I sold my set to some guy on the forum for more, I started this group buy to get them for less, as simple as that. I figured that I could help pass on some savings, but if this is going to cause some drama I'll just get my own set and not help anyone out.

I did intend to install the set I bought months ago, just not right away, and since I am completely redoing my suspension setup, I figure it is a good time to get a new set.

 

Why all this argument? We all know mr. Labreck were the first in making the aftermarket bushing kit. However, I have seen him post many time about
he is not going to make anymore bushings.

We should be glad now this good upgrade is available again to the RX7 community through another reputable company. May be these bushings might share some similarities, but the Unobtainium is also similar to Mazda's design :-) with the exception of material difference. Furthermore, these new kit has the grease grooves and cost much lower than the original prices from Unobtainium... I remembered they were very expensive :-)

Colored or not, I think its a small matter, they will get dirty eventually. I think once a great design has been released, when a newer set is made with improvement this helps the us, the buyers in the market to get a better product. The more improvements and lower prices could benefit us more.

I thought this is a great news that we get to buy this product again
and for much cheaper this time...

 

Actually, I stated that it would be my last group purchase, not that I would never produce any more bushings. By your reasoning, I'm sure Chevrolet wouldn't mind if I duplicated the Camaro, since they've announced that they don't intend to manufacture the F-body in the future and they're shutting down the St. Therese Quebec plant where it's built. What do you think?

And you think copying someone else's design implies that that company is reputable? Better grab a dictionary.

Share some similarities? They're identical. Take a look...

http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlab

And how are they similar to Mazda's design? Because they fit in the same spots in the suspension? Using your faulty logic, that would mean that Prothane, Suspension Techniques and Energy Suspension were also violating car manufacturer's designs by producing bushings that fit in the stock positions. Same with manufacturers of downpipes, midpipes, cat-back exhausts, wheel manufacturers, stereo manufacturers... not very logical, is it?

What does price have to do with design plagiarism ? My last group purchase ended at $450.00, the cheapest price for ANY bushing set EVER available for the RX-7. So what? The bushing designs still belong to me, and a "grease groove" doesn't constitute a reinvention of the product. My research and effort were stolen, apparently that means nothing to you.

It wasn't released, the designs are still my property, as I've stated before. I did not release them to the public domain. I wasn't even so much asked for my consent to use the design.

Fine. Why don't you market a copy of M2 Performance's intercooler kit? Make the duct from injection molded plastic instead of fiberglass. It's lighter, therefore that's an improvement, and you're doing the community a favor by ripping off another vendor's product and improving upon it, right?

You're allowed to improve upon your *own* kit. Taking someone else's design and selling it for profit constitutes theft of intellectual property or worse, and I can't think of anything that's more despicable. The next time you put a large amount of time and labor into designing something of your own, let me know. I'd like to copy it and sell it as my own work.

Apparently cheaper makes all the difference to you. People like you are why the price of computer software, game console cartridges, CDs, and clothes are so high. Because there's always someone unscrupulous enough to knock off someone else's design and sell it at a lower price. Not true in this case, of course. My bushings are still cheaper, Mr. Frugal Consumer.

 

I have a brand new set of bushings for sale right now.

If you don't want to wait to see if this group buy is actually going to go threw, then you can purchase my set. My set is much lower than what you will be paying for this set, which is around $650. I'm selling mine for around $450 and it's the real Unobtainium Bushings; not an imitation You will be saving around $200 if you buy the set that I have for sale.

 

If that were the case, you had ample time to get a set for $450.00 from the last group purchase I ran. Look, you can get a set for $450.00 now.

 

I think this post and the Scoot replica post are very alike. I find it interesting that some people think it is fine to replicate someone else's design and sell it for profit. I myself started a small clothing line about 3 years ago, if someone where to copy my designs and sell them at the flea market for half of my retail price, I would be furious. Those bushing look very similar to Jim's (ok, ok, identical) so Jim will have an intersting law suit on his hands. I personally find it apalling everytime there is a good product out for my FD, someone else knock's of their version for cheaper. Well of course it's cheaper, someone else paid for all of the r&d. This is the EXACT reason that we see very few new products for our cars. Have you all noticed that the only new products are complex computers, and turbo systems, that cannot be replicated overnite??? Coincidence? I think not. Many Japanese tuners will not enter the U.S. market for fear of the knock off's. Why waste your time setting up shop, just to have all of your ideas and worked copied and sold for nothing? I would like to thank Jim for producing an excellent product. I appreciate the fact that Jim went through all of the trouble of designing and getting the bushings manufactured, when the only other option was rubber bushings. To all of the people on the group-buy, I don't blame you for wanting to buy bushings, especially if you thought there were not going to be any more produced. Jim has stated that he is working on selling the rights to his bushings to a reputable tuner, so they might be available again. If you want to flame me for this post, go ahead, but I feel Jim has worked very hard, and done an excellent service to the rx7 community, and now he's being screwed for it.

eric

 

This is the same problem that Energy Suspension had with Prothane. Prothane basically waited for ES to develop a bushign kit and then just take it and make their own molds off it.

The problem with Prothane and the Polyurethane was that they couldn't duplicate the specific mixture so after hardening some bushings didn't fitl like the ES did.

Not saying the SP has that trouble they know their stuff and I do feel for Jimlab since he was the one who first spent time money and effort on his kits.

Kinda sucks but hey isn't immitation the best form of flattery. Sorry Jimlab hey man you had a great idea and what'd ya expect. Don't really think there is any leagal way to pursue it i know that ES couldn't.

Alex at SP is the kind of guy who builds stuff for the hell of it cuz he wants to. Hell he built the Supra7 for the hell of it just to see if he could produce big hp numbers and because he likes the style of the Rx-7 but isn't able to get 900 hp out of the 13B.

 

how ironic, SP's slogan reads 'innovaters not immitaters'

ohh well

 

Alright, so maybe Kleenex should be taking all the imitators to court because they use soft paper to make their tissues. Those imitation tissues are virtually identical to Kleenex brand tissue. They must have copied Kleenex's design, right? Or maybe they realized that tissues are best when they're soft, paper is relatively inexpensive and disposable, and they should be distributed in boxes.

Yes SP's bushings are similar to Jim's, but damn, they're bushings. How many crazy innovative designs for bushings can you come up with. Heck, SP added grooves, that sounds like some innovation there. Jim, you did a great service to the 3rd gen community by going through the time and effort to produce these. But bushings are a relatively simple part to reproduce, and I don't think you can patent the fact that you made them out of nylon. Otherwise we'd all use Kleenex tissues because all the other brands would be made out of cardboard and glass and crap.

Ben
94 VR R2

 

Reckless, Did you get my pm for your bushings.

 

Racedriver...I just sent you a PM.

 

If the competitor were marketing their Kleenex-like tissue in a box that looked identical to the Kleenex box, would that be infringement?

It's not the material. Bushings have been made out of Nylon before, obviously, and will again. Rubber, Delrin, Polyurethane and Nylon are not proprietary designs. I didn't invent Nylon.

I did, however, do all the research on providing an improvement over the stock bushings, finding a material that would give acceptable noise absorbption while still providing a vast improvement in performance, and designed their shape to be an easy install and to cut down cost. I could have designed a two-piece Nylon body that inserted from both sides, but I didn't. The one-piece design is unique to my bushings, or was, at any rate...

Prior to my bushings, no one had a solution for the front of the car that didn't involve replacing rubber bushings with more rubber bushings(Mazdaspeed). An alternative did not exist. The uniqueness of the product led to its name, Unobtainium, because you couldn't get them any where else. Now you can, and apparently for some of you, that's OK. It wasn't your time and effort that was stolen.

But enough about this unfortunate turn of events...

And now for something completely different!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the legitimate Unobtainium bushings will now be available through N-Tech Engineering.

www.n-tech.net

Nick will be announcing a group purchase shortly, and the pricing will be lower (as it has always been) than any of the other alternatives available on the market.

Thanks to everyone who supports innovation and shows it by purchasing legitimate products from the original manufacturers or their authorized vendors.

To the rest of you? Go polish your morals... they're a bit tarnished.

 

Nice work Jim!

I don't know if I'm prejudiced, misinformed, or patriotic, but I always thought it was funny how a major part of Japanese success in the world economy was built on taking other people's designs and improving them.

Do you sell any Unobtanium moral polish? I have some friends that could use a few jars of it...

 

Jim,

Glad to see you found someone to take over their manufacture/distribution/whatever else you arranged. I talked with Nick a few weeks ago, as he lives in my state. I even bought a little bit from him.

I'm an engineer too, so I understand your frustration with the stealing of designs and IP and all. I don't know how much legal leg you have to stand on without a patent (it didn't appear that you had one, as it was never mentioned anywhere on your site or with the bushing kit). I have a friend that's a patent attourney. I can ask her some general questions for you.

Jeff