Cloned Slipperential?

[George16]

I just saw this response from HPI concerning the Baja clone from KM.

Thank you for contacting HPI Racing and Hot Bodies Customer Service. Any and all of our logos, products, and parts are registered and trademarked and can only be used by an HPI company or affiliate. That being said, there are many counterfeit items out there such as the KM Baja imitation. This company and it’s items are not affiliated or endorsed by HPI in any way and are in violation of our trademark. However, because many of these items are actually made overseas and then imported into the US, there is nothing we are able to do to stop the sale of these items from such companies despite their illegality. None of the parts used are HPI parts and as such, the quality of these items is inferior to actual HPI product. Persons that purchase such items are not covered by HPI’s product warranty and will be disappointed by the quality of their purchase. We appreciate your acknowledgement of this matter for bringing it to our attention. Let us know if you have further questions or concerns.

It's amazing how our system can't protect legit companies concerning cloned products.

[JERRY2KONE]

And it is only going to get worse as time goes by. Our Gov has pretty much opened the shipping trades to the point that there is little or no regulation setup to prevent any outside Country from shipping in counterfiet items, which in turn will force legit companies out of business. Lower quality or not people in large numbers will always go for the cheapest prices due to hard economic times. My wife and I looked around the house one night curious as to how much of our household stuff was made outside of the USA. Low and behold about 80% of our personal property is foreign made. In fact I bet most of us have the same situation if you look closely. Aside from that you will be hard pressed to even find alot of the stuff we use on a daily basis that is even made in America any more.

[lutach]

Something can be done about this. All one needs is a few good (Really bad in this case) guys in China to handle the situation.

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by George16

...It's amazing how our system can't protect legit companies concerning cloned products.

You'd think that at least the legal system would be able to penalize the resale of items in the US. Yeah, maybe we can't do anything about the actual overseas counterfeit production, but we should be able to discourage local vendors from selling them via penalties.

BTW: HPI made a spelling error. "...The company and it's items...". Should be "its".