Horizon was bought? When and by whom?
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HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies
- Thread starter JatoTheRipper
- Start date
skinnyj
Pebble Pounder
They got bought by an investment group a few years ago:
"On December 9, 2013, Horizon announced that the company was being bought by a group of investors led by Horizon's CEO, Joe Ambrose. The group includes Minneapolis-based Mill City Capital L.P. and Champaign-based Armory Capital LLC founded by Jacob Ambrose."
"On December 9, 2013, Horizon announced that the company was being bought by a group of investors led by Horizon's CEO, Joe Ambrose. The group includes Minneapolis-based Mill City Capital L.P. and Champaign-based Armory Capital LLC founded by Jacob Ambrose."
Ditchrat
RCC Addict
Oh look another one. These guys need better lawyers to avoid this stuff. Looks like these guys sue everybody sharks are smelling blood.
Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC v. Hobbico, Inc.
Plaintiff: Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC
Defendant: Hobbico, Inc.
Case Number: 1:2017cv08390
Filed: November 20, 2017
Court: Illinois Northern District Court
Office: Chicago Office
County: Cook
Presiding Judge: Robert W. Gettleman
Nature of Suit: Patent
Cause of Action: 35:271 Patent Infringement
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC v. Hobbico, Inc.
Plaintiff: Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC
Defendant: Hobbico, Inc.
Case Number: 1:2017cv08390
Filed: November 20, 2017
Court: Illinois Northern District Court
Office: Chicago Office
County: Cook
Presiding Judge: Robert W. Gettleman
Nature of Suit: Patent
Cause of Action: 35:271 Patent Infringement
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
Last edited:
soze
I wanna be Dave
Maybe the bad news BSRC was hinting about isn't about Hobbico, but the start of an all-out patent war in the industry.
If this is what's going to be happening... I wonder if Hobbico is the first, and there are others soon to be hit next.
I couldn't find any details stating what this lawsuit about. Did you see any? I couldn't find much about Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC either. The name and amount of lawsuits involving their name leads me to believe they're a patent troll.
Companies should know better than to infringe on patents. Sometimes the lines are not black and white, but often companies are skirting too close to that grey line and they get burnt.
I think thats exactly what they are, they sued Pinterest :roll:
What I find Ironic about the whole Traxxas lawsuit is its coming from a company who copied Associated and others over 20 years ago. Traxxas fans can claim BS on that but anyone born prior to the 1990 era Im sure can tell you the similarities where too common.
skinnyj
Pebble Pounder
If you Google "Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC" they are suing everyone. After reading the list of suits, I think a sheriff might be coming to serve me with papers on their behalf.
skinnyj
Pebble Pounder
I think the suit was more about Nero being a better truck than the aging 'Maxx platform, so instead of responding, Traxxas sued for petty reasons. If you nose around, you can read about how highly dysfunctional the current Traxxas leadership is. I don't know how they stay afloat selling 4 dozen variations of the Slash.
Marketing ......
But then again it didnt help HPI, you can only sell so many drift cars with different bodies before it gets old. :lmao:
What similarities to Associated are you talking about?
Patent lawsuits aren't always petty. People are quick to blame Traxxas in this case, but Arrma only has themselves to blame. Why did they infringe on a patent? Had they not done this there wouldn't be any lawsuit.
soze
I wanna be Dave
While this is a valid point and Arrma really should have researched a bit to protect themselves... the other side of the coin is whether some of these patents should be valid (not saying this one is or isn't the case, just in general). This issue seems to be widespread across multiple industries (software being one hit hard with these types of lawsuits). Sometimes patents being offered are way too general and broad and should not have been granted in the first place.
Some create patents that are broad in hopes of getting them approved without any intention of ever seriously utilizing it in hopes of getting it approved so that they may license or file a lawsuit against any others that may "infringe" upon it.
Oh for sure! I think sometimes it simply comes down to who has the better lawyer in court which is often the case in any kind of court.
Traxxas Bullet - White plastic and gold anodizing. Late 80's Associated was the only 'race' buggy stateside and plastered all over RC magazines. Pure marketing tactic and design similarity that Im sure if AE wanted to they could have won over. Difference though, traxxas was targeting a different demographic then what AE was. No threat no bother.
1991/2 Associated releases the Stealth transmission
1993 Traxxas releases the TRX3
I could even put the SRT into a lower form of copying Losi back then but I think '94/95 year was about when we started seeing them bringing their own ideas to the hobby.
I must have been out of the RC when the Bullet came out. I was more into Tamiyas back then though.
You can't really sue over a color scheme, or anything for that matter, unless you patent to protect it.
I think back in the early days of RC the world was more innocent and people weren't patenting everything especially in a small, niche market like RC. Today it's all about the dollar and only the dollar so patents are put on everything.
Im betting if AE wanted to back then they would have pushed it and someone would have trademarked things. Now Traxxas and being targeted in their own market area, speed and size. Problem is some ones doing it a little cheaper.
Im curious what they sued HPI over though. I heard they sued them for something sometime back but couldnt find anything.
soze
I wanna be Dave
Waterproof receiver box.
It's not who invents something first. It's who copyrights, trademarks or patents it first.
More fuel to add to this fire. Everybody except Tower seems to have gotten some HPI Venture FJ Cruisers.
That was a different era back then, now everything is litigious.
There is certainly more going on with Tower and company other than the Traxxas suit, almost nothing is in stock. I am looking for a 12.3" body for my TRX4, only one out of a bunched I looked at from Axial and Proline show as being in stock.
Ditchrat
RCC Addict
That isnt exactly true. If you can prove prior use then patents, copyrights and trademarks do not apply to you. They do apply to everyone else if a second party get the legal protection.
That's true too.