Fake Instroke?

ball-banger

ball-banger

I hate this damn game!
Silver Member
I have an Instroke 2x4 cowboy case that I got off Ebay for a sweet price. I noticed that in all the pics of Instrokes that I see, the metal "instroke" logo at the bottom of the case has a blue dot which is dotting the I. My case does not. The letters are the same, the "I" is just not dotted in blue. Now it's not really a big deal. The case is great and is of high quality. It just crosses my mind when I see a pic of one. Could it be some kind of fake or maybe just an older model?
 
I bought a 3X7 Instroke Allmost two years ago and it has the same Blue dot.
 
I have an 3/5 Instroke that doesn't have a blue dot over the "I", I got the case thru a retailer.

Looks like it might have had some sort of insert (the blue dot) that might have fell out over the years
 
daphish1 said:
I have an 3/5 Instroke that doesn't have a blue dot over the "I", I got the case thru a retailer.

Looks like it might have had some sort of insert (the blue dot) that might have fell out over the years
Click to expand...

Could be I guess.
 
DON'T PRESS THE BLUE DOT. It's a quick release. The bottom of the case drops out and releases your cue to the floor.
 
It may be an older Instroke. When Instroke first started making cases, there wasn't the blue dot. Then the guys that started the company split up, and there were two groups making Instroke cases for a short time. The Instroke logo with the blue dot is from the 'team' that did not go with John.

My wife and I have the same case, but from each side. Both are the same quality. I have not heard of anyone making fake one's and trying to pass them off as actual Instrokes.

Hope this helps.
 
I bought my case directly from John B. (actually C. then) at the 2000 BCA Nationals, so I thought I would be able to give you a definitive answer. When I checked my case, I found that the brass Instroke name plate is GONE. Wonder when that happened...
 
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I have a German Instroke 6x12 (full zipper leather), and it has the blue dot.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Ponytail said:
It may be an older Instroke. When Instroke first started making cases, there wasn't the blue dot. Then the guys that started the company split up, and there were two groups making Instroke cases for a short time.
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ball-banger said:
I have an Instroke 2x4 cowboy case that I got off Ebay for a sweet price. I noticed that in all the pics of Instrokes that I see, the metal "instroke" logo at the bottom of the case has a blue dot which is dotting the I. My case does not. The letters are the same, the "I" is just not dotted in blue. Now it's not really a big deal. The case is great and is of high quality. It just crosses my mind when I see a pic of one. Could it be some kind of fake or maybe just an older model?
Click to expand...

The blue dot is found on all the logo shields where the bubble letter Instroke is used. It is just painted on and as such tends to wear off with time.

There is no difference in the logos used by the German Instroke company when I was a partner there and the logo now used by the Taiwan Instroke.

For a while, when I sued the German Instroke company over the trademark rights in the USA, they switched to "Instroke Original" in normal letters on the shield. Now they use Stroke Sports for any cases they sell to the USA unless the customer wants something else on the label.

To date I have not come across anyone who has counterfeited the logo on their knockoff cases. Most of the knockoffs just stick to copying the patterns.

In China last year I did find a company at the GZ show who claimed to be selling cases "made by Instroke". They had two original Instroke cases with logo set up alongside about ten bad knockoffs with no logo on them.

The salesperson told me a whole story about the origins of Instroke and how they are a big US Company and they are the Chinese distributer, etc.... with no idea who she was talking to. Then about 3 minutes into this "pitch" along comes her boss who knows me and lets her know that I am not a buyer. He lets me and my translator know that we are not welcome in his booth. I just wonder how many Chinese dealers they tricked with that nonsense.

I am sure that somewhere someone is probably knocking off the cases complete with logo but to date I haven't seen any.

Anyway, anyone who has an Instroke question concerning age or authenticity should send me the questions to instroke@jbideas.com and I will be happy to tell you what I know. Please include pictures if you can.
 
John...Now that is just too funny! I can just see the moment when she realizes just WHO she was talking to (We HAVE comprehension! LOL). Amazing what people try to get away with out there...not just in China either! As usual, thanks for clearing things up.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

JB Cases said:
In China last year I did find a company at the GZ show who claimed to be selling cases "made by Instroke". They had two original Instroke cases with logo set up alongside about ten bad knockoffs with no logo on them.

The salesperson told me a whole story about the origins of Instroke and how they are a big US Company and they are the Chinese distributer, etc.... with no idea who she was talking to. Then about 3 minutes into this "pitch" along comes her boss who knows me and lets her know that I am not a buyer. He lets me and my translator know that we are not welcome in his booth. I just wonder how many Chinese dealers they tricked with that nonse.
Click to expand...
 
Ponytail said:
It may be an older Instroke. When Instroke first started making cases, there wasn't the blue dot. Then the guys that started the company split up, and there were two groups making Instroke cases for a short time. The Instroke logo with the blue dot is from the 'team' that did not go with John.

My wife and I have the same case, but from each side. Both are the same quality. I have not heard of anyone making fake one's and trying to pass them off as actual Instrokes.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

In the very beginning the logos on my Instroke cases were embroidered by me personally in bubble letters. They were all slightly different as I tried to make each one unique. I drew the logo by hand on the material and then embroidered over it.

The blue dot logo was created by my friend's brother in Koblenz in 1992 and based on my hand drawn Instroke logos. I adopted the formal blue dot logo then and used it on my cards and letterhead. In 1993/94 we went to mass production and adopted the formal logo for the metal shields on the cases.

The blue dot was always there on the metal logos. It should be present on any new Instroke case with a metal logo and the Instroke trademark. There are still two groups making Instroke branded cases. Or better said there are two companies with the right to make Instroke branded cases.

Ching Hui Wood Case Corp. in Taiwan owns the trademark rights for the USA, Taiwan and China.

Instroke Sports GmbH & Co. KG owns the rights to the trademark in the European Union. (they may have changed into Stroke Sports now)

Either of these companies has the right to make logos with or without the blue dot. I am not certain but I believe that all new Instroke cases sold in the USA have the blue dot logo.
 
Scott Lee said:
John...Now that is just too funny! I can just see the moment when she realizes just WHO she was talking to (We HAVE comprehension! LOL). Amazing what people try to get away with out there...not just in China either! As usual, thanks for clearing things up.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Yeah, it was funny and sad at the same time. I really get discouraged sometimes when I see how some of the Chinese cheat their fellow citizens here. It's sad because there are tons of GREAT people here.

In pool you can buy fake "brand name" cues all over the place here. A while back I saw a fake McDermott that I would have SWORN was real except that McDerrmott has never made that model ever. This cue was well made, not the cheap fake with a fake logo you usually see.

None of these factories hesitate to make products with other people's logos on them if they don't think that they will get caught.

I personally believe that the only way to control them somewhat is to give all of them some business and it's doubtful that this works. There are many factories here that claim to be selling "overruns" of "real" goods like shoes, clothes, etc......and some of it is pretty high quality so an average person probably couldn't ever know the difference.
 
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ronhudson said:
I bought my case directly from John B. (actually C. then) at the 2000 BCA Nationals, so I thought I would be able to give you a definitive answer. When I checked my case, I found that the brass Instroke name plate is GONE. Wonder when that happened...
Click to expand...

The metal logos were pretty cheap with little tabs on the back that just folded over another metal piece. They have a bad habit of loosening up and falling off over time. When I was 23 I thought they were the greatest thing ever and would last forever.

I brought it up a few times over the years that we should switch to a more substantial logo plate but was shot down over the "expense". Oh well..... that's one reason among many others that I now have NO PARTNERS in my business and will never have one again.
 
JoseV said:
Mine has a little blue across the bottom of each letter.
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That's how it should be. Blue dot, blue accent across the bottom. I never changed the logo on the metal shield but I changed it to the hamburger style for the web and print ads that you can see on www.instroke.com

Once in a while you will see the instroke logo in black. That is because some dealers changed on their website or in their catalog. I have never understood why that they felt it is ok to change my logo but they did.

But on the actual product it is still the same, blue dot, blue accents.
 
How about the styles?

There is many amazing styles between state wbsite and GER website.
But the TW side or China side, didnt have that many styles can order???

There is many copy goods around Asia, does Instroke have rights to sue or protect their brand name and design.

best regards
 
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