Rosco, I see where you're coming from, and I can agree with your logic entirely. I have complimented Ron Graham in the past on the quality of his work, and I sincerely meant what I said. Nothing can be done about someone copying another's design, as witness to Don Hume copying my CQC/S holster. They actually had that holster advertised within six months of the Dave Spaulding article. Given the advertising lead time, they must have gone to work on this as soon as it came out. They even call the holster "The Copy ll". A compliment to me? I guess so, but that doesn't help to pay the bills. That holster took almost 8 months of testing and tweaking to get the design to work with all the pistols it was intended to carry.
Same thing with the GWH design that Dane has been working on, and perfecting for about 15 years. It carries a lot of the Nelson/Sparks influence, but is his own rendition in that the belt loop being fixed, and stitched, really does make a difference. When Dane approached me to make this holster, I further 'tweaked' it, and added some of my personal thoughts. I didn't want to outright copy something that Matt DelFatti was making, out of respect for Matt, even though it was Dane's design. The one piece sight track in the shape of a large 'U' keeps the muzzle from collapsing when there is no gun in the holster, even if one falls on the holster when empty. I agree that there aren't many ways to re-invent the wheel, but if I come up with what I think in my little mind is something revolutionary, I will then take the time to research it to find out if it's being made by someone else who may have been a little brighter than me, and thought of it first. Tony Kanaley and I have talked at length about this same thing, and when he was prototyping his Watch Six series of holsters, he sent them to me, beause he knew I had made that basic design in the 80's. He didn't have to do that, but it sure meant a lot to me that he has that much respect for a fellow leather butcher! I once had a call from Gene DeSantis advising me that a Speedloader pouch I was making was infringing on his, which was patented. I hadn't even seen his, but when I did, I pulled the design immediately. He offered to license the design to me for a very fair and nominal fee, but I didn't want to be considered a pirate in the business, so I discontinued the design. I felt that it was his genius that got the patent, and he deserved to reap the rewards. To this day, I still steer people to him that ask for a speedloader pouch. I would have pulled the design even if he didn't have a patent, because mine was close enough to look like a copy, and my pride wouldn't allow that.
Paris Theodore held about 15 patents, and was ripped off by everyone in the business. He never got a dime from anyone except me, and I still wound up being sued by the guy who bought his patents, even after I had paid a substantial amount of money to Theodore for what I 'thought' was a license. That was an expensive lesson for me, and was cheaper to settle the case rather than litigate a patent suit. Information I have received recently is that the new owner of the Seventrees holster patents screwed Paris Theodore in the end..
Maybe I shoudld write a book! :grin: Didn't mean for this to be such a long story..
Lou
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Alessi Holsters, Inc.
You'll never know it's there, until you need it..
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Louis F. Alessi on 2001-08-07 09:54 ]</font>