Originally Posted by Werks

At the end of the day morally we all have to decide how we want to conduct our business. People always seem to fall back on the OS/Mugen example etc. forgetting that the difference is that Mugen contacted OS and had them develop an alternative version of and existing engine for them which they purchased from OS, the company that designed and developed the original engine. This is again completely different than a company in Taiwan copying someones engine design, producing it their self and putting their own name on it.

The fact that this may or may not happen with cars or tires all the time still does not make the behavior any more palatable. Nor I should say should it make it any more acceptable to those of us in the industry with companies that invest our time and money in the development of our products. I've watched what you have done over the years with the development of your dyno etc. and this has taken time, money and a lot of effort, something that I feel you should be congratulated for. I also have spoken in the past to some of the mag people you were involved with and they indicated to me that you also sold some of them (and I was also thinking about buying one a couple of years ago). If a company in asia copied your dyno and sold it for 1/2 the price and called it the Y-Dyno I would be sitting here saying the same thing about how that is not correct and have the exact same mentality about defending your product. Now if the Y-dyno was a proprietary design and something developed in house by those people or you licensed your design to them, well that would be a totally different thing.

The bottom line is that whether we realize it or not providing any type of support to these type of companies and their products legitimizes their actions. Something that morally I think that we should have an obligation not to do. At the end of the day a fake OS engine is still a fake OS engine. Just like a fake Rolex is still a fake Rolex and a fake Mona Lisa painting is still a fake Mona Lisa painting no matter what type of spin we put on it.

On a side note also I'm not attacking you, I was just voicing my feelings on this. As mentioned I've watched the stuff that you have done over the years and although I've never spoken with you in person I have a lot of respect for what you have done including in my opinion developing the first legitimate dyno system for micro-engines. You are a prime example of the fact that if you have an idea and are willing to put a lot of effort, time and dedication into it you can pretty much accomplish whatever you want. I said I was disappointed because to me companies like the one we are now discussing represent the exact opposite of that mentality, spend zero time, effort or dedication just buy one of the better items that you can find and copy it. Is this really something that we should be supporting even if in the end the product works?