KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

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KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

Postby Grounded » Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:33 pm

KRISS USA gathers its legal team and goes after companies who are violating and unlawfully distributing unlicensed airsoft reproductions of the KRISS Vector AEG. On February 5th KRISS USA publicly stated that they have filed suits to firms in other countries including Canada. In particular there are 4 companies that have violated such terms. What is unclear are the companies who are part of shady business practices. On the press release Tim Seargeant, KRISS USA's Marketing Manager stated “Intellectual property theft, and distribution, is not only dishonest, but it also does a major disservice to the community by confusing customers and exposing them to potential risks due to inferior or non-compliant products. We have, amongst other, fielded communications from individuals who have purchased replica KRISS® Vector AEGs under the guise that it was an officially licensed KRISS® Vector; only to discover that they had paid for an unlicensed reproduction that does not have the full customer support of KRISS USA. We are committed to the healthy growth of airsoft through honest business practices, which is why it is our duty to actively prevent the dissemination of illegitimate products." What remains clear is KRISS USA'S commitment to provide a superior product.
This is not the only case where unlicensed reproductions or just out right violations of intellectual properties has been sighted here in the United States. KRISS USA continues to support airsoft players and its product by providing a superior licensed product its consumers can be proud to have and use.

Along with its airsoft product KRISS USA is the leader in technology and was behind the design of the KRISS Vector. Currently The KRISS USA firearms is licensed thru KRYTAC. Founded in Southern California in 2013 they are a cutting-edge product development group out of Switzerland and is part of the firearms manufacturer, KRISS Group.




Many thanks to Tim Seargeant- Marketing Manager for KRISS USA for his response to my inquiry.

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Re: KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

Postby Steve » Tue Feb 06, 2018 6:57 pm

Okay. So, I fully support enforcing IP property rights. KRISS going after infringers? Good for them! Zip-strip the building owners to their equipment and light the place on fire.

But let's get real here: This has absolutely nothing to do with protecting their consumers. This has everything to do with protecting their bottom line. The original subject heading on this is, frankly, bullshit.
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Re: KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

Postby Grounded » Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:29 pm

While option on the title lies on me, this is what I gathered after coversating with the company representative from KRISS USA. The reason that I choose that wording was due in part that it was the Airsoft community that raised flags regarding warranty and service on counterfeit arms. Be that as it may, it can be seen as affecting their bottom dollar or under consumer protection one thing is for certain, that we as airsofters are being protected on purchasing authentic arms from reputable dealers and/or KRISS USA and KRYTAC. Copywriting is not just protecting a brand and a reputation but ensuring the end consumer is getting what they are paying for. Also thanks for the discussion on the issue.
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Re: KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

Postby Steve » Wed Feb 07, 2018 12:26 am

I understand that the company PR rep sold it to you as protecting the consumers. And you certainly have the option of buying that statement as truth.

From the outset, I wholeheartedly support the rights of IP owners. I'm most of the way through a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I have a vested interest in protecting IP rights, since I (hopefully) will end up being able to sell things I have designed in a manner that benefits me. I don't blame KRISS, in fact I totally support them in fighting IP infringement. IP rights are what, fundamentally, support innovation. When I design a Cool Thing(tm), there are research costs associated with it. When I manufacture it, I am paying for tools, tooling, materials, labor, all sorts of costs. When some jackal reverse-engineers it, they don't have to recover those research costs. They can cut costs with substandard materials, hire cheaper labor. The out-the-door cost of a knockoff product can be a ton less than it costs me to produce a first-rate original. And every time some useless douchebag kid buys a knockoff eotech, for example, they are rewarding the jackals at the expense of the innovators. If it happens enough, the original producers don't recoup their design costs, and they go under.

There are arguments against this view. With the Eotechs, for example, it is highly unlikely that a 15-year old is going to drop twice what they paid for their AEG on a real holographic sight. They have an effectively fixed budget that realistically means even if the knockoff product was not available for sale, they would never buy the real product. Therefore, L3 communications doesn't suffer any harm from the existence of the knockoff. That, however, is bullshit.

The value of a product is the point where the price the producer is willing to sell an item for matches the price that consumers are willing to purchase the product for. If there are a bunch of knockoff products available for a fifth of the price of an original, it devalues the original. And when a knockoff product is visually identical to an original, even if someone knows that it's a knockoff, flaws from the knockoff carry over in the mind of the customer to the original. For example, the knockoff Eotechs I have handled have been red dots, not holographic sights. With a red dot, you center the reticle in the window, zero it, and then when you shoot it, you center the reticle in the window. With a holosight, you center the reticle in the window, zero it, and when you shoot it you put the dot on the target regardless of where the reticle is in the window. There are reasons why L3 Communications can charge $500+ for an Eotech. If your experience has been with a red dot pretending to be a holosight, and you don't know any better, then the Eotechs have been artificially devalued.

KRISS in apparently in the position of having functionally equivalent, if lower quality, knockoff products in the same market space as their own. When a knockoff product is purchased, they can realistically show that the infringer caused monetary damages. When a knockoff shits the bed, they can make a case that it devalues their brand image. Shutting down infringers clearly benefits KRISS. What I'm not seeing is a way that they can make a case that their actions are undertaken in order to benefit their customers. What I'm also not seeing is how the OP could evaluate the available data and come to the conclusion that IP enforcement on the part of KRISS benefits the customers.

Now, there are cases where this happens, and can be demonstrably proven. Years ago, LASD bought a bunch of MP-5s. got a good deal on them. They started breaking. They shipped them back to HK, who repaired them and returned them to LASD. These same MP-5s broke again. HK fixed them, sent them back. On their third go-around, HK dug into them a bit deeper. Turns out they were knockoffs produced in some shit village in Pakistan.

HK could make a case that shutting those folks down is in the interest of their customers. The customers legitimately believed that they were purchasing HK products and were willing to spend the money that it costs to buy HK products. The products failed in a manner that made HK look bad in the eyes of their customers, devaluing the brand image. The products were unsafe.

If the folks at KRISS can demonstrate that the infringers are producing unfit products and convincing buyers that the products were produced by, and warranteed by, KRISS, I could see a case being made for undertaking IP enforcement to protect their customers. Unless and until this is demonstrated, I must respectfully suggest that the OP is either a company shill or lacks basic critical thinking skills. Again, the title is aggressively misleading.
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Re: KRISS USA PROTECTS ITS CONSUMERS

Postby Norseman » Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:36 am

How is unlicensed HK sub machine guns built in Pakistan and sold as bona fide HK products? Any different than unlicensed KRISS products being built in Canada and shipped to the US as bona fide KRISS products?

Damn straight they are protecting their bottom line. Good for them. But they are ALSO protecting their consumers.....

Because if joe schmuck is shelling out bucks for what he thinks is a KRISS product only to find out after it breaks it was some cheap knockoff? With no warranty or recourse of action? Joe Schmuck is going to be pissed at KRISS right? How could they let this happen?

Most consumers anymore are idiots. Caveat Emptor. If the deal is too good to be true? It probably is....
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