H3R - What a Scumbag Business

[CoolTech]

Yes, I am very angry. For almost 15 years we have developed niche products for the Jeep Wrangler community. There's an unwritten rule born out of mutual respect and business integrity that US manufacturers just don't blatantly copy each others products. It's bad enough that this happens all too frequently with China-based companies, but it is relatively unheard of in US companies serving the 4WD communities.

Yet, this is exactly what H3R did to us. In 2009 we set out to bring a creative, robust, fire extinguisher bracket to market. Many of you purchased them and most of our sales we elected to package the bracket with an H3R mount. We had corresponded several times with H3R and the business was good for both of us. Many of you purchased our bracket with their mount - and often you chose one of their fire extinguishers.

Well, I guess it wasn't good enough for H3R who - instead of developing their own mount for the JL's elected instead just to blatantly copy our bracket and call it their own. Yes, they pre-drilled it to fit more of their mounts, but the bracket is otherwise identical - so much so that we have fielded several support emails from customers who believed that had purchased a package solution that incorporated our bracket.

The lack of business integrity demonstrated by H3R is simply astounding. Mind you, we had been very loyal to them and nearly exclusively promoted their mounts. The thanks that we get is that rather than invest and innovate - they took the low road to just copy our bracket and call it their own.

Now, don't go saying that we should have patented our design.... that's really not financially viable when you are talking about low-volume, niche (single-vehicle) solutions. All of us as manufacturers understand that - hence the unwritten rule. Competition through innovation and offering a superior product - I'm 100% for it. Profit by just duplicating someone else's efforts.... that's just slimy. Go to hell, H3R.

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[Original_Junior]

Sucks asssss. Zero integrity but that is the world we live in. Hence why few spend the time and money developing anything in the US that won't sell millions. So much cheaper to have that done in China. And if someone does, there's always another guy around the corner looking to take a shortcut to perceived success. Wolves.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Now, don't go saying that we should have patented our design.... that's really not financially viable when you are talking about low-volume, niche (single-vehicle) solutions.

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It is not only the cost of the patent - it more the cost of defending it. Been There done that and have the T Shirts - We have had to defend several patents over the years and I can assure you the cost of the patent plus the legal fees is most times more than the profit you would earn. Unfortunately some time you just need to do it.

 

[CoolTech]

Yep, you both make excellent points. Why bother investing and making a new product if other companies will just take and copy it. Did I mention they didn't even write their own instructions? Just cut and pasted chunks of our install. The salt in the wound was that H3R was a partner - not a competitor and I brought them in.... not the other way around.

And, yes, the patent process is time consuming, expensive, and as Saddle Tramp mentions, you need deep pockets to pursue any infringements.

 

[Zenmaster238]

With our bracket and the AUFER mount - a wide selection of fire extinguishers can be selected from. No longer is there a need for over-priced units like H3R when you can purchase a pair of equal quality extinguishers for less than the premium charged for a single H3R.

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