Can someone explain to me what this accomplishes?

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/news...1000083334.html

could mean a lot of royalties from other companies if they are found to be in violation of the patent.

It means that a lot of companies are about to get ceast and desist letters (if they haven't already). It also probably means that a lot of companies will probably be sued for lost profits.

Other companies who want to keep making chatterbaits will have to get a license from Z-Man and have to pay royalties.

Hate to say it, but protecting my inventions is the reason I am patenting my lure designs. I know knock offs are the norm in the tackle industry, but I have spent too much blood, sweat, tears, and money working on my design to not protect it. I am sure the folks at Z-Man feel the same way. I know Zoom has many patents and they DO enforce them.

And yes, I am an attorney.

This means all the copycats of the original Chatterbait will have to quit selling their illegal copies of the lure. So, ZMan will have a monopoly, as the creator and patent holder of this style of lure, which is only right. Like Fish Killer said, they may demand royalties from other companies for copying their lure, so we'll just have to see where this goes. I applaud them for protecting their lure design, which too much copying (i.e. stealing) of lure designs goes on in this business. Congratulations ZMan!

It will be interesting to see what develops...

You meant cease and desist, right?

Yes. It has been a long day.....

Can the Patent be enforced retroactively? I believe Gene Larew and Zoom got into it years ago with the salt impregnation technology. I understood that Gene Larew had the patent.

That sucks ZMan chatterbaits suck! The pheonix ones are the only ones i like

I thought Mr. Blitz was the first chatterbait, but maybe I am wrong. I like there blade better. Then I saw Nicholas came out with the exact mold.

It will be difficult for Z-man to inforce the patent unless competition is not able to show evidence where they improved upon the exisiting patent. I think most bait companies have been able to produce a much better working product than the original chatterbait. Companies like booyah have a much better product!

I wil have to review the patent and the preferred embodiments it protects. FWIW in my LAY opinion, using better components/ finishes is not enough to get around the patent. I also don't know if using a different shaped blade will do either, just have to read the patent to see what it protects...

It doesn't accomplish much other than Z-man can say they invented it. If the knocks offs are just designed with a minuit difference or they're able to show evidence where they improved upon the exisiting patent then it is not infringing on the original patent. Also if one of the other big company's can show where they had developed one or a prototype before chatterbait developed theirs then they can keep on producing them also and make their patent null and void. I designed/invented several Nitrous Oxide Systems and nozzles designs for professional drag racing and have had to deal with this kind of stuff in the past. So in a nutshell not much will change. There maybe some letters sent back and forth but I doubt much will change.

im with jt larkin, the z man baits are not good qaulity . the blades fall of and the hooks are not sharp. i like the phenix very well.

Thats what I'm guessing, the eaker shaker was around long before z-man, if anything the chatterbait is a copy of it.