Reply To: DropTop by DrTabletop — Dropper Bottle Solution for GW Paints

[limburger 21708xp 0]

@turbocooler the current system works for GW.
They sell a ton of paint, teach everyone to use their paint. And with contrast paints they’ve taken the next step.
They don’t need to sell ‘more’, especially if that means handing part of the potential profit to a 3rd party.

Newbies won’t understand why they would need a 2$ fix (or a 25% mark-up) just to paint their models.
The kickstarter movie is making a mountain out of a tiny molehill.
The low stance of the GW bottles already prevents a lot of accidents as they aren’t as easy to knock over as they suggest.
Plus they rarely are filled to the top … which is another part of a design solution that is easy to pass off as ‘greed’, but also has a practical function.

Even without a legal copyright on those bottles they don’t need to do much to invalidate that design.
As they state on their kickstarter the tolerances for fitting that topper are minimal.
All GW needs to do is change the top a tiny bit and it will fail. *poof*
No lawyer needed and GW can pass it off as a simple design improvement.

These guys could do a lot to stop GW sending in the lawyers, by simply talking to them.
If they don’t do that (or worse : if they refuse) all they really are doing is giving their enemy even more ammo in a potential legal battle.
They are expected to make an effort (and provide proof). And you can be sure as heck that a GW lawyer will make use of that little omission.

Keep in mind that a modification to a product is a whole different ballgame when you’re doing it for profit.
They might not mind hobbyists doing such things on a small scale (with the help of a 3D printer for example).
Companies like GW have better things to do with their lawyers … until they don’t because something catches their interest.

I do hope this kickstarter gets funded and that it results in a nice (niche) product that can improve our hobby.