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The story which we posted two days ago about Orbitec suing PFO is just a small glimpse of the dramatic saga that will affect the future of LEDs in the marine aquarium trade for a long time to come. Following our story, Orbitec released a damage controlling non-statement which did very little to explain their position but in their defense, they nor PFO nor anyone involved in this case is at liberty to discuss any details pertaining to legal proceedings of this case. We get that. On the one hand, PFO is clearly violating no less than three components of Orbitec’s patent and it is probable that PFO was in a financial hurt before they started feeling the pain of this lawsuit. On the other hand, the claims of the Orbitec’s patent are very broad, obvious and they were clearly preceeded by much prior art even before this patent was filed. Whether or not Orbitec and their subsidiary Planet-llc intend to release a light fixture for the aquarium trade, we regret that Orbitec and PFO were not able to come to an agreement about this lawsuit. We can’t imagine that breaking one of our industry’s best and most innovative companies is the cooth way for them to make an entrance. When taking in all the facts, we believe that Orbitec wants to go to court so they can validate their patent and use that precedent to intimidate any other potential players in the LED aquarium lighting market. A judge will decide in March or April whether this case will go to Jury trial. Please comment below.
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This Orbitec is just way out of line IMO, they are not even making a unit to sell like PFO. They only have a general idea, without an actual product…. BS! I will tell anyone that I kown in this hobby not to buy their aquarium product.
Admittedly this case may affect existing manufacturers of LED lighting. And, in turn, that may have a negative impact on the industry. But, these are assumptions. All we know for sure is PFO put all of their resources into a product they didn’t even hold patent on. More over there was already a patent filed before they started producing. This just sounds like bad business. I’m in no way happy to see any company fail, but I’m not blaming Orbitec. I, for one, look forward to seeing what Orbitec produces. A company with the resources and experience Orbitec might just be the catalyst we need to finally bring down the cost and mainstream LED lighting.
Yeah I agree with matt on this one… Look it sucks to see other fail … but If you made a product design and you got all excited for it but for some reason had to put this project on hold ..perhaps to make way for production of something they had been planning on longer…wouldn’t you want to be able to come back to your own design for release without fear of it being taken from you? whoever hold the patent is the creator its just the law doesn’t even matter who really designed it first …just who patented it first… they reserved the right to produce the product for distribution …. maybe they waited so long cause they wanted the product to be the best it would be for you the consumer. At the same time not cost an arm and a leg.
Hey folks, this fight is not over! Tullio Del Aquila is picking up the fight where PFO ran out of money. If anyone can straighten this out he can! Stand by, film at 11;00 !
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PFO should just claim that the units are for ‘underwater light simulation’… without any claims as far as ‘growing marine animals’. There are sooo many ways around this one.
http://www.planet-llc.com/pages/sunbow/pages/apollo.htm
Quote…”A company with the resources and experience Orbitec might just be the catalyst we need to finally bring down the cost and mainstream LED lighting.”
Did you see the price of their “Sunbow Science Research Lamp” ? http://www.planet-llc.com/pages/store/led.htm
I really hope that’s no reflection of cost on a larger aquarium use fixture!
It looks like Orbitec plans to build an aquarium lighting system using their subsidiary’s name Planet-LLC. Probably hiding behind the Planet-LLC name because they look like real jerks now. http://www.orbitec.com/frames/led.html links you to Planet-LLC with a link for the “Apollo LED Aquarium Lighting System”, which states “Check back soon for design photographs and order information.” I urge every aquarium owner to boycott both Planet-LLC and Orbitec.
Orbitec is using Planet-LLC because they are a small(in numbers) research firm with some prototype fabrication capabilities. They are not a mass production company. They create, test, and implement a design scheme and then the subsidiary will build it to spec/market/sell it.
Boycotting the company that holds the patent is stupid, as it only hinders progress. If they get into the market, and people see them as good product and start buying them up, others will get into the market also trying to get a slice of what should be a large lucrative market… increased demand drives innovations and reduced cost(think the olevia’s in the LCD TV world). If everyone is boycotting the system, it doesn’t look as appealing financially to other companies. Which keeps competitors and innovations down, which keeps prices high. Think of it like computers. If there was only toshiba, nobody else making or improving them, and you don’t buy toshiba… it looks like there is no market for the system…. this is a gross oversimplification… but get the point….
Best of all, if you boycot them, and someone else wants to make the same product… they will sell off royalty rights, and still make a profit except now they can just sit and collect rather than reinvesting that money in improvements.
I just wanted to say that I love this site
What this all really means is Orbitec owns a very vague patent on something that has the potential to save millions in personal electric bills, tons and tons of refuse from burnt out bulbs, not taking into account the enviromental impact of the mercury in the tubes or the flouresents. It seems absurd that they wouldn’t have a real plan to capitalize on this. And this has no potential to reduce costs because even if they come out with something they would be a monopoly, so basically the forever poor reef fanatic is screwed. Maybe somebody should put that politician/scientist/capitalist/GW alarmist dumble Gore onto this he might actually be able to do something productive with that gas guzzeling plane of his.
This is the most stupid and irrational thing I’ve ever heard, so what exactly are they claiming about? All that you can see in that stupid patent is an ugly drawing and a list of basic electronic components that are commonly used in almost every electrical and electronic product. So what is the novelty or innovation here? the use of a potentiometer to dime the light? the use of a power supply to “power” the light source.. to illuminate something? the use of an on/off switch to activate or deactivate an electronic apparatus? or is it about the use of a ligth source with a wavelength between 380nm~690nm???
Do you own the intellectual property rights of the above mentioned electronic components? Did you conduct the study to determine the proper wavelength for marine photosynthesis? or are you the inventor of the light-emitting diode?
Obviously the answer is none of above… In my opinion, you are not a hobbyist, you don’t care about our hobby, so go back to your rocket or whatever you do and leave us alone.
Tullio is in Jail for assault and cocaine possesion maybe when this scammer gets out he can help.
Tullio is serving time for assault on a young girl and cocaine possesion of 2 ounces http://www.uticaod.com/homepage/x313691752/Sylvan...
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[...] We suppose this was going to happen eventually, but the famous PFO website is finally no more. Early reports suggest that he website appears to have been pulled yesterday. A truly sad day for all aquarists. Now, the only thing we can wait on are the results back from the on-going lawsuit and who knows how long that will take. [...]