Pirating is another form of flattery

Richard Negus, ex- Norton "Head of Motorcycles" (rotary era) just drew my attention to the fact our Indian friends now show our picture of our Roadster sidecovers to sell their own, rather... errr... "different" sidecovers: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290817136402 As they say about the Chinese- pirating is their form of a compliment!

The real deal you will find on http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/News.htm. I have had a number of the Indian ones and dare I say it that was the reason why we decided to make our own.

Now about those Roadster petrol tanks..... the purchase order for the tooling was issued a few weeks ago..... But your guess is as good as mine what picture our honest Indian competitor will show on e-bay as soon as we have put our petrol tank up on our website!

Joe/Andover Norton

ZFD said:

Richard Negus, ex- Norton "Head of Motorcycles" (rotary era) just drew my attention to the fact our Indian friends now show our picture of our Roadster sidecovers to sell their own, rather... errr... "different" sidecovers: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290817136402 As they say about the Chinese- pirating is their form of a compliment!

The real deal you will find on http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/News.htm. I have had a number of the Indian ones and dare I say it that was the reason why we decided to make our own.
Joe/Andover Norton

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I think it should be possible to protect pictures from downloading :? yours are not, only right clicking does the job. This doesn't protect from pirates but it prevents the use of your pictures.
Fritz

you can always "watermark" the pics on you site with your property of / compyright.

JD

Quite a step forward on the spares front. Cannot really
see the Indians offerings as competition. Not even close.

jeffdavison said:

you can always "watermark" the pics on you site with your property of / compyright.

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Indeed. If you put ANDOVER NORTON and possibly the green globe pic
on your pics as well, then no doubts who they belong to.

Probably a lot of work to go back and do it all though.
Perhaps all future offerings ?

Even some of the Indian products are watermarked with their own logo
- protecting themselves from their pirating competitors !

Even the right-click protection feature can be circumvented by simply hitting "Print Screen", then photoshopping the clipboard image.

Watermark or logo OVER the part is the way to go.

Will get our Phil to watermark everything from now on. Sometimes my joy at offering another part we haven't done before runs away with me- as in this case. The side covers were promised for spring, and when we had them six months late I just HAD to put them up immediately... After all these years new parts we do still excite me. As do the motorcycles they fit. Will I ever grow up?

Rather comical if our Indian friends protect our pictures with their watermark!

Rohan said:

Indeed. If you put ANDOVER NORTON and possibly the green globe pic
on your pics as well, then no doubts who they belong to.

Probably a lot of work to go back and do it all though.
Perhaps all future offerings ?

Even some of the Indian products are watermarked with their own logo
- protecting themselves from their pirating competitors !

Click to expand...

ZFD said:

Will get our Phil to watermark everything from now on. Sometimes my joy at offering another part we haven't done before runs away with me- as in this case. The side covers were promised for spring, and when we had them six months late I just HAD to put them up immediately... After all these years new parts we do still excite me. As do the motorcycles they fit. Will I ever grow up?

Rather comical if our Indian friends protect our pictures with their watermark!

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Probably there are scripts available to overlay all pictures with a watermark before they are displayed.
Fritz

ZFD said:

Rather comical if our Indian friends protect our pictures with their watermark!

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Can't imagine that happening - canny lot over there. ?

Competition is fierce in the supply of Enfield stuff though, and the best source protects his pics and reputation. Amazing low prices too, in that market......

ZFD said:

... After all these years new parts we do still excite me. As do the motorcycles they fit. Will I ever grow up?

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Why would you want to do that?

Ken

I've reported the use of my photos by other sellers to ebay and provided links to my photos for verification. Ebay cancelled those other ads. They have strict rules on copyright. Same goes for text.

RennieK said:

I've reported the use of my photos by other sellers to ebay and provided links to my photos for verification. Ebay cancelled those other ads. They have strict rules on copyright. Same goes for text.

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Ebay do not have strict rules on copyright. They have smash and runaway rules if anyone complains. As an example, there have been numerous occasions where Burlen have complained to ebay about Amal Carbs on ebay, even though the carbs were original production. The listings were removed on Burlens 'say so' because they hadn't been purchased from Burlen...... even though they were Original!!

BA10BOON said:

RennieK said:

I've reported the use of my photos by other sellers to ebay and provided links to my photos for verification. Ebay cancelled those other ads. They have strict rules on copyright. Same goes for text.

Click to expand...

Ebay do not have strict rules on copyright. They have smash and runaway rules if anyone complains. As an example, there have been numerous occasions where Burlen have complained to ebay about Amal Carbs on ebay, even though the carbs were original production. The listings were removed on Burlens 'say so' because they hadn't been purchased from Burlen...... even though they were Original!!

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EXACTLY. VERY WELL described. Ebay sucks like that.

concours said:

BA10BOON said:

RennieK said:

I've reported the use of my photos by other sellers to ebay and provided links to my photos for verification. Ebay cancelled those other ads. They have strict rules on copyright. Same goes for text.

Click to expand...

Ebay do not have strict rules on copyright. They have smash and runaway rules if anyone complains. As an example, there have been numerous occasions where Burlen have complained to ebay about Amal Carbs on ebay, even though the carbs were original production. The listings were removed on Burlens 'say so' because they hadn't been purchased from Burlen...... even though they were Original!!

Click to expand...

EXACTLY. VERY WELL described. Ebay sucks like that.

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Then the advertiser should have strike first and advertised them as original,stating that they are not to be confused with replicas or copies.
Could always hit tit -for –tat.

ZFD said:

Richard Negus, ex- Norton "Head of Motorcycles" (rotary era) just drew my attention to the fact our Indian friends now show our picture of our Roadster sidecovers to sell their own, rather... errr... "different" sidecovers: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290817136402 As they say about the Chinese- pirating is their form of a compliment!

The real deal you will find on http://www.andover-norton.co.uk/News.htm. I have had a number of the Indian ones and dare I say it that was the reason why we decided to make our own.

Now about those Roadster petrol tanks..... the purchase order for the tooling was issued a few weeks ago..... But your guess is as good as mine what picture our honest Indian competitor will show on e-bay as soon as we have put our petrol tank up on our website!

Joe/Andover Norton

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Don't these people own a digital camera, or are their side covers such poor quality it would show through if they used their own genuine image? One thing I'll say about the injuns, they are pretty good about returns... however, since it cost 90 bucks to ship a tank to India, a purchaser in the U.S. has to consider keeping a piece of shit and repairing it himself rather than losing 90 bucks and returning it. I think this single fact is what keeps their ebay business going. I could have spent a couple days reworking my tank with bondo and come up with something that would have looked OK after it was painted; but I'm glad I bit the bullet and returned it, as I naively hadn't even thought about leak testing the tank before I brought it to the painter... who refused to paint it anyway, due to ridges and oil canning all over the thing.

Here's the kicker... the tank I ended up buying (and was of an acceptable quality) I got from Sunset Motors, which TC also gets from India. It came in the exact same packaging that the piece of crap I got from them direct came in, so I imagine they both were made by the same company over there. Right now they have a really beautiful looking roadster tank listed buy it now for 384 plus 90 bucks shipping... that's striped, painted, and includes a cap. But you've got to wonder... is this a picture of the tank that I'll be getting? Will the thing leak? Will it fit properly? And... is it worth it to crap shoot a hundred bucks as well as a month and a half of your time, on a company with a horrible history of quality control? Good luck getting your tanks tooled up.

I (Norton Motors GmbH) sold the Indian side covers in Germany for a few months because there was nothing else. Their quality was the reason why we (Andover Norton) tooled up to make our own in the end. I have a pretty good idea why our Indian competitor prefers to use a picture of our side panels!

As to returning petrol tanks: the Indian company in England Andover Norton bought the petrol tanks from took them back, mumbled about "checking them first before we give you a refund", then disappeared without a trace to India, somehow forgetting about the refund in the process...... Which, again, having experienced the quality, or rather lack of, spurred us into getting our own tanks under way.

You live and learn. And the learning often costs.

Joe Seifert/Norton Motors & Andover Norton

ZFD wrote;

us into getting our own tanks under way.

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Joe, which model tanks are you looking at re-making? Do you have any idea as to when they'll be available?

I believe they are tooling up for Roadster tanks. Are they're any plans for doing Interstate tanks in the future? I think there would be almost as big a market for those(I know I'd be in for one!)

jmanbball said:

... I think there would be almost as big a market for those(I know I'd be in for one!)

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Interesting, I think here in Europe are plenty of used Interstate tanks available but Roadster tanks are most wanted :roll:
Fritz

Add one 'state tank for me please.