“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”  – Otto van Bismark

 

“The Large Competitor Steals the Innovations of the Underdog Inventor” by History

It’s a story as old as…

The story of David and Goliath.

The story of a bra designer battling lingerie behemoth Victoria’s Secret

The story of Ford Motor Company swiping a Professor’s windshield wiper technology

The story of who invented the television: Farnsworth or RCA?

 

I’ve read all of these stories and took heed of their lessons.

I launched Zipr Shift LLC on July 1st, 2016. The only marketing I did was my company’s Facebook, Twitter, and a Cleveland.com ad; I spent $900 on all of it.

Within the first month of my public disclosure, a large competitor of mine contacted me- the Vice President of the second largest zipper manufacturing company in the world.

He wanted to talk…to me! I was excited…and worried.

 

 

I recorded the conversation just in case I’d ever need to refer back to it.
Yes, I’m a paranoid inventor. sigh

Jeff Gut wanted me to send prototypes and not just the most recent version but the earliest versions, anything I had made since the beginning of the idea’s inception.
When I spoke about being embarrassed of my first prototypes, he said he didn’t care how crude they looked. He wanted to see everything.
He claimed he might want to partner to produce the technology. When I mentioned the investors that had contacted me, he told me I shouldn’t take their money.
When I spoke about having a contract manufacturer, he quipped that he knows the industry and has contacts with the Department of Defense, fashion designers, and more. A manufacturer with industry connections is better than one without…

He said that he has no problem signing an NDA.

Being the investigative, paranoid inventor that I am, I’ve read the MPEP and read about the limits of most important legal documents, one of those being NDA.
I know NDA just protect people from disclosing inventions, not stealing products.
Even patents just keep honest, ethical companies honest and ethical.
The unethical companies will bypass both NDA and IP.

I remembered reading about companies signing NDA, speaking with inventors, and then turning around and claiming they were already working on it.

During the conversation, Jeff Gut emphasized saying he “might” want to do this and that with my technology: I “might” want to partner with you…manufacture the product…connect you with my customers…

Being honest and direct, I asked him what was necessary to change that “might” into a “will.”

Then, he said the most shocking thing of all. He said he didn’t know what my product was or looked like at all.

I was floored. He contacted me through my website’s contact form; yet, somehow, didn’t see the product pictures on the site. They were at least enough to give someone a clue about the technology; but he claimed he had no clue what Zipr Shift created.

Why would he be so eager to speak about some widget he didn’t have the thought to look at on the same website that he contacted me through?

I sent him pictures from the website/press kit and a demo video of the fully functional zipper (that’s also on the website.)

 

In this email, I was trying to encourage him to explain how he found my website and to at least acknowledge the technology before giving him the NDA to sign.

He replied, playing dumb.

 

I was angry at this point. So, I didn’t reply.

I couldn’t force my hands to not type something like, “Bullsh*t! A picture is worth a thousand words!”

After about a month he wonders where the heck the NDA is.

 

I’m still pissed. But, I try to be blunt and candid about my frustrations.

I wanted him to:

1. Acknowledge my technology
   If he didn’t acknowledge the technology then I felt that he’d just claim that he made something like it once he got it in his hands.
   “Upon receiving the prototypes you sent, I’ve realized my engineering team has been working on this exact zipper since 1936 when the company was founded.”
2. Tell me how he got to my company website
   Again, I spent $900 on marketing. He found me. He must have been looking for me.
3. Let me know what his intentions are in speaking to me
   He kept saying he MIGHT want to do certain things during the call, speaking hypothetically.
   He said pictures weren’t enough so I said I’d video chat and demo the zipper.
   I wasn’t trying to make a binding oral contract. I was trying to gauge the extent and origin of his interest.

He replies in what I deem a “bluff.”

 

It must be so awkward and weird (not “cordial and normal”) for him to be direct about his intentions.

I was blunt and direct about what I wanted. If you notice, he still didn’t speak about his intentions or what led him to my website. He totally avoided speaking about that.

“Not sure what you think I have done that is distrustful,” Jeff Gut.
Really?

I explained all of that in the email. And, I even communicated my potential ignorance of his reasons for wanting a physical product sample and asked that he explain his reasons.

 

Jeff dodged my questions. I dodged more of his nonsense.
And, I got him to acknowledge that he saw the prototype pictures that I sent to him. Intriguing indeed.
Now I have a pretty well-rounded reference point if there’s ever an infringement suit: in early August 2016, you contacted me yet claimed you’d never seen my products so I showed them to you.

 

 

 

I leave any future competitors who happen to come across my blog and read this story a note:

You have 80+ years of expertise in old-fashioned, inadequate zipper technology.
But, when we speak about my closure- the Zipr Shift zipper- I expect respect. I’m the inventor and the visionary. I’m the expert; I’ll have to teach you about it.

If you have interest in the technology, then plainly state your desires. Maybe we can work together.

The Zipr Shift zipper is stronger and more durable than your toothed zipper while also costing less to make: better and cost-competitive.
I hope to make the technology that you currently sell obsolete. And, I only hope this because I know that my zipper provides more value.

You had at least 80 years to invent this closure and you couldn’t.
I have already outwitted your engineers and researchers, even with the time- numerous decades- they had to conduct research and the millions of dollars you gave to them to fund innovations.

Do you really want to challenge me to outwit your legal team? We’ve already seen what happens when you throw money at and prolong research objectives…

(You lose!)

^trash talking 😉

Outwit (definition): to get the better of by superior ingenuity or cleverness; outsmart (Source: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/outwit)
It’s honesty, not arrogance.  🙂

 

 

 

Note:

I blocked out the phone numbers with black rectangles in the screenshots of the emails.