Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Just took a quick look at FM.

Yikes! There is no pleasing some folks.

Illegitimi non carborundum

Bill F

Here is my email response to communication to me from Lighting Rumors editor:

Dear David,

We originally contracted with Neo Umbrella Co of China to implement our PLM™ design and produce this product exclusively for Paul C. Buff, Inc. In the process we paid several thousands of dollars for custom molds for certain parts unique to the PLM with the strict understanding that these molds were our property and that Neo would not offer the design or use of our molds to any other party without our express permission. To this end, please notice the "slider" . . . the part the opens the umbrella is engraved win the mold with the clearly visible name "BUFF".

When we became dissatisfied with Neo's work and quality we demanded that he ship our molds to our new vendor.

Neo agreed to do this, but failed to do so in spite of several request on our part for him to honor the terms of our agreement.

Then the pirated versions started showing up via Viewfinder camera. Customer who purchased these "PLMs" reported to use that indeed the sliders were engraved with "BUFF". We also purchased one of these from Viewfinder and indeed confirmed it had been produced from our proprietary molds and designs and supplied by Neo Umbrella.

I strongly informed, several more times, to Kevin - owner of Neo that he was in violation of our agreements and was illegally using our property and designs. He replied this was some sort of mistake and that he would cease and desist, and insisted he was indeed an honorably man. He reiterated that he would send the our molds to our new vendor.

To this date he continues to refuse to ship the molds and apparently is now continuing to manufacture our product and selling it now to Cotsworld as well as Viewfinder camera.

I would suggest, if you want to be a legitimate leader in your reporting that you acquire one of these umbrellas from Cotsworld and from Arlington and verify for yourself whether indeed current offered products are engraved with the word "Buff".

I also noticed in your pages there are comments that the umbrellas are somehow superior to our original PLM™ V1 umbrellas. This is entirely false . . . the umbrellas in question are direct copies of our original PLM™ V1, illegally made from molds that are our property

By not addressing this properly you may be aiding and abetting pirated products of Paul C. Buff, Inc.

As you are probably aware, attempting to file suits in China on an issue like this are impractical.

Also, there have been posts on your pages that the vendor "Neo" is perhaps selling stock that we ordered and failed to take delivery of. These rumors are entirely false as we have paid for and received each and every item we ordered from Neo.

I trust you will take steps to clarify this issue.

I assume you are also aware that we have made vast improvements to our PLM™ system and are now beginning to ship these as Version 2, and that we are in the process of filing Patents for the PLM™ V2 designs.

I appreciate your efforts on this issue. The first thing to look for is the presence of the engraved word "BUFF" on the slider. Beyond this, I'm confident we can dig up a PLMV1 and send it to you for direct comparison.

Another tipoff is the length of the shaft shown in pictures published on the link you supplied. Because of complaints of excess shaft length from some of our customers we contracted with Falcon Eyes to produce PLMs for a short time, using parts purchased from Neo with our permission, but with a shorter shaft length. Falcon Eyes, like Neo, failed to achieve the quality we insisted on and had delivery time problems, but acted honorably toward us.

I am attaching email address for Kevin at Neo umbrella if you choose to follow up on this. I would also suggest you inquire of both Viewfinder and Cotsworld as to exactly what umbrella factory is producing these items. I believe this will lead back to Neo.

I look forward to your comments on all of this. I have attached a couple of communications between myself and Kevin at Neo at the bottom of this email for your reference.

Best regards,

Paul Buff

filing lawsuits in China may be impractical, but within the UK, where it seems his site/company is located, should be easier. Also, communicating directly to his ISP that he is selling these with false statements, and filing such a notice with the appropriate ministry there might shut this down fast. Your UK partner should be able to help with this, I would assume.

Paul

As a PLM owner (bought it 2nd hand, best thing I did), and living in the UK, I can perhaps shed a bit of light, having been reading this thread for a while (and the one on FM).

Last week I bought a Viewfinder one and one from Cotswold Photo.

The viewfinder one is (or at least appears to be), identical to my V1. It has BUFF on the slider, material the same. Marks on the ribs (from the mold). All the same.

The Cotswold one is not. The material is slightly heavier, the silver finish shinier and smoother. There is no BUFF on the slider, and careful examination of the metal bits shows they are not the same. The ribs are slightly different. Slightly different dimensions, different marks. I would say they are not from the same molds.

My wife is a legal person (not a litigation lawyer, but nonetheless ...). Would you have a case against Viewfinder on the use of the molds? Doubtful. Your contract is with Neo and it is they who you should turn to for compensation. Her view was that in China you have a greater chance seeing the sun rise in the West.

IF you have registered the BUFF name as a trademark in the EU prior to them selling the umbrellas, you could contact a UK lawyer to prepare a case for the Trading Standards office local to Viewfinder to visit them and claim that they are infringing your rights. They would most likely visit and check the items to see if your claim is valid. Part of that would be your proof of ownership of the BUFF name in the EU etc. You might also have a case for them misleading the public, but it would have to be a customer who does that, not you. And as they make no mention of PCB in their website, that would be hard to do.

As to the Cotswold Photo ones, not sure what you can do. No BUFF name showing. Clearly not your molds. The metal bits are also different. Like many things in life, the best designs inspire competition.

Roy

This whole thing is a mute point. Costs of any sort of legal action far outweigh any positive benefits. It's a copy cat world and our sales and profits are fantastic, as they have always been. I have more important things to do than to try to stomp out all the fleas in the world.

What's up with this thread? Anyone here gotten there V2's yet or has the scoop on ship times?

Lots of PLM v.2's are out there. Please see the note at the top of this page:
http://www.alienbees.com/plm.html

The news release on the PLM page says that there is a problem with the white fabric PLM's. I just received my 64" white PLM a couple weeks ago. Is the issue regarding color or fabric/stitching strength?

The issue is neither of the above . . . it is an issue of moisture absorption of the Nylon fabric used. The result is a tightening and loosening of the fabric at different humidity percentages. Not a huge functional problem, but we have switched to Polyester fabric for complete shape stability.

Getting back to the original question posed by this thread: How are things on the PLM v2 production front? Is the rate accelerating?

R.