"The software was made by a Danish Engineer, who gave it away on the forums as freeware. I think this was the mistake of his life."
I'll share my story - we also made the mistake of our lives!
In the late 1970's, I was part of a very small South African company - we developed the world's first ultrasonic car alarm. The same alarm that has been installed in one form or another on millions of cars since.
In 1980, I led the team to exhibit it at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show.
The response was beyond our wildest dreams, and I specifically remember a Chinese company, which still exists today, which placed an order for 100 units, and paid for them on the spot.
We continued to sell a few thousands, and one day later that same year, I got a shock.
One of my customers sent me a photo of a leaflet showing an attractive copy of our alarm, made in Taiwan, and now marketed in North America, at a price well below our own manufacturing cost.
Our legal advice was that we messed up not patenting it, and there was nothing we could do.
A hard lesson learnt; we all moved on to bigger and better things, but much wiser and highly distrustful of the Chinese as thieves and counterfeiters of others' brainwork - all subsequent developments in the Automotive Electronics field were patented properly.
Next time you activate your car alarm, take a second to remember the original and genuine inventors!
Menahem Yachad
www.condoraudio.com
Jerusalem
