton and Rolex's and I always wondered why (why do I know them?)?

 

People buying fake Louis Vuitton products are subsidizing LV marketing and research efforts. LV carefully monitors the sale price of fake LV goods to measure brand strength. When the price of fakes decrease, sales will often decrease in a matter of months afterwards. Thus, the price of fakes is an "early warning" beacon of brand strength that LVMH pays careful attention to.

[bushido]

I know people with fake Louis Vuitton and Rolex's and I always wondered why (why do I know them?)?

 

People buying fake Louis Vuitton products are subsidizing LV marketing and research efforts. LV carefully monitors the sale price of fake LV goods to measure brand strength. When the price of fakes decrease, sales will often decrease in a matter of months afterwards. Thus, the price of fakes is an "early warning" beacon of brand strength that LVMH pays careful attention to.

 

interesting, thanks. i suppose the people who buy knock offs would never be a customer of LV anyway and at least LV can use them in some way.

[SimonJamesLucas]

Inadequate goods for inadequate people.

[DanDeM]

Interesting.

This link showed up in my in-box a few days ago:

 

http://www.superdiscountwatchs.com/secure.php?cmd=brand&brand_id=55&gender=

 

...and the only resemblance to an MB that I could see, was the guano on the cap.

 

For me, it's just too easy to get this kind of junk. I can drive to Tia Juana in an hour or so, pick it up by the arm load, drink a Margarita that tastes like it was made with Sterno and get kidnapped by a drug dealer. Why wait for the mail??

 

Dreck!

[tmcneil82]

I wasn't expecting so much feedback, but that is awesome. I always see the fake sunglasses, watches, etc at flea markets and what not and always wondered who bought this stuff? I do wish there was a more affordable type of MB pen, but I guess that would be a lot like wishing there was a cheaper Ferrari, Rolls Royce, etc. I guess you get what you pay for. Just to let you know, I would have to be completely out of ideas for other pens to buy before I even dared try this, and that list is hundreds of pens long, with more being added daily.

I was just curious if anyone had any experience with them.

[Kabe]

One of them looks like a fake Duke pen.

 

Anyway, quite frankly, MB quality is nothing to wirte home about as it is, so the fakes could very well melt in your hand.

[tmcneil82]

One of them looks like a fake Duke pen.

 

Anyway, quite frankly, MB quality is nothing to wirte home about as it is, so the fakes could very well melt in your hand.

 

Are the reals really that bad? It has always been my grail pen. Esp the Columbus and hemingway pens. I've never had the opportunity to try out any MB pen

[Blade Runner]

One of them looks like a fake Duke pen.

 

Anyway, quite frankly, MB quality is nothing to wirte home about as it is, so the fakes could very well melt in your hand.

 

Are the reals really that bad? It has always been my grail pen. Esp the Columbus and hemingway pens. I've never had the opportunity to try out any MB pen

I've tried a wide range of brands, and I've found MB to be among the better brands in terms of QC, fit and finish, and durability, along with Aurora, Pilot, and Sailor. I'm talking about new pens, not pre-owned/used/abused pens.

[jar]

One of them looks like a fake Duke pen.

 

Anyway, quite frankly, MB quality is nothing to wirte home about as it is, so the fakes could very well melt in your hand.

 

Are the reals really that bad? It has always been my grail pen. Esp the Columbus and hemingway pens. I've never had the opportunity to try out any MB pen

 

No, they are not that bad at all. I don't think they issued a Columbus edition, but I could definitely be wrong there.

 

I would certainly rate both modern and vintage MB pens right up there with the best of Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman, OMAS, Aurora, ST Dupont, Yard-o-Led, Conway Stewart, Pelikan, Dunhill, Namaki, Nakaya, Cartier, Wahl, Conklin and others. I don't have that many MBs, maybe a couple dozen, but they all are what I would consider exceptional pens.

[Lord Nincompoop]

Apparently they don't even deliver. They just take the money off you and run away. Check the WOT.

[Blade Runner]

In Guatemala City and Marrakesh I saw obviously fake MB pens prominently displayed in store front windows. Clearly laws are not enforced with equal measure.

[mollzo]

Could not agree more with the others on this one - for 10$ you can get a parker fountain pen - why in the name of the lord would you buy something that first of all are of poor quality and secondly, it does not get you ANY points as far as "flash-value" goes...

 

Spend your money wisely; get the real deal!

 

- Morten

[TheHOINK]

@ Fuddlestack (Not with a bargepole. Don't care how good they are, they have no right to use the name. )

 

They do not have the right to use the logo.

BUT they HAVE the right to use the Name. Like it, or not.

Mont Blanc is a mountain, and it's name can not be copyrighted, no matter if it is written corrctly or in one word.

 

Like Laguiole Knives. Since it is a towns name, every one can produce Laguiole, from traditional Manufacturer G. Arbalete David in 12C27 steel to the cheapest Copies outta aluminium.

Everyone can use the Bee, the ornaments, the knives famus shape, the Name... jut not the manufacturers Name and Logo.

That's all.

 

It is very easy to avoid copyright processes with company names like this...

 

Cordialement

TheHOINK

[CS388]

Apparently they don't even deliver. They just take the money off you and run away. Check the WOT.

 

 

Both shocking and hardly surprising. Dreadful site.

 

As has already been said, tip of the iceberg. There are far more dangerous fakes.

 

Fake bomb detectors being sold to foreign governments - how many lives lost needlessly there?

 

Haiti earthquake scam sites which took our money and filled their own pockets to fund ... who knows.

 

Point is: it's part of a long chain. Boycott.

[PigRatAndGoat]

@ Fuddlestack (Not with a bargepole. Don't care how good they are, they have no right to use the name. )

 

They do not have the right to use the logo.

BUT they HAVE the right to use the Name. Like it, or not.

Mont Blanc is a mountain, and it's name can not be copyrighted, no matter if it is written corrctly or in one word.

 

Like Laguiole Knives. Since it is a towns name, every one can produce Laguiole, from traditional Manufacturer G. Arbalete David in 12C27 steel to the cheapest Copies outta aluminium.

Everyone can use the Bee, the ornaments, the knives famus shape, the Name... jut not the manufacturers Name and Logo.

That's all.

 

It is very easy to avoid copyright processes with company names like this...

 

Cordialement

TheHOINK

 

True. Mont Blanc is a mountain, and Montblanc is a fine writing instrument company. They most certainly do not have the right to use "Montblanc" in any commercial capacity.

 

PRAG

 

EDIT: Hmmm, just caught the two words vs one word thing. I'm personally not too sure on that one now... :hmm1:

Edited March 20, 2010 by PigRatAndGoat

[fabiorr]

I would truly fear to send my credit card info to a company that sells fakes.

[TheHOINK]

It is quite simple...

 

Each common word, region, town, or natural region can not be copyrighted in use.

So, if someone makes up a company called "Rocky Montain", it does not matter if he uses one word or two, it can be copied.

Just not it's logo, which was developed for the company.

 

If anybody makes up company names like "Schwarzwald", or "Ocean", "Sahara", "Lolipop", "Ayers (Rock)", "Icicle" or "Marmalade"... it doe not matter. These are natural Objects, environments or regions... even towns and names like maybe "Wolfgang", or "Jack Daniels", they can not be copyrighted.

Nobody would be allowed to use the name "Jack Daniels", per example, with the same font type and logo, but anybody, a gardener, a pool-Service, an ice-cream vendor whos name might be "JAck Daniel" can name it's shop "Jack Daniels", but probably won't do so because of the name mixup-possibility.

 

There are several international and natoinal laws in a dozens of countries who state that "Common goods, natural specifis, towns and name" can not be copyrighted.

And since pretty much every asian country does not have any copyright laws, does make the problems a lot worse.

And the same time better.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

To be honest, where would we be with american and european bureaucracy and sallaries, wages, when the asians would not have taken a dozens... a hundreds of inventions, like the VCR from France, the (pretty much wrong word, I do not know the proper term) "Heart-pump" from germany, or the german inventions of paper-tissue and Scotch-tape (originally "Tesa"), cell-phones etc... and most countries are to blame themselves, most companies...

We KNOW that they do not have a copyright law.

That's why a lot of companies went there, because since you do not have to pay higher wages and no bureaucracy fees, a lot of poducts can be developed, assembled and produced faster. And cheaper, which is the more important to most, I will bet.

 

And when a company says "Let's get our single parts developed, built, assembled there, because it is less bureaucracy, faster, cheaper..." it is THEIR Problem.

A lot of big companies even ALLOW and ALLOWED Asian companies to copy their products.

"Cool, you are doing our product for a cheap price. So, you CAN produce it for YOUR market a little cheaper, but do not sell it in our proprietary market".

 

That was a good idea in the 50s to 80s. The globalization be thanked.

It ended during the late 80s, the good idea, when a lot of boarders vanished with the end of the cold war and the "opening" of the world market for countries who had been excluded or separated earlier.

Therefore, when a japanese, chinese, indian, thai....person wanted a Mercedes, he COULD afford it, due to cheap copies, with original parts. Just a stupid example. I do not know if Mercedes cars ever where produced in asian countires, or their parts, JUST AN EXAMPLE.

But to continue the example, Mercedes had it's share from it.

They got cheaper cars produced for themselves. And they sold their brands in countries, too, where the wages and money have not been that strong and high. So the brands name spread. Which was always good. But since the globalization was not as developed as today, world wide piracy was na as easy as today.

 

And... just a side note...

 

Not every user here, and certainly not every user in this thread, is commiting hypocrisy....

Some do, conscious of it or not. And before flaming me...

Just as an example... a lot of people here are buying and using Hero-Pens... which are, in the same way as these Montblancs, simple "ripp-offs" from Parker Pens, produced in an old Parker-factory, even with Parker molds and shapes for producing the plastic.

And Parker sold all these, made a profit, and left. They did not destroy it, do not fine it, no lawyers take care of it... even a "bad" copy of a Parker, as most companys politics do hope, is a reference to the original and might bring people to consider the original afterwards.

You gotta admitt, some people here are even speaking about intermixing, getting a cheaper Hero-body for their old parker nibs, etc, or if a hero can be brought into a Kullock-pen body etc...

 

It makes me sick to read how many people in dozens of forums and boards complain about their product being pirated, and they would never do this, but buy ripped of products all day and night withour knowing it, or just because it is cheaper.

When every person yelling "I would NEVER EVER" would do never ever..., why are millions of "Gucci" bags, "Versace"s, Rolex, Montblancs, Hugo Bosses, Manolo Blahniks etc. sold each year, and why are people buying ... for example... Barbies from Mattel, an american company, producing in asia, where no copyrights save their name? Why are people buying MP3 Players from America, when the technology was developed in Germany (Erlangen)? Because the wages in germany are too high, the copyright laws in america too strict etc...

But as long as no one fines something, you can do, whatever you want.

 

Product piracy is as old, as the first guy who came up with a spear from a small tree was copied by a second apeman who copied this.

And quite often a copy does not actually have to be worse than the brands quality.

 

Especially in medicines, drugs (for therapy-use, you get via receipts), digital cameras... FOOD, a lo of Ripp-offs are cheaper and better.

An example?

In germany, we have a brand named "Chio", who produce Potatoe chips.

A bag of 175g costs 2,45 Euros. But "Chio", who belong to Nestlé, produce TV-Commercials, do print-advertising, product-placement, a lot of Corpotare Identity...

The SAME FACTORY from the SAME Producer produces "Ja" Potatoe Chips.

"Ja" is a so called "no-Name" brand, which is very cheap. They do not do commercials, the packages for chips, peanuts, chocolate, toilet paper, milk, butter.... over 400 products, is mostly white and simple in design. And 200g sel for 49 cents.

The Potatoe-chips are EXACTLY the same. Just cheaper in price, and...

Why? Because they do not have to do a marketing for it. But the cheaper ones make 80% of the budget in the end. Because they sell faster to a wider audience.

 

 

This is my field, the field I have learned. Copyright laws, marketing strategies, and product-copies, replicas, piracy... clal it whatever you want.

And it is a very big and difficult field.

Do not judge too ast as long as you do not know WHAT You are actually buying and using...

And do not judge pens for being ripped of, when every paper tissue produced is a rip-off from the german inventr of "Tempo" paper hankerchiefs from the last century, who missed in fining and bringing to court each pirat. Everyone uses and supports piracy, more or less conscious, be not so sure of yourselves.

 

 

Hope I was able to make some people read this fully and maybe think a little more about life itself.

I do not know better then all of you, my life is not better and I am not a more clever person who wants to explain the wolrd to you. I just can not stand hypocrisy.

 

 

Codialement

TheHOINK

Edited March 21, 2010 by TheHOINK