So about 1.5-2 years ago Derrick corporation designed a totally new “shale shaker” for the oil drilling market. This project was near and dear to me because I was essentially 50+% of the design team. Up until we released this machine, all shale shakers had screens that were convex/crowned (like an upside down U). Additionally, all panels spanned the entire width of the machine.
Our system was different, not only is the panel concave/reverse crowned, it was also split in the middle. Up until we released this, there was absolutely nothing like this on the market.
This is what our shaker looks like…
Here’s a picture from a brochure from a Chinese shaker company.
Keep in mind, we have a patent on using concave shaker screens, but in China that means jack shit.
We spent about 2 or 3 years designing this machine, including EXTENSIVE R&D testing costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. It sells for about $70,000.
This Chinese machine sells for about 20,000 dollars. They have no R&D costs.
I can’t say I don’t buy Chinese stuff, but here’s a perfect example of why I shouldn’t…
I’m sure the thread is more interesting with the pictures, I just came in to troll.
-edit-
Gotta love “me-to” engineering. That sucks.
I’m always amazed by the knock-off cars that come out of the west, they are such blatant styling ripoffs it is amazing.
Here is something else to consider, almost all of the medical innovation in this world is paid for by the United States due to our healthcare system. International geographies have such horrid reimbursement that we more or less give away devices there. If the US were to nationalize healthcare, innovation as we know it would grind to a hault as no one would be able to do it any more… same idea.
So as a patent holder what recourse do you have? Obviously you can’t go after the Chinese company because their government fully supports corporate patent violation, but can you go after anyone who might try to distribute these in less corrupt countries?
Yes, if they hold a patent recgonized by that orginization you can.
China is supposedly working on improving its IPR policies because as they continue to grow as a nation, they can’t continue their pace by being a “me-to” cheap knock off producer. However, they can’t even keep toxic waste out of their own ecco system, wrecking the food and water supply for the largest population in the world. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
It’s not like it wasn’t expected… when we put this in the first “Offshore Technologies Conference” in Houston, we joked about how long it would take the Chinese to copy it.
