This IC thread showed up this morning and what is GOING ON ANYMORE.
Who thought this was a good idea? What’s going on? Why are keyboard like this?
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So many people in this community are totally ok with IP theft and cloning without explicit permission. It’s so despicable, an absolute lack of self awareness.
This would be so unacceptable in most other artistic or craft based hobbies, why is it ok in ours?
It gives us all a bad rap, and fuels people’s biases against Chinese manufacturers.
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Regardless of the (extremely blatant) IP theft, the T1s are just okay tactiles. I tried them briefly this past weekend but would still recommend Holy Pandas, even if for sound alone.
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Yeah I agree. I mean I get the need for a more budget friendly, pre-assembled, highly tactile switch. But to me Zeal V2’s and HP’s are in an entirely different class. The T1’s feel really stiff and jerky to me going through the bump, hard to described
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I’ll be starting my group buy to clone the switches from this group buy in a month.
In about a year, I’ll have my group buy to clone the switches from my first group buy, but they’ll come with scratch and sniff stickers.
Stay tuned!
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Can’t wait for the new Gecko Maker Mechanicals, Inc. Sour Cream linears and Shmoly Shmandas!
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what a time to be alive
.
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Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look More Like?
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It’d be funny if the guy just disappeared with the money.
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Yeah this is just strange… 
Wei hasn’t said (that I’m aware of) that he’s either not making anymore T1s or closing up shop over the fake Zeal/Tealio deal. Why would these people just jump at cloning T1s? Also as others have said T1s aren’t anything special so that makes it make even less sense taking into account the huge toe stepping going on here. Maybe they’re trying to make a power move for the Australian scene without it seeming like a dick move or blatant rip off (which it does feel like IMO)?
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Lol this is the first news that I woke up to this morning. I’m a little confused, with the drama with the T1 switches. I’m trying to piece together a narrative.
THIS IS ALL SPECULATION BTW, SO PLEASE GO EASY ON ME. I DON’T MEAN TO DEFAME WEI OR ANYONE.
Speculations:
-Wei was caught red handed with manufacturing fake Tealios switches and has since pulled the switches from sale.
As far as I can see, most of the reviews I’ve seen of the T1 are saying that they’re pretty similar to the Zealios V2 rather than the Holy Pandas that they were trying to “clone”. And now it makes sense that he’s pulled those and the Koala switches (from the looks of it, they’re just recolorings of the T1).
IF the T1 was dropped because of what came to light in Zeal’s threat of pursuing legal action, then aren’t these new batch of “T1’s” subject to the same thing as well?
end of speculation
It’s been fun the last few weeks with all the drama (Flipping/Reselling, Zeal and KBDFans, ALF). Gotta stir up the community sometimes.
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Don’t think Wei did it intentionally re:Tealios - but he DID have that manufacturer make the T1 switches. So while I don’t think the description “caught red handed with manufacturing” is fair to KBDfans and their otherwise standup business, it’s pretty clear (to me) that he did so to try and distance himself from the manu, whether it’s in an effort to show that this manu doesn’t deserve his business or to just make sure he didn’t get caught in any more messes.
Also, I just feel sorry for Zeal through all this. He’s kept his hands 100% clean, done everything in his rights MULTIPLE times, and he still catches shit because his high-quality stuff is expensive. Yeesh.
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While I think Wei did the right thing by taking T1 off the shelf and cancelling Koalas, I also think they could been the incentive to turn a bad fake goods manufacturer into a legit one.
How is exposing private pms, attacking wei on his vacation, complaining about epbt-stabs which have nothing in common with zeal-stabs and not communicating with wei after “several months of research” keeping his hands 100% clean?
Especially the thing with the stabs is getting on my nerves.
Cloning a cherry stab, making it transparent and clipping it from factory, and all of a sudden it’s his design?
Yeah right.
I’m not siding with anyone here as IP-theft really is hurting the original creators, but come on.
They’re both villains right now.
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Firstly, let’s not forget that IP-theft is a legal and international trade agreement issue, not a moral one.
Secondly, IP-theft cannot happen without IP. Has Zeal filed a patent for the switches and stabs? AFAIK, only illegal activity is T1 manufacturer using Zeal’s brand name Healios to sell a clone.
That leaves only optics and what’s best for the community.
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Say what? KBDfans got caught selling counterfeits. That defrauds the consumer as well as the brand. That might not count as “immoral” in your estimation, but it does in mine.
IP theft is one thing, blatant counterfeiting is another. I don’t have the two confused.
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So we disagree. That’s fine.
In my book, true moral values do not have an expiration date. Patents and copyrights do. And trademarks have to be renewed.
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Sure, but pardon me if I stay well away from shady dudes in trench coats selling “Rolexes”.
Have at it, though, if that’s your bag.
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Don’t think any of this is really unfair.
First of all, consumers have a right to know if what they’re buying is counterfeit - and a designer calling out fakes of his product is never happy, but it’s a good thing for both the consumers and the designer.
Second, I may be wrong about this, but Zeal’s stabilizer design is special not because the mold is different to make them “pre-clipped”, but because it was one of the first, if not the first, to have a screw-in PCB mount. While Zeal’s accusing of EPBT may have less grounds to stand on, remember that literally everyone I’ve heard talk about them has said “they’re Zeal stabs, but cheaper!” It’s a similar (fair) complaint to the Geekmaker Creamy switches (which come to think of it, might be made by “Durock” or whatever this manu is) that they’re trying to capitalize by association to Zeal’s branding - clear housings, shiny gold metal parts.
Third, while Zeal may have had room for more tact, I’d be pretty damn pissed too if my products which had blood, sweat, tears, and 4 years of iterative design were getting badly cloned like that. This sucks, big time - but in no way does this make Zeal (or Wei for that matter, imo) a “villain.”
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I’m not saying folks should buy from shady dudes nor stay ignorant of whether products are counterfeit or not.
What I’m saying is, let’s not jump to conclusions and avoid name calling. Wei said he didn’t know, apologized, and is taking visible actions to right the wrong and punish the wrong doer. Accusing him of anything beyond that is slander unless there are clear evidences to support the accusations.
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