Date:	Mon, 13 Dec 1993 20:51:07 -1000
From:	kyteman@aol.com
Message-Id: <9312140151.tn08474@aol.com>
Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University
Subject: Re: Wind Toys, AKA, and KTA

I'd like to respond to several postings, which I won't quote verbatim because
it's easier not to shuffle through all those messages.

<< What is AKA doing about it? >>

AKA takes no position.  We're not a trade association; we haven't entered
into this kind of dispute, nor, for that matter, do we arbitrate much of
anything.  [but I'm sure if you polled the board, they would be nearly
unanimous in opposing rip-offs, of which there are many guilty parties.]

<< What is KTA's role? >>

[I'll not comment Dick Bell's cheap shot that they're there to double the
realized profit of kite sales--except to say that, as I'm sure Dean Jordan
will attest, few get rich in the kite trade.]  

KTA, Marty's comments notwithstanding, is more than a promoter and the
sponsor of the annual trade show.  KTA is the only forum for the trade to
discuss such issues as rip-offs.  

According to KTA's by-laws, their purposes also include the following:

  *  to consider and deal by all lawful means with ...problems...such as
those involved in ... production, distribution, sales, promotion, and
financial functions of the kite industry; to foster cooperative action in
advancing ... the common purposes of the members ....

  *  ... promulgating policies and conducting activities for the betterment
of those individuals or firms involved in the kite industry.

  *  ... To conduct or engage in all lawful activities in furtherance of the
foregoing purposes...."

There is also a KTA code of ethics, but it doesn't speak to the matter of
knockoffs; most of the questions that have been raised, to my somewhat
obsolete knowledge, relate to price fixing or ripping off of trade NAMES, not
designs.

At the risk of reopening that dead horse (isn't that picturesque?), I would
say that intellectual property rights are properly and most effectively
enforced through the courts.  AKA, for example, can hold merchants to
**AKA's** member discount and advertising policies, but can't and shouldn't
arbitrate between merchants.  Likewise, KTA can bring pressure to bear on its
members, but can't control those members, and sure as hell can't control
those kite traders who have chosen not to be members.  

[Just for the record, Sasaki Kite Fabrications, at last report, was not a
member of KTA (and I mean no pejorative connotation); both Jordan and Wind
Toys -- and AKA -- are, and I was a charter member retailer and used to edit
their newsletter.]

All that being said, I agree (and did so when I was in the trade) with those
in this group who have said, in essence, ripoffs suck.  The only way for
right-minded retailers -- and rec.kiters -- to deal with them is not to buy
them.

brooks leffler   kyteman@aol.com



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