That's because it's not a tribute cue. And no someone could not take off the logo and sell it as a Chudy. To do that someone would need to put the Chudy logo on it. Because 2 minute's of research shows that all Chudy cues have the RC3 logo on them.
I totally disagree people are deceived every single day, and cue maker signature are lost in most cases do to refinish work not done by the cue maker
Misrepresentation has nothing at all to do with the maker though when they put out their product with no malice. Anyone can take any cue and alter it to attempt to defraud someone else.
If no malice was intended, people would not try to build a reputation for themselves by stealing another makers unique work, whether fraud was their intention or not.
Hell I saw a guy here in China pull out a Helmstetter Balabuska, with signature on the forearm and then pull out a laminated copy of the Blue Book's entry on George Balabushka to show me to "prove" that the cue was valuable. The price he was asking, $10,000. Someone somewhere probably ended up getting scammed on this cue. That's life and has been happening since ugg sold stuff to ogg.
Did you know that the ancient greek merchants invented distinctive packaging to differentiate their wine from the competition's? They would hire gangs of enforcers to smash the jugs of wine merchants who copied their jug design.
Yes Richard was the first to do the one-sided veneers, but he isn't the first anymore. In all things someone always has to be the first. Being the first is special but it does not grant a person a monopoly on whatever it is that they did first.
No your right he is no longer the only one, that is the reason I started this thread. I have never said that it granted anyone a Monopoly on anything, I have only said that the guy stole a unique design that was not copied by anyone else to my knowledge until the cue in question was built.
If I were the first person to run a mile in three minutes would you seek to ban all other humans from running a mile in three minutes? What if they copied my technique and broke my 3 minute record and started running it in 2 minutes? Should we shoot them?
There is no way on the Earth that you can prevent fraud Craig. It's impossible. No matter what is made someone else will find a way to copy it and use that copy to defraud others. You are honestly wasting your time raging about it and speculating about what could happen.
The only real way to prevent yourself from being defrauded is to practice due diligence. Do your homework. People that don't do this are much easier to con.
On this we agree, being defrauded can happen to anyone. Like I said in a previous post even the likes of Barry Szamboti has misidentified cues that he thought were made by his father, but that just shows why design theft is such a big problem. I am not raging about anything in this thread, I have left that up to you and others, all I have done is express my opinion on this subject, you have to remember John Raging / pissing contests really serve no purpose. When you allow yourself to become involved in those type of battles what is right and wrong don't matter so much anymore. The only thing that does matter is who can better control their emotions, because the person who does this will win hands down every time.
The point is that we can not run around and condemn every person who makes a pool cue in a similar "Style" as another cue maker. We can't use the excuse that such a cue could be used to deceive some other person somewhere down the road. A hammer can be used to kill and we don't ban hammers.
There is difference between making a cue with a similar style/design and stealing / coping a unique design. The design in question is not a run of mill design, it was obviously copied down to the number of stacked Veneer's that Richard is famous for. Please not try and right this off as a simple mistake in style, I think that it is reasonably clear that the cues design was intentionally copied.
If you want to condemn the people who make dead-nuts knockoffs then go ahead. I think that using another person's catalog of cue designs is crass and unimaginative.
If that were true than why are arguing here? Because that is what was done.
But if one looks at the fashion industry which is doing about a trillion dollars a year in revenue they are flourishing despite the fact that millions of copies of the newest designs flood the market within weeks of being debuted on the runways at the big shows. All the famous brands are big and rich and the designers are celebrities. There is no copyright attached to fashion designs and yet the industry is making tons of money.
Let's look at just these two threads. Richard Chudy has gotten a ton of free publicity off this discussion. I would not be surprised if he gets a few orders. I knew he did the one-sided veneers but I hadn't really gone to look at his work and now I have and he has some amazing cues. So the benefit to Chudy is that this one cue from a new maker has generated more buzz about Chudy's work. This is great because no matter how much you or I are in the know about who does what there are people out there who don't have a clue who Richard Chudy is.
Richard was very well know before his design was stolen, that is what made it so easy to spot. I am certain that he would not want people to make knock offs of his designs so he can get the orders you are talking about. In my opinion anyone who deals in this business whether you are collector or dealer in cues for living already were very familiar with Richards work before this thread, he not not some up and coming cue maker, he has already made a name for himself without the help of any design thief. You are right there are many who do not know about Richards work, however, the very people you are talking about also do not buy $1000 + cues so it really doesn't matter that much.
And when it comes down to it people who have the money and who have the desire aren't looking to buy cues from people who specialize in being second to market with a particular style or design. Those people want to buy from the originator, they want original art from the source.
So it all works out in the cycle of life.
Have a great night
