Save an American company. Save InfoTube.
June 1, 2011 11:05 PM Subscribe
About 20 years ago, Tommi Crow was working in real estate when she had a big idea. From her garage she put together the first prototype for the InfoTube®. When Home Depot called, it became a huge success. She was living the American dream. Eventually, she moved her company to western North Carolina. Today, InfoTubes are manufactured by Haywood Vocational Opportunities, a non-profit organization located in Waynesville, NC. HVO employs two hundred handicapped and disabled western North Carolinians. Dozens of these employees work on InfoTubes. By 2014, Tommi expects to produce over a million InfoTubes per year.
That is, until recently, when Tommi received news that her product would no longer be carried at Lowe's or Home Depot. Instead, their distributor, Ohio-based The Hillman Group, chose to replace Tommi's patented products with Chinese factory replicas. This decision will effectively put Tommi and her American company out of business.
That is, until recently, when Tommi received news that her product would no longer be carried at Lowe's or Home Depot. Instead, their distributor, Ohio-based The Hillman Group, chose to replace Tommi's patented products with Chinese factory replicas. This decision will effectively put Tommi and her American company out of business.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Its not really clear why this is on Metafilter -- vacapinta
Seems a bit astro-turfy but ...that's one of the very rare patent lawsuits where I wish the would-be plaintiffs much luck. Let loose the lawyers of war, treble damages, take no prisoners, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their consultants, etc.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:12 PM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:12 PM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
I don't think you can patent a plastic tube?
posted by PenDevil at 11:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by PenDevil at 11:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Haha.. awesome! A moronic product to begin with.. like the "Bag Hutch" from TVs 'Mr. Show'...
posted by ReeMonster at 11:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ReeMonster at 11:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Tommi's patented products with Chinese factory replicas.Um...
INFOTUBE® literature boxes were invented 23 years ago in a garage in Dallas, TX, to provide Realtors®, builders and homeowners with an affordable way to sell their homes. Today, millions of these patented real-estate literature boxes are being used in neighborhoods across America.Patents last a max of 20 years. So even if it was reasonable to patent such an obvious idea, her patent would obviously have expired by now. So... what's the point?
Why on earth should she be the only person allowed to sell tubes that you can stick papers into for distribution?
posted by delmoi at 11:18 PM on June 1, 2011 [8 favorites]
Patents are meant to encourage innovation--protecting inventions is merely the method. I think that Tommi squeezed as much all a plastic tube that says "info tube" on it is really worth and then some.
Her employment practices are certainly admirable, but patents are meant for 20 years in the US. So, she's had roughly the protection term that would be accorded her even without evil Chinese competitors.
posted by anateus at 11:19 PM on June 1, 2011
Her employment practices are certainly admirable, but patents are meant for 20 years in the US. So, she's had roughly the protection term that would be accorded her even without evil Chinese competitors.
posted by anateus at 11:19 PM on June 1, 2011
Seems a bit astro-turfy but ...that's one of the very rare patent lawsuits where I wish the would-be plaintiffs much luck. Let loose the lawyers of war, treble damages, take no prisoners, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their consultants, etc.
If this is the only patent on the product, then the patent has already expired in 2009.
posted by gyc at 11:20 PM on June 1, 2011
If this is the only patent on the product, then the patent has already expired in 2009.
posted by gyc at 11:20 PM on June 1, 2011
The Chinese are really starting to wear out their welcome.
posted by TheCoyote23 at 11:21 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by TheCoyote23 at 11:21 PM on June 1, 2011
You can't just coast on one patent forever. She should have spent the last 20 years developing an entire portfolio of tube-related patents.
posted by ryanrs at 11:24 PM on June 1, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 11:24 PM on June 1, 2011 [11 favorites]
The Chinese are really starting to wear out their welcome.
The Chinese are doing precisely what the Americans did when the US was a young country seeking to build their economy and provide economic opportunities to their citizens.
Good luck to 'em, I say.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [9 favorites]
The Chinese are doing precisely what the Americans did when the US was a young country seeking to build their economy and provide economic opportunities to their citizens.
Good luck to 'em, I say.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [9 favorites]
It's not about whether or not it's a ridiculous thing to patent. It's about an American-based company that employs people who otherwise would have a hard time being employed, being put out of business in favor of cheap outsourced replicas. Which is bad because Americans can't buy cheap crap if they aren't getting enough income to live. And government benefits are being cut left and right by the same people who run the companies that make these decisions that hurt Americans. What are people supposed to do?
posted by bleep at 11:26 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 11:26 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Ex-realtor complains of free market. My heart bleeds.
posted by londonmark at 11:32 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by londonmark at 11:32 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
ryanrs: "She should have spent the last 20 years developing an entire portfolio of tube-related patents."
A "series" you might say.
posted by brundlefly at 11:33 PM on June 1, 2011 [15 favorites]
A "series" you might say.
posted by brundlefly at 11:33 PM on June 1, 2011 [15 favorites]
“I’ll never fully automate InfoTube,” she says, looking over her operation, the flutter of happy employees, the stacks of box towers packed with InfoTubes® readying for deliveries marked Tucson, Memphis, Boston, even Dallas, “Why should I?” she asks with a sly smile.
...is it: "competition"?
posted by pompomtom at 11:41 PM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
...is it: "competition"?
posted by pompomtom at 11:41 PM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
Ex-realtor complains of free market. My heart bleeds.
That's "ex-REALTOR®" to you, pal.
posted by Lazlo at 11:41 PM on June 1, 2011 [8 favorites]
That's "ex-REALTOR®" to you, pal.
posted by Lazlo at 11:41 PM on June 1, 2011 [8 favorites]
Popping up on rural roads in Maine'
I've traveled the rural roads of Maine for twenty-five years and I've never seen one.
posted by dunkadunc at 11:43 PM on June 1, 2011
I've traveled the rural roads of Maine for twenty-five years and I've never seen one.
posted by dunkadunc at 11:43 PM on June 1, 2011
Bleep, it does suck for the workers, but protecting bad corporate leadership with patent law and protectionism isn't the answer. She needed to develop some other product. The point of patents is to use temporary monopolies to encourage innovation, not let folks we like make money forever.
posted by dvorak_beats_qwerty at 11:44 PM on June 1, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by dvorak_beats_qwerty at 11:44 PM on June 1, 2011 [7 favorites]
Oh no, the Chinese are stealing our tube-on-a-stick technology. The horror!
posted by Joe Chip at 12:00 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Joe Chip at 12:00 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yeah... if she automated a bit more, she could probably stay competitive. It seems pretty wasteful to ship an empty tube all the way from China. She sells them for $14 on her website, but I imagine the material cost is probably pretty low.
posted by delmoi at 12:06 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by delmoi at 12:06 AM on June 2, 2011
Maybe we can help save the company. Quick, what are some things you can do with a tube?
posted by Ad hominem at 12:07 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by Ad hominem at 12:07 AM on June 2, 2011
Apparently InfoTube is the company's name and original product, but InfoBox is the product that has been copied. Still, doesn't look like much.
posted by o0o0o at 12:08 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by o0o0o at 12:08 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Joe Chip: "stealing our tube-on-a-stick technology"
There was prior art anyway.
posted by idiopath at 12:09 AM on June 2, 2011
There was prior art anyway.
posted by idiopath at 12:09 AM on June 2, 2011
Maybe we can help save the company. Quick, what are some things you can do with a tube?
Well, I suppose you could put your weed in there.
posted by loquacious at 12:12 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, I suppose you could put your weed in there.
posted by loquacious at 12:12 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Maybe we can help save the company. Quick, what are some things you can do with a tube?
Ship a new product idea to someone who needs one?
posted by secret about box at 12:12 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ship a new product idea to someone who needs one?
posted by secret about box at 12:12 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
If this is the only patent on the product, then the patent has already expired in 2009.
Yup. Not only that, but by claiming that the product is still patented, she may get into trouble for false marking.
You can't just coast on one patent forever. She should have spent the last 20 years developing an entire portfolio of tube-related patents.
Actually, she appears to have spent the last four years at least trying to get another (not-tube-related) patent.
Patents have limited terms for very good reasons. One should not build a business model upon the assumption that they will last forever.
posted by Skeptic at 12:15 AM on June 2, 2011
Yup. Not only that, but by claiming that the product is still patented, she may get into trouble for false marking.
You can't just coast on one patent forever. She should have spent the last 20 years developing an entire portfolio of tube-related patents.
Actually, she appears to have spent the last four years at least trying to get another (not-tube-related) patent.
Patents have limited terms for very good reasons. One should not build a business model upon the assumption that they will last forever.
posted by Skeptic at 12:15 AM on June 2, 2011
Exploring the full spectrum of plasticized tube based information deployment
This could be huge. Like, Aperture Science huge. And they just had those lousy shower curtains and some other junky tunneling thing.
posted by Slackermagee at 12:31 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
This could be huge. Like, Aperture Science huge. And they just had those lousy shower curtains and some other junky tunneling thing.
posted by Slackermagee at 12:31 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Boy, it's hard to feel sorry for one company suffering because of another company outfoxed them. Especially not for something that has such a minimal contribution to society as plastic tubes. I won't loose much sleep to be honest.
posted by oxford blue at 12:41 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by oxford blue at 12:41 AM on June 2, 2011
I must also say that, commercially speaking, she has done most things right:
Step 1: Get patent protection for your product.
Step 2: Try to perpetuate the protection by filing more patent applications. That hasn't worked out for her, so far.
Step 3: While you are still under the patent umbrella, try to build up a brand to ensure customer fidelity after the patent expires. The pharmaceutical industry is, since the days of Bayer's Aspirin, very adept at this, so that patients keep buying brand-name drugs even after equivalent generics become available. However, her brands are relatively poor, not being very distinctive, and a mostly professional market will be less receptive, anyway.
Step 4: When it becomes clear that you are going to have to face the competition, try to get a Unique Selling Point to get an edge over the competition. "Made in the USA" is good, but "made in the USA by handicapped kids in vocational training" even better. Unfortunately for her, realtors are an unsentimental bunch, especially in the current housing market, and "half price" is probably a better USP for them.
She had a good run, though.
posted by Skeptic at 12:52 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Step 1: Get patent protection for your product.
Step 2: Try to perpetuate the protection by filing more patent applications. That hasn't worked out for her, so far.
Step 3: While you are still under the patent umbrella, try to build up a brand to ensure customer fidelity after the patent expires. The pharmaceutical industry is, since the days of Bayer's Aspirin, very adept at this, so that patients keep buying brand-name drugs even after equivalent generics become available. However, her brands are relatively poor, not being very distinctive, and a mostly professional market will be less receptive, anyway.
Step 4: When it becomes clear that you are going to have to face the competition, try to get a Unique Selling Point to get an edge over the competition. "Made in the USA" is good, but "made in the USA by handicapped kids in vocational training" even better. Unfortunately for her, realtors are an unsentimental bunch, especially in the current housing market, and "half price" is probably a better USP for them.
She had a good run, though.
posted by Skeptic at 12:52 AM on June 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
"You know, for kids!"
posted by Afroblanco at 12:54 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Afroblanco at 12:54 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
I thought Senator Al Gore [D-Tennessee] took the initiative and created Intertubes? Or was it Senator Ted Stevens [R-Alaska]?
I forget.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:15 AM on June 2, 2011
I forget.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:15 AM on June 2, 2011
Good old protectionism, soak it up.
More proof for what patents do: Nothing. Oh sorry, I meant waste thousands of dollars.
posted by AndrewKemendo at 1:16 AM on June 2, 2011
More proof for what patents do: Nothing. Oh sorry, I meant waste thousands of dollars.
posted by AndrewKemendo at 1:16 AM on June 2, 2011
More proof for what patents do: Nothing.
Well, in this case they motivated a budding entrepreneur to invent and bring to market a product that, while simple, was so clearly useful that it has been copied immediately after the patent has expired, and protected a socially responsible business for twenty years. That is actually quite something.
In fact, this rather seems a good example of how the patent system should work.
posted by Skeptic at 1:25 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, in this case they motivated a budding entrepreneur to invent and bring to market a product that, while simple, was so clearly useful that it has been copied immediately after the patent has expired, and protected a socially responsible business for twenty years. That is actually quite something.
In fact, this rather seems a good example of how the patent system should work.
posted by Skeptic at 1:25 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Huh. And I thought it was Al Gore what invented the InfoTube®.
posted by chavenet at 1:37 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by chavenet at 1:37 AM on June 2, 2011
“I’ll never fully automate InfoTube,” she says, looking over her operation, the flutter of happy employees, the stacks of box towers packed with InfoTubes® readying for deliveries marked Tucson, Memphis, Boston, even Dallas, “Why should I?” she asks with a sly smile.
Bwa-ha-haha...
Why? Because an entire fucking Chinese village will come along and do ten times the work your employees do, and they'll do it for less money than you spend on coffee and doughnuts.
(And then they'll automate and put most of their own employees out of work. Then the robots will buy the factory and force out the humans, but then the tubes will figure out how to make themselves and the robots will be out of work but you'll have to employ the tubes rather than buy them.)
posted by pracowity at 1:38 AM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]
Bwa-ha-haha...
Why? Because an entire fucking Chinese village will come along and do ten times the work your employees do, and they'll do it for less money than you spend on coffee and doughnuts.
(And then they'll automate and put most of their own employees out of work. Then the robots will buy the factory and force out the humans, but then the tubes will figure out how to make themselves and the robots will be out of work but you'll have to employ the tubes rather than buy them.)
posted by pracowity at 1:38 AM on June 2, 2011 [4 favorites]
pracowity I believe that her question is less naive than it seems. Automation isn't cheap, especially for that kind of assembly work. The Chinese village is more likely to put the robots out of work than the other way around.
posted by Skeptic at 1:49 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by Skeptic at 1:49 AM on June 2, 2011
How is this not astroturfing? It's a post consisting entirely of press releases from this company's website.
posted by Anonymous at 1:49 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by Anonymous at 1:49 AM on June 2, 2011
Unfortunately for her, realtors are an unsentimental bunch, especially in the current housing market, and "half price" is probably a better USP for them.
More to the point, using sentimentality to sell your product is really only a good idea if you're selling directly to consumers. B2B manufacturers generally need a different strategy.
I feel bad for this woman and this company, but mostly because they don't seem to appreciate the realities of the world in which we all live, i.e. if you aren't planning years down the road, the future is gonna bite you in the ass when it gets here.
posted by valkyryn at 2:19 AM on June 2, 2011
More to the point, using sentimentality to sell your product is really only a good idea if you're selling directly to consumers. B2B manufacturers generally need a different strategy.
I feel bad for this woman and this company, but mostly because they don't seem to appreciate the realities of the world in which we all live, i.e. if you aren't planning years down the road, the future is gonna bite you in the ass when it gets here.
posted by valkyryn at 2:19 AM on June 2, 2011
I thought Senator Al Gore [D-Tennessee] took the initiative and created Intertubes? Or was it Senator Ted Stevens [R-Alaska]?
I forget.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:15 AM on June 2 [+] [!]
Er, on belated preview, what uncanny hengeman said...
Coke is owed.
posted by chavenet at 2:33 AM on June 2, 2011
I forget.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:15 AM on June 2 [+] [!]
Er, on belated preview, what uncanny hengeman said...
Coke is owed.
posted by chavenet at 2:33 AM on June 2, 2011
It takes a special kind of plutocrat to start mowing down your own research base for the benefit of so-called cost-cutting.
posted by Meatafoecure at 2:44 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by Meatafoecure at 2:44 AM on June 2, 2011
This smells like a self-link (or a friend-link). A tiny bit of Googling reveals that Tommi Crow is Facebook friends with a Paul Choi, which is very close to the name the poster gives on his profile. I'm not sure this is a coincidence. Apologies in advance if I'm wrong, paulinsanjuan, but: is that you?
posted by painquale at 2:54 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by painquale at 2:54 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I first landed on the link, I thought "Infotube" was the name of a news website. A pretty good name, with a funny logo. The Internet is made of tubes after all.
But then I found out the home depot product in question is just that stupid patented plastic tube.
posted by colinshark at 3:14 AM on June 2, 2011
But then I found out the home depot product in question is just that stupid patented plastic tube.
posted by colinshark at 3:14 AM on June 2, 2011
Maybe she should patent etching grooves onto those cylinders.
Then just get the RIAA to lobby for a complete ban on digital downloads, and phase out easily ripped optical media in favor of these new, revolutionary MusicTubes.
posted by unigolyn at 3:30 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Then just get the RIAA to lobby for a complete ban on digital downloads, and phase out easily ripped optical media in favor of these new, revolutionary MusicTubes.
posted by unigolyn at 3:30 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
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:D
posted by Avenger at 11:08 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]