Recently read a story in the Sydney, Australia newspaper regarding these copies.
That is the guy who was on the forum promoting his buy from ali baba and was going to test the plastic, etc.
He was a little rude to other members on the forum, so is on longer on the forum, but now posting on other public platforms.
ā¦
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Really? A little?? I am still traumatized that he called me an Aussie! 
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Hahaha yes I know. When he called you an Aussie, that was the final straw and I removed him straight away. 
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if the wax capping is not broken then how do the bees know its actually an empty cell not a capped full cell of honey???
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The stupidity is- despite CrapCombs bs claims to be āthe firstā the wax capping is NOT broken when you use genuine Flow frames. The bees must be able to sense that the cell below is empty and they do so instantly. They set about uncapping the cells immediately even as they are being robbed. By the next day they have cleaned up the entire frame ready to be filled again.
Bees communicate in the hive through vibrations and must be very sensitive to changes in the comb underfootā¦ when they waggle dance the other bees donāt watch- itās dark inside- rather they sense it through vibrations.
This pic is of a frame I robbed 8 days ago. The bees uncapped and fixed all the cells - you can see they missed a few:
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oh okā¦
so he gave you a promotion then?
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by the wayā¦
Iām not sure how anyone could act so high and mighty about ātheirā own patents when they are selling a langstroth design bee box along with their own frame products ā¦
right???
and lets say someone designs and builds a push bikeā¦ isnāt anyone else in the entire universe allowed to build a bicycle?
a car?
a dish cloth?
a tool box>??
Do you understand what privileges a patent affords you?
millions of things have a Patent but people still go ahead and build their own productā¦
Langstroth has a Patent (US9300) but anyone in the world can build one of those and they doā¦ and no one bats an eyelidā¦
like millions of other products that get copied ā¦
apparently you donāt understand.
hereās what I understandā¦
if I find a similar product that will do the same thing then Iāll buy itā¦
simplesā¦ 
I canāt afford to buy a Mercedes ā¦ for instanceā¦
but I can buy a cheaper product that will do the same job and buy that oneā¦
The definition of a Patent " Limited legal monopoly granted to an individual or firm to make, use, and sell its invention, and to exclude others from doing so."
Which means no other company can copy, then sell the product that infringes upon their patent for a given number of year. Langstroth patent has long expiredā¦
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sureā¦
but like I saidā¦
donāt go crying about someone using YOUR design when you are using SOMEONE ELSES design as part of your OWN productā¦
whether you are hiding behind protectionism or notā¦
and like I was sayingā¦ if I find a similar product that does the same thing then Iāll buy itā¦
im not emotional about this sort of thing like others on hereā¦
its all a matter of what I can and canāt affordā¦
Flows product is their patented Flow frames, the hive is a value added product. They have not patented the hiveā¦
Ilthough I agree with what you say about the ability to buy a cheaper product, as I would do the same, however what you are saying Andrew, is that a patent or copyright is not worth the paper itās printed on.
Why bother with the painstaking and expensive r&d process inventing something if it will be copied and distributed as soon as itās released?
Sure all cars have engines but only a Mercedes has a Mercedes engine.
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Nope. My Dodge Sprinter has a Mercedes engine as does the Freightliner Sprinter.
Ha Chilli, true.
Freightliner is however owned by Mercedes and Dodge was, I believe, owned by Daimler Benz, or a controlling interest at least.
I think both vehicles were badged Mercedes outside of North America too.
I may be wrong, I frequently am.
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Wow. There is so much that we enjoy the benefits of today that would not exist if it hadnāt been for the protections afforded to intellectual property by patent law ā and copyright law.
Despite the general animus toward pharmaceutical companies due to some excessive pricing on certain products, we need to be aware of the relatively massive amounts of capital - and risk! (of not finding something that works AND that is approved for use by humans) that go into finding a new drug (think polio, TB, Hepatitis, HIV, and every year the flu which changes every year). And they have to recoup all their expenses on that drug, and the ones that failed, and a little profit, all within the time that the patent/copyright law allows. After that itās a free for all producing generics that imitate the original breakthrough drug. And now we need them to come up with new antibiotics. If they donāt, itās going to get really ugly.
So donāt patronize those who pirate intellectual property, because it totally undermines the motivation and incentive for those who see or think they see a way to build a better mousetrap to actually work it out and bring it to market ā so you and I can enjoy it! I am sure that Stuart and Cedar and their backers put a heck of a lot into perfecting their idea and bringing it to market, so we could enjoy it, and they deserve to get a return on their investment of time, sweat, risk and money. Those who make copies while Flowās patents are still in force, deserve to be shunned by those of us who appreciate what went into the invention, and deserve to be forced to pay over to Flow any lost profits and to be enjoined from continuing.
Sorry for the rant. Just my 2 cents on the value of respecting intellectual property.
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You clearly misunderstand how patents work- Langstrothās patents expired over 100 years ago. Anyone is free to make them now. I think it is about 25 years until the Flow patents expire: and after that time- you or anyone else is free to make them.
I wonder if your view on this issue might change if you spent years and years of your own time and invented something worth millionsā¦ the patent system encourages innovation because it protects peoples Intellectual property. Without it your invetnion may as well be mine- if I am in a better position than you to exploit your idea and your hard work.
And here you are - on the Flow forum- getting free advice and help from Flow users- all paid for and hosted by the Flow company- encouraging people to rip off Flowās intellectual property? This website hasnāt appeared out of thin air- and it costs actual money to maintain it. If people took your advice- and put their hip-pocket ahead of the law- they would be undermining Australian manufacturing and Australian jobs- sending money overseas to buy counterfeit items made in China (or wherever).
Do you trust the counterfeiters when they say they use BPA plastic? They are breaking the law in their own country- ripping off other peoples hard work- are they trustworthy? Have they field tested their product? Are they honorable people?
Do you think it would be OK- if counterfeiters made copies of every patented product so you could save some money? Do you think in the long term consumers and innovation would benefit from such a free for all approach?
How could any Australian manufacturer compete with overseas counterfeiters?
Flow employs 40 people directly and manufacturers in Australia- those wages and jobs depend upon the protection a Patent offers. If you illegally buy and import counterfeit product from overseas- you are undermining Australian innovation, jobs and manufacturing. Your money is also going offshore.
A counterfeiter does not need any product safety verification, any R & D department, any advertising people, any IP specialists, or any patents: they only need to copy the hard work of other people and manufacture it in a low regulation and low wages economy. If there was no IP protection they would have a huge advantage over the actual inventor. Is that fair?
Without the Patent system any inventor who does not have a lot of capital would find themselves at the mercy of larger organizations. Any small country would have no hope of competing with larger countries or even corporations. If you invented something- but didnāt have the money to manufacture it - any company could steal your idea and make huge profits from it leaving you with absolutely nothing. What would be the incentive for you to invent anything at all?
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You arenāt getting the whole āpatentā thing.
Story is there is another fellow who actually invented the telephone but guess who couldnāt afford to get the patent? True or not my point is, he who owns a patent owns the design, not to be copied. Period.
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