What is Tapcomb?

Just got a FB post on tapcomb. What the heck?

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Thanks Fusion, just googled it, apparently it’s a world first and yet looks familiar…
@Faroe, are you guys aware of this?

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I don’t know what it is? Should I?

I’m guessing you will very shortly.
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/another-company-trying-to-steal-flowhives-design/10713

:+1:

I just did a search and found what you were talking about, thanks for that.
I have notified the team.
It’s never ending the blatant stealing of images, terminology, patented invention :open_mouth:

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I thought some might be interested in this…

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It’s available for purchase: Did they get a patent?

Hi Ed,

Flow is still the ONLY patented tapable honey technology.

All other products are counterfeits, and we are looking into these with our legal team.
As you know, Flow has researched, tested and continued to develope our technology over 15 years now.

We use sustainable and ethically sourced materials:
https://www.honeyflow.com/about/sustainability/p/283

All our plastics are certified food safe by intependant studies:
https://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/all/are-the-flow-frames-made-from-bpa-free-plastic/p/57

Flow also supports community and business for positive purpose:
https://www.honeyflow.com/about/about-flow/business-for-positive-purpose/p/359

Flow has created multiple sources of online beginner beekeeping content, including beginner beekeeping videos, this Community Forum you are on now, as well as club support around the world.
We now have a total of 80 engaged Beekeeping clubs on our public directory map (this means we have provided Flow support, products, and information to the Bee Clubs so they can assist any new members that have a Flow Hive).
https://www.honeyflow.com/resources/community-bee-clubs/beekeeping-club-map-directory/p/310

Interested clubs can register here:
https://www.honeyflow.com/resources/community-bee-clubs/beekeeping-club-support/p/226

Flow has a worldwide guarantee and customer support available via chat, email and telephone.

What else… the inventors are true blue Aussies :australia: who have done their best, worked over a decade before the product was ready for market and started this company from scratch before anyone knew this idea was possible or even feasible :sunrise: :weight_lifting_man: :tada: :ocean:

I think that about sums it up :wink:

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Thanks Faroe; I saw that they are now for sale on their Facebook page and website so I was curious:

surprise, surprise: they won’t ship to Australia… wonder why? Concerned about being sued?

I really am surprised they are selling this now- it’s clear intellectual property theft. I hope Flow is able to successfully sue them in the USA

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They also keep popping up on my facebook page and they even invited me to like their page :rage: I hope they get shut down. All they did was “modify” a few things and say they are the first,

@Faroe this was their response when i told them they just copied the Flow Frames.

It may look similar due to standard Langstroth dimensions we needed to work within, but we’re actually a brand new patented hive system. Although we are flow fans, we’ve been developing Tapcomb over the last few years to be as friendly to bees as possible. With our system it’s the bees themselves that complete around 70% of Tapcomb frames with beeswax. Our frame internal processes are substantially different and for the first time ever, the wax caps are not broken to access the honey. On top of this we use a metal top tube and key system which is very different to flow. Finally, our system is the first mass produced hive using wood composite which provides practical benefits to beekeepers without needing to chop down any trees.

Another interesting fact that not many people are aware of is that tappable hive was first invented and patented by Juan Garriga back in 1940! Both Flow and ourselves are improvements upon his work:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2223561

They ARE cheeky.

I recently purchased a Chinese made sugarcane juicer. Would you believe that there are cheaper Chinese imitations of the one that I bought.

this is one of their claims that I find most absurd- as I know from direct experience that the original Flow frames do not break the wax cappings! If CrapComb thinks this non-difference is going to help them in intellectual property litigation they are deluded!

also their claim that they were working on this idea before they heard of the Flow Frame- and the suggestion that the similarity of the two products is some kind of coincidence is completely laughable!
Lastly wood composite hives… I mean really? They look like crap and will probably perform like crap. There is a reason no major hive manufacturer uses composite wood with all that glue, etc.

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Thank you, this is the response we received before when another customer inquired about it.

Flow Frames are still the only patented tappable honey extraction method in the world. They are still yet to provide their patent information if it exists.

They claim to have a patent but they never prove it.

all patents are published and in the public domain. It may be harder to search for pending patents- but as far as I understand they should also be publicly available. If you search the US patents databases and there is no TapComb patent- then that means there is no TapComb patent. If TapComb has a patent they should be more than happy to publish the details.

Personally I cannot see how any such patent could ever be approved- given that it is clearly not a novel idea. It is very clear that TapComb has closely copied the registered flow patent, despite whatever cosmetic changes they have made in an attempt to get around the patent law. In Australia such dishonest conduct falls foul of section 52 of the Trade Practices Act.

Unfortunately US courts have a history of being favorable to US applicants against international claimants. The trade mark saga of the name UGG BOOT is an example of this. However even a very biased judge would have a hard time supporting TapCombs fraudulent claims: what they are doing is a textbook example of patent infringement.

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