5 ms·

So the end result is still an enviromentally unfriendly destruction of 2000 perfectly fine multimeters. Just because they are yellow.

toomuchtodo 13y ago
Baby steps. You can't expect massive changes overnight in such a complex system. Fluke did a solid AND the trademark system is broken; both are news.
- johansch 13y ago
  A nicer solution could have been: Fluke: "We'll swap your 2000 chinese multimeters with 2000 Fluke multimeters. We will send the non-fluke multimeters to under-funded universities in africa/asia/wherever."
  - ryoshu 13y ago
    That would still dilute the mark. Fluke had a lot of options and it looks like they took the best one.
    - johansch 13y ago
      Do they really have a trademark for yellow multimeters in e.g. Tanzania?
  - EpicEng 13y ago
    Why in the world would/should Fluke give away ~$800,000 worth of product (that sparkfun would make a ton of money off of) because someone decided to violate their trademark and paid the price for it? We're talking about 2,000 vastly inferior multimeters here. You may or may not agree with the trademark being issued in the first place, but it was, and I don't blame fluke for wanting to protect their brand. They make a really good product. These things are pieces of garbage in comparison.
    - schoen 13y ago
      I think you mean trademark.
      - EpicEng 13y ago
        That I did.
    - userbinator 13y ago
      > Why in the world would/should Fluke give away ~$800,000 worth of product I've seen a lot more than that spent on marketing stunts, except in this case the consumers actually benefit by getting better equipment.
      - vacri 13y ago
        Marketing stunts don't usually give away the core product.
        freehunter 13y ago
        Do things that don't scale!
    - jaeysin 13y ago
      But they didn't violate their trademark, there is no use of the name Fluke or their trademark. "A trademark is a brand name. A trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services. " http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/ http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/ You could make an argument that the products themselves are look-alikes, or pursue them if they created a similar trademark to cause confusion, but it doesnt seem to me that they obviously acted to violate a trademark.
      - rhizome 13y ago
        which is called "trade dress" and is much more difficult for fluke to prevail on.
  - revelation 13y ago
    Are you trying to get people in africa/asia/wherever killed? If touching it can kill you, I wouldn't go anywhere near it with a 15 bucks meter. And for everything else, the sheer terribleness of these will soon annoy you into buying something usable.
    - jzwinck 13y ago
      Poor people may not be able to buy expensive equipment. It may be that having worse equipment is better than none. We shouldn't always apply the same level of "if one person gets hurt it is unacceptable" protectionism to other societies.
      - userbinator 13y ago
        If your choice is e.g. between using a not-safe-as-a-Fluke meter to help fix your vehicle that broke down in a remote area, or starve to death, would anyone really choose the latter? Some very good examples of this principle: http://mackys.livejournal.com/838591.html?nojs=1 http://mackys.livejournal.com/838591.html?nojs=1 http://www.afrigadget.com/2010/02/28/jua-kali-dressed-in-mitumba/ http://www.afrigadget.com/2010/02/28/jua-kali-dressed-in-mit...
      - noonespecial 13y ago
        I wish people would consider this more often. We seem to have an epidemic of "if we can't do it perfectly, we shouldn't do it at all" infecting many areas of American life at the moment. Unfortunately, this usually results very little perfect and a great deal of not doing anything.
        drdaeman 13y ago
        Depends on particular niche. For hardware supplies, yes, having a bad device is better than having none. For crypto software - no, it must be state-of-art or we're screwed.
  - amartya916 13y ago
    They are donating the multimeters, that's what the Sparkfun blog says at least: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428
    - johansch 13y ago
      Awesome!
bronson 13y ago
An oversimplified answer to an oversimplified question: yes.
sparky 13y ago
They need not be destroyed[1] : Goods that are seized and forfeited as bearing a mark that is a counterfeit of a registered trademark, piratical of a registered copyright or imported in violation of distribution rights agreements are routinely destroyed, unless the owner of the trademark/copyright gives permission for other disposition, such as charitable donations. Fluke seems like they might be cool with that. [1] https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/105/kw/what%20happens%20to%20seized%20items/session/L3RpbWUvMTM5NTM1NDcwNi9zaWQvNDZCbEpLUGw%3D/suggested/1 https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/105/kw/what%20h...
aortega 13y ago
The truth is, Sparky the dumb technician may think that because they are yellow and very similar, the multimeters have 50000V isolation like the flukes. If you pardon the pun, he's having a shocking suprise, if he survives.

toomuchtodo 13y ago

Baby steps. You can't expect massive changes overnight in such a complex system. Fluke did a solid AND the trademark system is broken; both are news.

johansch 13y ago
A nicer solution could have been: Fluke: "We'll swap your 2000 chinese multimeters with 2000 Fluke multimeters. We will send the non-fluke multimeters to under-funded universities in africa/asia/wherever."
- ryoshu 13y ago
  That would still dilute the mark. Fluke had a lot of options and it looks like they took the best one.
  - johansch 13y ago
    Do they really have a trademark for yellow multimeters in e.g. Tanzania?
- EpicEng 13y ago
  Why in the world would/should Fluke give away ~$800,000 worth of product (that sparkfun would make a ton of money off of) because someone decided to violate their trademark and paid the price for it? We're talking about 2,000 vastly inferior multimeters here. You may or may not agree with the trademark being issued in the first place, but it was, and I don't blame fluke for wanting to protect their brand. They make a really good product. These things are pieces of garbage in comparison.
  - schoen 13y ago
    I think you mean trademark.
    - EpicEng 13y ago
      That I did.
  - userbinator 13y ago
    > Why in the world would/should Fluke give away ~$800,000 worth of product I've seen a lot more than that spent on marketing stunts, except in this case the consumers actually benefit by getting better equipment.
    - vacri 13y ago
      Marketing stunts don't usually give away the core product.
      - freehunter 13y ago
        Do things that don't scale!
  - jaeysin 13y ago
    But they didn't violate their trademark, there is no use of the name Fluke or their trademark. "A trademark is a brand name. A trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services. " http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/ http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/ You could make an argument that the products themselves are look-alikes, or pursue them if they created a similar trademark to cause confusion, but it doesnt seem to me that they obviously acted to violate a trademark.
    - rhizome 13y ago
      which is called "trade dress" and is much more difficult for fluke to prevail on.
- revelation 13y ago
  Are you trying to get people in africa/asia/wherever killed? If touching it can kill you, I wouldn't go anywhere near it with a 15 bucks meter. And for everything else, the sheer terribleness of these will soon annoy you into buying something usable.
  - jzwinck 13y ago
    Poor people may not be able to buy expensive equipment. It may be that having worse equipment is better than none. We shouldn't always apply the same level of "if one person gets hurt it is unacceptable" protectionism to other societies.
    - userbinator 13y ago
      If your choice is e.g. between using a not-safe-as-a-Fluke meter to help fix your vehicle that broke down in a remote area, or starve to death, would anyone really choose the latter? Some very good examples of this principle: http://mackys.livejournal.com/838591.html?nojs=1 http://mackys.livejournal.com/838591.html?nojs=1 http://www.afrigadget.com/2010/02/28/jua-kali-dressed-in-mitumba/ http://www.afrigadget.com/2010/02/28/jua-kali-dressed-in-mit...
    - noonespecial 13y ago
      I wish people would consider this more often. We seem to have an epidemic of "if we can't do it perfectly, we shouldn't do it at all" infecting many areas of American life at the moment. Unfortunately, this usually results very little perfect and a great deal of not doing anything.
      - drdaeman 13y ago
        Depends on particular niche. For hardware supplies, yes, having a bad device is better than having none. For crypto software - no, it must be state-of-art or we're screwed.
- amartya916 13y ago
  They are donating the multimeters, that's what the Sparkfun blog says at least: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428
  - johansch 13y ago
    Awesome!

bronson 13y ago

An oversimplified answer to an oversimplified question: yes.

sparky 13y ago

They need not be destroyed[1] : Goods that are seized and forfeited as bearing a mark that is a counterfeit of a registered trademark, piratical of a registered copyright or imported in violation of distribution rights agreements are routinely destroyed, unless the owner of the trademark/copyright gives permission for other disposition, such as charitable donations. Fluke seems like they might be cool with that. [1] https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/105/kw/what%20happens%20to%20seized%20items/session/L3RpbWUvMTM5NTM1NDcwNi9zaWQvNDZCbEpLUGw%3D/suggested/1 https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/105/kw/what%20h...

aortega 13y ago

The truth is, Sparky the dumb technician may think that because they are yellow and very similar, the multimeters have 50000V isolation like the flukes. If you pardon the pun, he's having a shocking suprise, if he survives.