MRA-Minis
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Just recieved my order of adj tie bars (ones featured in last months mini world). quick delivery reasonable price. very happy.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

I've bought a few items from their Ebay store. Always had fast delivery at a good price.

They wont get my money regardless of how quick it turns up, not after martin at MRA decided to threaten someone from here with legal action, all because they were selling dizzy blanking plugs and breaking a copywrite that does not exist and even other companies have sold them for years.

BAC imo

Edited by wolfie on 29th May, 2009.

feck, that shines a totally different light on them.

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

Edited by Rob H on 20th Jun, 2009.

That's a bit naughty.

Hi,

Just to give my side of this discussion.....

Firstly I do own the "design right" I have constantly kept MY design right up to date, as a way of protecting my investment, time and tooling, I have been making these for possibly longer than some of you have even been driving, I did my (own) ecu controlled engine in 1996, however I also worked on a project that required an A series blanking plug in the mid 80's I designed it, I own the design. it's really that simple, I am not appologising just because a few people decide to copy my parts, "Rob H" seems to be a major culprit on this one, and doesn't like it when I successfully protect my income and that of my employee's....

Let me ask you what would you do if someone came in to your work place and then decided to remove some of your salary, would you simply let them ? or would you just sit there and say here you are take it ??

Regards Martin

Thanks
Kind Regards Martin

http://www.mra-minis.co.uk

Ohhhh Foook...

I think I may have broken someone's "design right".....

I modified a distributor a couple of months ago to turn it into a phase sensor - and I was stupid enough to post a picture of what I had done on this forum.....

A phase sensor has got to be a lot more illegal then a blanking plug that I could have machined up in 3 minutes.....

I need a good lawyer here please, can anyone help...


A blanking plug !!!!!!!!!!! and someone owns the design right for a hole !!!!!!

How sad.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

What is design right?
Design right is automatic - ie you don't have to apply for registration. It protects the design of the shape and configuration of articles or parts of articles for a maximum of 15 years in the UK. There is also a European Union (EU)-wide unregistered design right, which protects the shape, configuration, pattern and ornamentation of an object for a maximum of three years.

If you've designed a new image for an object, it will be protected by design right.

Your design can only be protected by design right if the design is original and not commonplace.

above is qouoted from some wiki type site.




is there any thing original about a metal bung?

Edited by Joe C on 19th Jun, 2009.

QUOTE
Ohhhh Foook...

I think I may have broken someone's "design right".....

I modified a distributor a couple of months ago to turn it into a phase sensor - and I was stupid enough to post a picture of what I had done on this forum.....

A phase sensor has got to be a lot more illegal then a blanking plug that I could have machined up in 3 minutes.....

I need a good lawyer here please, can anyone help...

A blanking plug !!!!!!!!!!! and someone owns the design right for a hole !!!!!!

How sad.
UNQUOTE,

Unfortunately, you seem to be missing the point, I wasn't getting all bent out of shape over one or two here and there, I was however about the Company in question manufacturing batches of blanking plug to our design.

As I said earlier how do protect your income / pension ? :)

Thanks
Kind Regards Martin

http://www.mra-minis.co.uk

i love reading these debates it does make me laugh and only TMF

I bought a 'plug' from MRA. Wouldn't fit up my ass, but was a perfect fit for my redundandt dizzy hole

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

If anyone has on their Avetar (sp?) "I invented dizzy blanking plugs" then I stand by my original post.....

Do you reallyt think you "invented" a blanking plug ????

I think the concept is fairly basic - hole needs plug, machine plug to fit hole......


Oh, and then go get a lawyer to sue someone else with the same size hole.......

If I use the base of a dizzy just to blank the hole (rather than turning it into a phase sensor) do I still get sued ???

After all, it must fit into the hole the same way as your "protected" one does.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

I don't think this holds true. Under intellectual property law, there is the Must Match and Must Fit terms.

In our case it is "Must Fit" so in other words any distributor blanking plug must be of correct outer diameter as it "Must Fit" in the hole in the block, as bored by BL/Rover/whoever in the factory when machined from a casting.

Aside from that, I believe that if any 3 discrete dimensions differ from another product, then that is enough to mark it as different and therefore copyright is not valid.

So in this case as far as I know, the diameter comes under "Must Fit" and the other dimensions can be whatever whoever makes the plug wants them to be, and as long as they are different then I don't think MRA have a case.

Personally had my own plug made by a good friend with his alloy and his machine, who knows if it is a "copy" of the "design", it didn't take much designing when I drew mine up I have to say.

I can't actually change the text on my Avatar, obviously someones idea of a funny game ?? and Yes I can prove it !

It is really funny how many people suddenly come out of the wood work and jump on the band wagon, I have always stated that if someone is unhappy about our products then they only need to return them for a FULL refund, or replacement. There is a small minority on this forum that seem to want to tear people apart from making a living........ I guess some people are just too frustrated for their own good :)
Regards Martin
Tom as a "site Admin" let me know how I can change the ridiculous text under my Avatar please.

Thanks
Kind Regards Martin

http://www.mra-minis.co.uk

I have a drawing in CAD of the plug in my engine. I'll post the drawing of it on here tomorrow for all to download in dxf and iges format. I've never seen an MRA-mini's plug so can't be a copy. You'll all be welcome to use the sheepspeed racing designed plug as used on my engine totally free. Your also welcome to make thousands of them sell them for whatever you like. If however you become a millionaire, I wouldn't mind a pint.

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

Edited by Rob H on 20th Jun, 2009.

to be fair, they are brilliantly complex designs, which must have taken years to develop, and only the highliest skilled machinest would dare take on the challenge of fabricating


take a look at this beauty, its complexity is mind bottling

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I am sure MRA Minis are flat out with their workshop with over 30! machines and staff that have "undergone one type of Apprenticeship or another" are not worried about some nugget taking ten minutes to turn down a bung with an oil seal.



The beauty above must have spent some serious time in the MRA research and developement department, hopefully it was designed by one of the staff with "several years of Aerospace Manufacturing experience" and not someone who has "undergone one type of Apprenticeship or another"

Keep the faith MRA, the Mini scene needs you.

JF.

Whatever all the properties of the designed blanking plug,
and sure that it does represent billions of sales and profits.
I hope for your employes that you have more under the foot to sale, if not they're in danger,
then your words and caracter defo commercialy deserve them, there is already 6500 mini customers on this board, and you already show them all this shit, that's some commercial suicide, this should be teach at commercial school and your exemple shown as the very bad exemple "not what to do!"

I am totally impartial to this debate

But I have a genuine Rover Dizzy blanking plug that came from the 1996 Nurburgring 24hr racer that later became P245 WFH Group A rally car that went on to compete in the Montecarlo Rally.

This plug is clearly seen in a few pictures in the book 'The Last Works Minis'

I also own an 'MRA Minis' plug, which needed a hammer to fit as the O ring was FT!! and I modified it by drilling a hole in the center from the outside and threaded it so I could fit a slide hammer to pull the thing out!!

Other than that, both stopped a leak

mole hill --->> mountain...

Hi
Mine didn't fit for the same reason as sprockets but as I was selling the engine that week I neither had the time or inclination to send it back under complaint.
Cheers
Gavin :)

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