Stamp Platform Drama

If you have been actively buying stamp accessories in the last two years or so, you know that a revolution for perfection has taken place.  We now have the technology to stamp images well with very little error.

Stamp presses were definitely a rage I fed into in the 2000s.  Thank you, Fiskars and Martha Stewart.

   

Then the MISTI came out.  Just a gal trying to make large stamping jobs a little easier.  I am grateful, My Sweet Petunia, for your forward thinking.

The creator of the MISTI has a couple of US patents on it.  The design is a smart one.  And, of course, people tried to jump on board.  Some made COMPLETE knock offs that looked so similar, you would feel you needed to buy it off a truck somewhere.  However, Tonic and Tim Holtz came out with this bad boy.

I was using my MISTI, and having some minor inconveniences with it.  I have had it for a while, one of the plastic hinges was cracked, and I think the use of too thick bar magnets was taking its toll on the design. Still, I paid over $60 for it.  I was not about to buy another one.  The largest one is available for a mere $100.  Do you know how many stamp sets I can get for $100?  Not happening.

I read about the designer of MISTI suing Tonic and Tim Holtz.  I of course became intrigued.  Law suit = something to be sued over.  So, I ordered one.

There are approximately a gazillion videos that compare these two products.  I am going to lay it out for ya right here:

Tonic redesigned the stamp platform.  They took it and made a superior product. It wasn't a carbon copy.  It was SO much better.  I make less mistakes, have to restamp a WHOLE lot less, and I can use all sorts of sizes of paper.  It's made of better materials. And, it was less than $40.  The travel size is available as well which is even less.

Tonic amicably settled with My Sweet Petunia, and agreed to pull the product from the North American market.  They wanted to show support for small business.

This whole thing has me a bit bewildered.  Quite frankly, I am a little sour about it.  I see redesigns of products to make them better as technological growth.  I feel that Tim and Tonic did not steal the design...they remade it out of better products and made something that worked better.  I know it took them a year to finally settle.  I imagine there were all sorts of conversations. But I have a bad taste in my mouth right now toward the MISTI and its manufacturer.  Give her some of the profits for having the patent?  Sure!!  Take competition off the market?  Hmmm.  Not sure.  Now, My Sweet Petunia is suing Stampin' Up because of its Stamparatus, which I think is also markedly different from the MISTI.

I will state here and now that My Sweet Petunia was wise in getting a patent for its product design. But I hate to see innovation squashed because of it.