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Junior Varsity
Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A
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<blockquote data-quote="Uli Behringer" data-source="post: 51469" data-attributes="member: 1604"><p>Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A</p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Dear Steve,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Once again thank you for your question. This is an often asked question and frankly has led to criticism over the years.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">The simple answer is that we have for many years considered our products to be followers of market trends and have designed them accordingly. Our product strategy has been to introduce products into categories where there is proven market demand and win based on our value proposition. That strategy has spawned many products whose visual appearance “mimics” that of the market leaders in many segments.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Also we do listen to our customers as this has been and will always be a huge part of our philosophy. In fact it has formed our company motto: "We hear you". We listen when customers tell us what they want and they do this often to a very detailed extent: "We'd like you to make an amp like this brand, but with these features and this look but can you make it at this price?" And we do listen to our customers.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Using ideas from other competitors is perfectly legal as long as you don't infringe on patents, trademarks, etc. and again what the law permits and what the public deem acceptable often differs greatly. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">How many guitars look like Fender Strats? How many cars or phones look alike? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Frankly every manufacturer becomes inspired by other competitors and this is how the world works. When we attend trade shows we often see other manufacturers "borrow" our designs, and where legal we have no issue with it. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">One may legitimately ask, “How close is too close?” when it comes to appearance. Everyone may have a different personal opinion on the topic but there are rules in law and trade practice that govern what is referred to as “trade dress”. A product’s form, shape and control placement can be protected by a Design Patent if the manufacturer believes that these are defining features that are unique. In that case other manufacturers cannot make a product that shares the same features. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">However if these are not unique or protected features, then everyone is free to use those ideas.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Our intent is to make great products that are affordable and intuitive to use. Sometimes that means that the industrial design will follow the well-established protocol for that type of product. Other times it means we must start with a clean sheet of paper and do things differently. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Examples of the latter are our Eurocom line of installed products, the iNuke power amps series, our new Q series mixers and of course our new X32 digital mixer. I have been largely involved in the design of those products and all have been designed to be unique to the extent that they are even covered by multiple design patent applications in my own name.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">As a fan of great industrial design, it has always been my dream to build products that set us apart from others. This dream is about to be realized with the opening of our new Design Center of Excellence in Manchester, UK later this summer. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Headed by award-winning designer Mark Harman Powell, who brings senior design expertise from BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and JBL, the team will be responsible for setting design direction for all our products. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'verdana'"><span style="font-size: 10px">Great design is no less important than features and reliability so we are investing heavily here.</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Uli Behringer, post: 51469, member: 1604"] Re: Uli Behringer of The Music Group Q&A [FONT=verdana][SIZE=2]Dear Steve,[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Once again thank you for your question. This is an often asked question and frankly has led to criticism over the years.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]The simple answer is that we have for many years considered our products to be followers of market trends and have designed them accordingly. Our product strategy has been to introduce products into categories where there is proven market demand and win based on our value proposition. That strategy has spawned many products whose visual appearance “mimics” that of the market leaders in many segments.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Also we do listen to our customers as this has been and will always be a huge part of our philosophy. In fact it has formed our company motto: "We hear you". We listen when customers tell us what they want and they do this often to a very detailed extent: "We'd like you to make an amp like this brand, but with these features and this look but can you make it at this price?" And we do listen to our customers.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Using ideas from other competitors is perfectly legal as long as you don't infringe on patents, trademarks, etc. and again what the law permits and what the public deem acceptable often differs greatly. How many guitars look like Fender Strats? How many cars or phones look alike? Frankly every manufacturer becomes inspired by other competitors and this is how the world works. When we attend trade shows we often see other manufacturers "borrow" our designs, and where legal we have no issue with it. [/SIZE] [SIZE=2]One may legitimately ask, “How close is too close?” when it comes to appearance. Everyone may have a different personal opinion on the topic but there are rules in law and trade practice that govern what is referred to as “trade dress”. A product’s form, shape and control placement can be protected by a Design Patent if the manufacturer believes that these are defining features that are unique. In that case other manufacturers cannot make a product that shares the same features. However if these are not unique or protected features, then everyone is free to use those ideas.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]Our intent is to make great products that are affordable and intuitive to use. Sometimes that means that the industrial design will follow the well-established protocol for that type of product. Other times it means we must start with a clean sheet of paper and do things differently. Examples of the latter are our Eurocom line of installed products, the iNuke power amps series, our new Q series mixers and of course our new X32 digital mixer. I have been largely involved in the design of those products and all have been designed to be unique to the extent that they are even covered by multiple design patent applications in my own name.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]As a fan of great industrial design, it has always been my dream to build products that set us apart from others. This dream is about to be realized with the opening of our new Design Center of Excellence in Manchester, UK later this summer. Headed by award-winning designer Mark Harman Powell, who brings senior design expertise from BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and JBL, the team will be responsible for setting design direction for all our products. Great design is no less important than features and reliability so we are investing heavily here.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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