stealing shapes

[bluesnowcone]

i was talking to the owner of my local shop, he longboards and i was talking to him about my bic, and when he had a look at it, he said that it was one of the best all around shapes ever made, he aslo told me about this southpoint hes got in, and aparently it is the shape of the best high performance board ever made in his opinion.

is it legal for bic and southpoint to copy the shape of other boards??

[WooD]

Yes

[bluesnowcone]

quick and straight to the point lol

[dougirwin13]

Well it's unethical. And illegal if you can prove it.

But you gotta prove it.

And most shapes (planshap, rail profiles and contours) are so well know and used that it's very difficult to prove.

-doug

[WooD]

Anyone ever see a surfboard with a patented logo on it? I seriously doubt it.

Around here you can take any board to a local shaper, and they'll do there best to duplicate it.

[kitesurfer]

It's impossible to exactly copy a board by hand. There will always be something that is very slightly different about it. Also it's a compliment to the original shaper if his board is that good somebody wants to copy it!
KS