Brous Spyderhole?

[Fancier]

The Brous Silent Soldier has something that looks a lot like a Spyderhole.
How broadly can a trademark be interpreted, or is this licensed?

[Stuart Ackerman]

Anyone who has a licence from Spyderco, HAS to use the words" Licenced by Spyderco" on each pic, forum post, personal website, hard copy literature such as pamphlets etc...

[The Deacon]

Definitely a hole which certainly appears to be round and which, although partially hidden when the knife is closed, seem like it could be used as an opener. Only Mr. Brous or someone from Spyderco could say for certain whether it's licensed or not.

[KevinOubre]

I don't think the hole is licensed. YOu cant really stop people from cutting out a circle in their knives.

[Barman]

From Sal.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... ost1609117" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[spyderg]

The hole in Brous's Silent Soldier isn't used for opening the knife so I don't think it would be any issue or concern to Spyderco as their patent was for "hole openers".

[Wanimator]

It's more of a hole to put your finger in for grip.

[IG-88]

The hole in Brous's Silent Soldier isn't used for opening the knife so I don't think it would be any issue or concern to Spyderco as their patent was for "hole openers".

As mentioned on Blades:

Spyderco used to have a patent on all holes. That patent ran out recently, but the round (circular) hole is their trademark.

So the use any round hole in a blade independent of the function or size would be a trademark violation. Unless you have licensed the use of the Spyderco trademark. Because its a trademark every Spyderco must have a round hole, even when not functional (eg Roadie, SpyDK, Southard Ion,...)

[The Deacon]

The hole in Brous's Silent Soldier isn't used for opening the knife so I don't think it would be any issue or concern to Spyderco as their patent was for "hole openers".

As mentioned on Blades:

Spyderco used to have a patent on all holes. That patent ran out recently, but the round (circular) hole is their trademark.

So the use any round hole in a blade independent of the function or size would be a trademark violation. Unless you have licensed the use of the Spyderco trademark. Because its a trademark every Spyderco must have a round hole, even when not functional (eg Roadie, SpyDK, Southard Ion,...)

Kindly show me a link to where that is mentioned.

Sal's comment in the BladeForums thread Barmam linked to was:

As mentioned, Spyderco had a patent on hole openers in genreal until the patent ran out last year. Spyderco trademarked a round hole several years ago.

[bearfacedkiller]

That hole is more like the hole on the Swick which to the best of my knowledge is not a Spyderco invention. The Swick appears to be an evolution of Fred Perrin's Le Griffe which is a really cool knife. I do not know if Mr. Perrin pioneered that idea either but if he did then maybe Mr. Perrin should be the one to be upset and/or offended. On the other hand, imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery.

http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Perrin-Knive ... B00CHRTT2Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I would be curious to know where the finger whole concept came from as I love the Swick myself. There is a Spyderco folder called the introvert that has a similar hole which is supposed to be coming some day.

https://spydercollector.wordpress.com/2 ... introvert/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SpeedHoles]

^ that Introvert is very cool by the way...

Because its a trademark every Spyderco must have a round hole, even when not functional (eg Roadie, SpyDK, Southard Ion,...)

Several of the kitchen knives lack any sort of hole...

[GoldenSpydie]

Several of the kitchen knives lack any sort of hole...

Not to mention the older Bill Morans, the C27s, and the original Temperance and trainer, none of which had holes. :)

[Wanimator]

Whatever happened to the introvert project?

[SpeedHoles]

Whatever happened to the introvert project?

It got so wrapped up in pondering inner thought that it never spoke up about seeing physical production. :p

[Wanimator]

Aha, nice pun.

[dsvirsky]

I would be curious to know where the finger whole concept came from as I love the Swick myself.

While Fred Perrin is generally given credit for this particular style of "self-defense" knife, there really is nothing new under the sun. Here's a link to an 1891 patent for a tobacco cutting knife with a finger hole: http://www.google.com/patents/US449031

[IG-88]

Several of the kitchen knives lack any sort of hole...

Not to mention the older Bill Morans, the C27s, and the original Temperance and trainer, none of which had holes. :)

This is what Sal said on the kitchen knife holes in the Where the Hole? thread

Hi Librarian,

We re-energised a relationship with a maker that we used to work with years ago. MBS-26 is an exclusive steel to them. We began with the original tooling and molds to re-create the original models, but have plans to refine the designs. We already have the new designs and they do include a hole. The new refinements, we believe will be nice, and we'll be making the changes slolyover the next couple of years. Adding a hole to a kitchen knife is a very challenging project with regards to food. The geometyry will be imoortant.

sal

and

We need the hole in a certain location for a trademark. Some companies add a hole to hang the kitchen knives on hooks.

sal

[SpeedHoles]

Yeah I remember reading that thread.

[SolidState]

Whatever happened to the introvert project?

It got so wrapped up in pondering inner thought that it never spoke up about seeing physical production. :p

That's pretty darn good. So, as far as I know there were some challenges involving the very intricate back lock mechanism.

Insofar as the design is concerned, Perrin is typically credited with the swick-type hole, and that's who Spyderco credits with it. The ergos on the hole placement are what Spyderco pays attention to better than the others IMHO.

[tvenuto]

This is interesting because Spyderco went from patenting the hole feature, to trademarking it, which is definitely non-standard. I'm no lawyer, but my google-fu is black belt, and there are sources that claim the current interpretation of the spyderco hole wouldn't be protected as a trademark due to its functionality. However, that would be decided by the powers that grant the trademark, and spyderco obviously got it granted, so the point is somewhat moot.