Trouble brewing down under?
Earlier this morning we received two documents from anonymous sources indicating what seems to be a failed hostile takeover of MacDev‘s intellectual property and trademarks by Michael Whybrew, owner and proprietor of “Paintball Assassin” and “Action Paintball Games” in Australia. Whybrew appears to have recently attempted to register as an owner of the trademark “MacDev”. Paintball players around the world are well aware that MacDev is a family operation run by James, Bourke and Dianne–what’s happening down under? Readers, please check out the documents below and help us get to the bottom of this one.
This article was authored by Justin – who has written 872 paintball news and gear articles.
Justin was introduced to the game of paintball in ’96. Since then, he has been actively involved in promoting and playing in recreational and tournament paintball.
32 Comments
this guy is real real douche, i have experienced it first hand. he spends all his time in china trying to copy products just to try and be a someone.
he actually showed up to his feild waving the papers around bragging that he owned macdev and he would be taking them over :(
Hey Dale,
Thats interesting, do you know of any products that have been knocked off directly?
Thanks for reading!
Justin
http://www.ProPaintball.com
The Paintball Assasin CF barrel comes to mind… Looks like a direct knock-off of the Sly barrels…
It is a paintball barrel, made out of carbon fibre, it is a similar product not a direct knock off.
If presented with barrels from the 3 brands: Stiffi, Sly and this australian guy, without precise knowledge of the designs used by the companies, it’s easy to recognize which one is from Stiffi, but which one is Sly?
Janek: if you had gotten a hold of all three, what I would recommend is that you open your eyes.
they are CF barrels you can’t really make a straight tube unique, the porting is different, the metal end is different. Apart from that all three products are the same a Carbon fibre tube!
And I’m talking about the graphics on them… I know what they are, how they’re made and from which factory they come.
Janek says:
May 26, 2009 at 7:04 pm
And I’m talking about the graphics on them… I know what they are, how they’re made and from which factory they come.
SO please? Enlighten us with your vast knowledge of this company’s products?
I call bullshit! You know f*** ALL!
Hey Dale, how do you know this first hand?
i have been around the field when this dude braggs about things, he is a big mouth. he bragged the deathstix barrels were being made in the same factory sly used! macca you are nothing but a simple paintball player who does not understand, putting your logo on a barrel and a left hand thread does not make it different enough to say its not a knock off. shows how much you know, stiffi is made in the USA.
many guys are not backing mike anymore and because of the way he acts and the stuff he carries on with, its about time players recognise him for what he is.
honestly, how bad does somebody has to be? i mean this guy is just an freaking asshole and the biggest idiot out there.
i personally don’t think it will work out. give it up for macdev
I dont think you should actually post up the guys address??? Thats seems wrong to me.
Not to mention against the privacy act!
I smell a lawsuit?
How about you look at the second picture??
The address was posted in something called:
Australian Official Journal of Trade Marks
Pages 8090 and 8091…
So go tell the publishers of it that they broke the law :D
i have heard him talking about having the timmy copied and the tippmann. he has also sold a lot of knock off branded JT goggles without JT’s consent. before the deathstix he was planning on releasing a barrel exactly the same as a boomstick with his logo on it. fortunately this guy has no mechanical apptitude so his rip off ideas dont go much further than the barrles and packs. this is a wake up call to the industry to protect their IP.
anyone who supports this guys brands is helping to stop new products being introduced to paintball.
for those who think the DS is not a rip off of sly, the real story goes;
MW found where sly were making their barrels in china, he managed to pursuade the factory manager to logo up the rejected tips. this is how the deathstix were born, so a lot of guys who bought these were buying the barrels that were meant to be scrap. he then simply advertised it as “revolutionary”. aparently the new barrels are still made with the same tooling, it is a rip off of sly’s technology. just because the cosmetics look slightly different does not make it right.
the newer barrels are fibre glass to make it cheaper.
How do you know all of this information?? i mean it sounds like you have a grudge against this guy..do you have proof of the “knock off” JT goggles like pictures or people who have bought them? i dont like companies that rip off other peoples ideas but these accusations you have made are pretty huge without evidence or is it just hear say?
WOW dale how do you know this
did you used to work for Mike Whybrew or something
Those are public documents so address away! The guy sounds like a real douche, yet everyone defends him? ah my guess is ‘patrick’ and ‘robert’ are this guy or his followers, check the IP’s I bet you’ll find down under dirtbags.
Guys i am a field owner from Australia, now while don’t agree with ripping off products the amount of emails that I get from China that advertise products for sale is ridiculous, I had an email the other day trying to sell me the “Myth” reg and was told I can have my logo or any logo printed on it. It was that easy! obviously I didn’t do it but who owns the IP on these products? “Myth” must have copyrighted it but do the China manufacturers follow the law? I guess its a bit off track from the trademark issue but dont take the piss of this guy for trying to develop products that almost get thrown at your door. As far as the MacDev issue goes thats a strange one seems like something going on there.
Guerilla Air, the American manufacters of the Myth regulator, more than likely do have a copyright and/or patent on their product, but who forces the Chinese, Tiawanese, and other sweat shop manufacters from copying it?
That same issues popped up years ago with the fake Myth regulator scandal that involved ANSGear. The only thing that keeps it down here in the U.S.A., is the average paintball consumer’s will to be a geniune product, be it a genuine Myth regulator, genuine Ego, or otherwise.
I remember Planet Eclipse did a press release several years ago about the same thing.
Yea its a strange one, it seems the guns that come out these days are a copy of the spool valve or all look like egos, not sure how far Trademarks and Patents go these days but it seems just making small changes to designs is ok.
On a similar example, I can go down to the boulevard and there are plenty of young girls offering themselves up to me for a small fee. Just because some underage street worker is “being thrown at my door,” should we not blame me if I give in and solicit her services as well?
It may sound like an over the top example, but remember we’re talking about families bread and butter here. With a down economy, it’s stolen revenues like these that can force MacDev and others out of business. I don’t understand how everyone takes this so lightly and even defends this guy.
When you’re put out of business by third world country workers, a company overseas, or loose your job due to global ‘outsourcing’ – maybe this will all come into perspective.
there is more to this than meets the eye, this idiot has been slandering macdev for years trying to shut them down and for only one reason. they are competition and cant be owned or told what to do by him. he is also jealous of what they have achieved as he wants to be a manufacturer.
macdev have done a lot for australian paintball, when there was no national league they started the AXL. michael whybrew bad mouthed it and did everthing he could to discredit the series. he then started S7′s and stated it was to ruin the AXL. he has lied and misled players for years about things and this is him showing his true side.
unfortunately these people are everywhere that want to be known as “the man”, this one is simply worse than most!
just because a company is offering a copy of someone else’s product does not make it right to sell it.
i know macca is sponsored by this guy and i think patrick is a distributor.
This guy sounds like Shawn Walker. If I remember correctly, no one thought that scum bag was guilty either, and people defended him to the end. One of the biggest problems in this world is that people don’t care about anything but themselves anymore. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck………
Yep i agree just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. I guess this is bitting him on the butt, going on what is being said around the world on different forums.
@DJ
And you would be?
I maybe associated with Action paintball games and the super 7s but that doesn’t change the validity of my comments. I also play the AXL and have previously spoken with James regarding comments I have made.
I would like to know how many macdev sponsored or taken care of players are hiding in these comments? because personally i don’t know a DJ.
No im not a distributor…I thought Super 7′s was around before AXL i believe or it was very close. Either way the Super 7′s is a much larger tournament that is run better has Guaranteed prizes. most teams that play AXL are Macdev sponsored…suprise!! Its a non profit tournament because nobody wants to play it simple as that :)
Um the Super 7′s have been running since the mid 90′s when such teams as Aftershock and Rage came over to play.
S7′s was stopped for years due and was started again by whybrew to try and run the AXL out of the tournament scene.
does it matter if im a MD sponsored player? im sticking up for a company i stand behind just like you are.
sorry patrick i mistook you for someone else. anyway the AXL is run like that as it is for the good of the players, its not there to make the promoter rich. thats the the way it has been run since the beginning. it was started as there was no national series at the time and tournament ball was looking grim.
from the team at macdev.
“thanks to everyone for the support through this, the phone calls and emails have been awesome! its a shame that people will resort to dirt underganded tactics to try and damage or take over a company. this is one of the case’s where justice has prevailed and we are thankful for it.”
Dianne, James and bourke.
it has been hard to keep this quiet as it was the only way our lawyers said we would get through it, michael whybrew was busy bragging that he owned us while we were doing everything to stop this going ahead. thanks again to our customers who supported us and non customers who saw the action for what is was and posted.
james
I know a dale and yes he is telling the truth. and dale if you looking at this site then you have sent me the package so i can do something about him. send me the proof like you said and this can all go away. If you are on here sticking up for action then you are in his pocket and just for the record i’m not affiliated with either of these companies.
I like it when the “Good Guy/Gal” wins. I am a small business owner and am happy to see that the jerks out there do not always win in the end. Thank you to everyone who stood up for MacDev.