MDM vs Curt Hitch

Minidave, the issue is CURT bought the MDM hitch, specifically to copy it. Many of us have a problem with that. It's not new news, it's been known for awhile. It's also not the first time a vendor has bought another vendor's product, and tried to copy it. It's been done with everything from wings to heads to cams. And those vendors that do that, they get called out too.

No one would care if it was MINIFINI or Outmotoring; nobody who bought a MINIfini for example would call someone out for ordering the Outmotoring hitch, both MINIFINI and Outmotoring are well respected both for developing cool things (Minifini) and outstanding customer service (Outmotoring). You're confusing supporting your favorite vendor (which does happen, we have our favorites, and many of us--myself included--have gone over the top supporting a legitimate vendor over another legitimate vendor) with calling out a vendor who did a very crappy thing to a small company. Not cool.

Aaron probably dropped the price of the MDM hitch because he could--Outmotoring, by MINI standards, is a relatively large company, so he can afford to, this is all theoretical, he probably doesn't need the profit margins MDM needed to keep going--props to him for doing it. MDM, on the other hand, was a relatively small company in the MINI world, had to pay to develop the hitch out of their own pocket, and needed to recoup some of that in their sales. CURT took a shortcut, let MDM do the major development, and reaped the benefits without any of the development expense. Yes, that pisses people off, when a good, small company gets taken advantage of like this.

It's not the first time it's happened, it won't be the last, but it will still piss people off, especially when there are so few companies that actually develop new QUALITY parts for the MINI market.

 

I'm backing Dave on this one. You don't join and in just over 2 weeks start throwing threats around. We actually don't work like that. He's sure welcome to purchase from the vendor of his choice, even if it differs from mine. IF, on the other hand, he had been around here for awhile, and knew how helpful MDM has been over the years he might think differently. I've met and talked to the folks from MDM. I trust them. I think it's amazing how he totally discounts everything they say about the aforementioned purchases from MDM.

Long and short of it, he has a point to make. HE likes his CURT hitch. Great. But there is absolutely no reason to come on here like a peckerhead and act like an overbearing jerk. He still seems a bit too loyal to CURT to be just a casual observer to me.

 

So....what position does he hold at Curt? A casual customer of a product doesn't go off on the legality of accusations about a product unless he has skin in the game. Black 13, you obviously like your Curt hitch....Good For You !

 

Where is that "delete account" button?

Kent

 

I can tell you for FACT that the said rumors of Curt coping the Mini Do More hitches are 100% TRUE.
The reason I don't think you can find much of the proof out there is that there is currently a legal case going on about it.
When OutMotoring bought the MDM brand they took on this legal matter as part of the purchase. If a MINI owner wants to know more about it to decide on their purchasing decision I suggest contacting Aaron at OutMotoring as he will be able to tell what he can put out in public as he is the direct source in this matter.

 

Hope it works out for Aaron, I didn't know this was going to court. So do you guys need any more proof? Way is well respected, and vendors don't go out of their way to write about stuff like this. Nate has written about it. There are other people who will tell you about it behind the scenes.

That guy who was pushing the Curt hitch has gone a bunch of other hitch threads pushing it. Makes you wonder.....

 

I think we can lay this thread to rest.

Thanks

 

I am not going to argue with you about anything else, but I do want to clear up one clear mistake that you have in your post. The MiniFini system is a Class III rated hitch, which far exceeds how much you would ever pull with your Mini, as opposed to the CURT which is only a class I. These two systems are not created equally, and I can ensure that you are getting what you pay for when you purchase a MiniFini system. If you only plan to carry a bike rack or other small items a CURT may be all that you need, but the MiniFini system can do much more and can be much more secure for hauling larger trailers and heavier items.

 

We wanted to chime in and add a bit of resolution to this matter. When we purchased MINIdoMore in June 2011 there was a pending lawsuit regarding between Curt and MINIdo more regarding copyright infringement of some of the Hitches that MINIdoMore had designed and engineered as well as the instructions and images that MINIdoMore generated.

We received, as part of the companies files, a letter from Curts VP of Marketing (name withheld from this post) clearly admitting that their staff had copied the written instructions and images in the MDM instructions for their use and had rectified it immediately once they were called out on it. In another document from the Curt legal council (name withheld from this post) was a statement that denied copying of the physical hitches to the EXTENT which was stated by MDM's legal council in a earlier letter. Please note they did not deny copying our hitches- they only denied that they were 100% copied. Of course there was lots of legalese to support these statements (how else can you bill $600 for a letter?). IN THE SAME LETTER they offered to resolve the matter amicably and offered a financial settlement to Mini Do More to resolve the issue before it went any further. Wow, shocking! Why deny that they copied our hitches 100% and then offer a substantial settlement?

We have decided not to pursue the matter any further and will not take it to our courts system. We consider their admission of guilt and financial settlement to be a rational place to stop.

As a professional in the Product Development industry and having spent many years dealing with Copyright and Patent infringement as it relates to sporting goods I'm well aware of the costs associated with protecting patented products in court. Furthermore there are "design" patents and "utility" Patents - both with varying degrees of protection. Because our hitches were not Patented it would have been a massive uphill battle. Proving a "Patented" product was copied is nearly impossible as a manufacturer/ copycat can change something as simple as the gauge of metal or angle of one corner on a bracket and get away with just about anything. Typically Utility Patents are worth pursuing but Design Patents are not- please google this for more info.

Copyright law, on the other hand is fairly easy to protect and that is where this case had some real meat to it (copyright protection is a way to protect something with very minimal investment and usually relates to print media, art, photography and in some cases products). Because our instructions were copied word for word and images were taken the case had traction and had it gone any further could have been EASILY supported in court.

Again, after considering Curts admission of guilt and our desire to invest our time, money and energy on other more beneficial and enjoyable parts of life we have decided to move on. We will not forget this event, nor will we allow our Brands value to be diminished by uninformed and belligerent online personalities.

We make great hitches and offer MINI Cooper hitch applications that others simply don't. We are a honest company that makes great products and have been supporting the MINI industry since 2002. We hope that as consumers consider the options for which product and which company to support they will consider the facts and experiences of other MINI owners in the community.

 

Now that we have the full story on this I think we can close the thread.