Question about patents

[ReamerPunch]

Bear & Son had the patent for all outside opening tools. This prevented Leatherman from doing the same with their PST.
What about nowadays?
Why can CRKT make the Technician? Does it not violate Bear & Son's patent?
Or SOG with their 2018 models. Ganzos are also all-outside tools. And countless clones.

[Vidar]

Bear & Son had the patent for all outside opening tools. This prevented Leatherman from doing the same with their PST.
What about nowadays?
Why can CRKT make the Technician? Does it not violate Bear & Son's patent?
Or SOG with their 2018 models. Ganzos are also all-outside tools. And countless clones.

In almost all countries patents have a limited maximum lifespan. Typically 20 years. (Often 25 for certain fields like medicines with the reasoning that they are particularly time consuming to get to market due to all the required trials and approvals).

There is also a yearly fee to maintain the patent during these years, and that fee is typically increasing every year.

And a patent in one country doesn't mean it is valid in another. This one is likely time related though.

Edit: It should also be mentioned that patent holders can loose in court. It is quite common that a patent which gets challenged in court end up loosing or having its scope narrowed. Bascially the court is saying that the patent should never have been granted in the first place, or that it covered more than it should have been allowed to.

Edit2: These is also the possibility that the others have paid or otherwise made a deal to license the patented technology. For many patent holders that is the intended business model in the first place.

[ReamerPunch]

Thanks! 

I was looking at my PST. Bear & Son flipped the handles inside out, and made their Bear Jaws. I was thinking LM could do the same with a Rebar or something. Kinda how SOG made the PowerAccess.

[ThundahBeagle]

In the 90's, IIRC, Victorinox actually purchased Bear and Sons for a while, just to get the patent and create their outside opening tool sets. They altered the tools and deploy method slightly and someone from Bear and Sons bought the company back.

[Lynn LeFey]

We've also seen Gerber's sliding plier head design patent expire, allowing Leatherman to make the OHT.

[ThePeacent]

what about compound leverage, is that patented as well?   
The concept, or only the name?   

I have some Gerber loppers that uses compound leverage to double the force at the jaw...

[sLaughterMed]

what about compound leverage, is that patented as well?   
The concept, or only the name?   

I have some Gerber loppers that uses compound leverage to double the force at the jaw...

It is patented in its use in multitools by SOG

[Vidar]

what about compound leverage, is that patented as well?   
The concept, or only the name?   

I have some Gerber loppers that uses compound leverage to double the force at the jaw...

It is patented in its use in multitools by SOG

They have patented certain technical implementations for compound leverage. Not compund leverage as a general concept - that existed in many forms long before their patent.

[ThePeacent]

what about compound leverage, is that patented as well?   
The concept, or only the name?   

I have some Gerber loppers that uses compound leverage to double the force at the jaw...

It is patented in its use in multitools by SOG

They have patented certain technical implementations for compound leverage. Not compund leverage as a general concept - that existed in many forms long before their patent.

OK thank you both