The top case is clearly marked as an Acme case, so what's the problem here? I just don't get it John. The quality of your cases stand for themselves and pool players have enough sense to know what they are buying and why. Some may chose to go for the less expensive option for purely monetary reasons and I don't blame them for that.
Chinese manufactures have been copying designer merchandise for decades now (as you well know) and there is no way to stop this practice, other than intercepting the shipments at the ports of entry. I'm sure there are counterfeit copies of your cases being made and sold in China with your name and logo on them. Why not go after the real counterfeiters and leave Mike alone to do his thing. He doesn't appear to be hurting your business model, at least not as much as you are doing by giving him all this free publicity.
I would advise you that this thread has become the best free advertising Acme has ever gotten on here. He should be thanking you.
There are NO counterfeit copies of our case being made in China with our logo on them.
We own our Trademark for America and China and all points in between. Our dealers in China do a good job of informing us of every knockoff they find and we would also know if there were any counterfeits out there.
We are not hurting our business model at all. This past week our booth stayed busy while his was empty.
My business model is this: Build high quality cases. Charge a fair price. Back them up with a lifetime warranty. Be honest and hold competitors accountable for their claims. Give good service to good customers. Fire unreasonable customers. Enjoy our lives.
So far we are doing fine with this business model. I am ok with giving CRAPME some recognition because I do believe that when I am done that recognition will add to their growing reputation for low quality and lack of cue protection.
The problem is not the appearance. Getting knocked off is part of every innovator's life. The problem is what the sellers SAY about their product. No one EVER tells the knockoff artist to "let the product speak for itself". Nope, the knockoff artist can make every false claim they want but the innovator isn't allowed to debunk those claims?
I don't mind putting brands on blast if I think that they deserve it. At the end of the day, competition is SUPPOSED to provide the best product at the lowest cost. When a seller LIES to customers and provides a crappy product that is intended to fool consumers into believing they are getting a major discount off of a superior product then the seller is being fraudulent in my opinion. I refuse to stop talking about those types of sellers.
And by the same token, anyone can criticize me and I will answer that criticism. I don't really understand why people take issue with having their claims inspected. I don't understand why ANYONE would criticize me for criticizing a competitor. It's competition, not kumbaya. In business, competition means COMPETING for disposable income.
If this were a simple race and one competitor was found to be cheating by another competitor then no one would be mad for the cheater being exposed. But when it's business apparently it's a major sin to expose shady (and sometimes illegal) practices if the information comes from a competitor.
Do you want to know WHY I can't be successfully sued by any of my competitors whom I have publicly criticized? Because they would have to prove that what I said was not true and that I maliciously used false information to damage their reputation. But since the information I provide is TRUE then they have no case and they certainly don't want me to prove in court and then use the public records against them.
