Old and new Campy 10 speed compatibility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China#Patent_law

The thing is that I think that most modern, rigid (no suspension) bicycle frames, whether made from steel, aluminium or carbon, have few, if any, patentable technologies on them. It's your garden variety double-diamond frame with a bunch of interfaces that are either over a century old prior art(e.g. insertion-type seatpost, threaded BB, press-fit headset), or modern open-standards (e.g. BB30, BB90, IS disc-mount etc.). And bicycling is not exactly at the forefront of material or manufacturing technology either. There just isn't a whole lot to patent. There are obviously exceptions, but I think this is generally true. Sure, the makers will throw in a bunch of curves and bulges nowadays too, to make things visually interesting, but most of these are not patentable either, since they rarely fulfil the general criteria for patent - new, non-obvious and useful.

That said the appearance of the frame can be protected as a registered design or trade dress, i.e. distinctive design which helps to identify to the consumer the origin (manufacturer) of the product. But I can only really think of about a dozen really distinctive rigid frame designs from the last century (GT's hellenic frame, the Flying Gate, that-BMC-thing, Cannondale Killer-V, Hetchins curly-stays etc). Strip away the decals and the paint, I think most of us would have a really hard time identifying most modern carbon road frames, especially when frame designs change as often as they have in the last few decades. So protecting frames with registered design or trade dress is also probably very difficult. I suppose Pinarello does have that weird as-if-seen-through-a-mirage curly stays and fork thing, but I'd be stupefied if it hasn't been done before like the hellenic frames.

Now compare rigid frames to major drivetrain components (i.e. NOT just chainrings or jockey wheels), disc-brakes, or suspension frames, you know, things that actually use technologies protected by patents, and all of which are made in China/Taiwan/Asia. You don't see any warnings from manufacturers about fakes, neither do you find no-label look-a-likes. (okay, there are a lot of no-label full-sus frames, but I'd argue that unlike the Pina fakes on ebay, they are not made to resemble known brands.)

I'm no expert on the matter, but I'd guess that the Chinese legal system is only part of the problem. I'm willing to bet that most people looking to buy fake Pinarellos on ebay or fake Louis Vuittons in Thailand are not being duped as such - they know it's not the real thing but they want to save some money. I think there lies the other part of the problem - counterfeits come out of places like China because the cheap labour combined with existing manufacturing capacities (plants and know-hows) means that counterfeits can be manufactured cheaply. If I want to make cheap carbon knockoffs in the UK I'd have to set up a plant first, then either train new workers or hire them from other industries that have experience working with carbon fibre, and I have to pay them UK wages. But who's gonna buy my fake Pina on ebay when they are only marginally cheaper than the real thing? Especially when the real thing is so readily available. I might as well throw in some marketing money and create my own brand.

So I guess it's sort of a smart move on Campa's part to manufacture in Romania - even if it had not been part of the EU, their Romanian technicians can't exactly just take Campa's designs to those *other *Romanian component manufacturers and start making counterfeits. There might be cheap labour, but outside of Campa's own facility I doubt there's the manufacturing capacity to make cheap counterfeits. But it's a two way street - sure it might be slightly safer in Romania, but Campagnolo had to build its own factories at considerable expense and it missed out on a workforce of technicians and workers that has real bike industry experience. Besides as SRAM, Race Face and FSA have demonstrated, drivetrain components are not susceptible to counterfeiting anyway - whatever IP laws they have in China/Taiwan/Asia seems to be working fine for those guys.

Sorry about the gigantic derail though. Can you tell I'm really bored at work?