Letter From Tonic Re: Tim Holtz Stamp Platform 4/12/17

Well that sounds hopeful. I do hope they can launch. I might still end up buying one.

I am for sure getting this when it's released. And then I'll sell my MISTI to someone on kijiji. I think Tim's platform will be much better, I don't really like the design of the MISTI as much as I like the design of Tim's.

I hope the change is for the better and doesn't make it less useful. I can't imagine that it was infringing on my bitter Petunia since the Tonic one is significantly different w/the switching lid - which is GENIUS.

Yes...I am on the SSS wait list and also got this email
I REALLY want this now that I saw Youtube video of Jen Schow demo ing it
Soooo hard to wait
My misti cracks are getting longer every time I use it

If for some reason Misti halts the production of Tim's newest tool, she is going to earn herself a LOT more hate from the stamping community. You know, the people who spend tons of money on this hobby and have enabled her to become a millionaire. Plus, everyone loves Tim. He has a following that she can only dream of.

I feel the same way. And I had to laugh at your tweak on her company name.

I watched Jen Schow's demo tutorial and I may be in the minority but I think I still like my Mini MISTI better. Don't shoot me....LOL!

My reasons for this opinion are the size of the Mini MISTI and having the lines printed on the base.

I DO like how this stamp positioner has an open end. I can see how that's extremely helpful for those who stamp on scrapbook pages. Also, the interchangeable lid is really nice and how easy it snaps on and off. It's definitely a well thought out product which one can only expect from a Tim Holtz product.

I do hope it comes to market. It makes competition better which in turn gives us even better products to choose.

I didn't get a letter, but checked Marcos paper (. Where I preordered). It says they expect than in June

Well, if you read the actual suit you posted, in #10 is states that millions of dollars in sales have been generated. Considering that others have sold what you are correct in saying is essentially the same product for half the price she has sold it for, she probably is a millionaire.

I don't think most people think that she didn't have a case. What most people's issue is the fact that she wouldn't replace her defective product, in some cases blamed the customer for the cracks, and the rabid way she's gone after people ~ on this message board, on FB, in letters. She threatened to sue people who made their own. You know, the same way she saw how a letterpress worked and then made her own. I loved the product, but even before there were alternatives to it, wouldn't have given her a dime because of how nasty she was.

Wow, that saddens me that you think it's okay to buy a back up tool because you are just waiting for the day it breaks. I am way too frugal to invest my money into substandard products.

I use my Misti all the time.  I had a chance to buy one at a bargain price, so I did.  I don't think 20.00 is too much to be certain I have a back up.  And I didn't invest in a substandard product.  The materials have changed the the crazing and cracking are no longer an issue.

Oh you didn't mention it was only $20. How did you get a misti for only 20 bucks?!! I was thinking you spent another $50 or so. If I'm spending 50 bucks on a product I have high expectations that it will work for a very long time. My Tonic guillotine trimmer is over a decade old and still going strong. Another reason I'm going for the Tonic over the Misti. And honestly, the misti really should be priced at around $20. With all of the issues it's had and now it's made in China and she has such a big production of it her costs must be at the minimum by now. But now I see your reasoning. 

If I understood correctly, the Spellbinders lawsuit had nothing to do with the circle shaped dies, but was about the thin dies which embossed as well as cut. Yes, the nesting ability of the dies had something to do with it, too, but I thought the lawsuit had to do with the new (at the time), unique, and innovative dies by Spellbinders (or whoever first came up with the concept of wafer thin dies that also embossed). Yet there are many companies that now offer the same kind of dies like Spellbinders, that do the exact same thing.

Yes, if I designed a completely new and unique product, I would be upset at having people copy it and market it, and I would probably bring legal action, too. However, I do not consider the MISTI a completely new concept. She adapted a letterpress. Stampers used the WRMK letterpress and shared the idea widely. MSP adapted the idea and made it a little better. Tim Holtz/Tonic essentially did the same thing, and came out with a better stamp positioner than she did (IMO). I think their version is more creative an adaptation than hers was. But hers was an adaptation, not really a brand new invention. I am surprised that the patent office actually approved her patent.

Someone here brought up (in one of these threads) the issue of how long it can take to get a concept to market, and that two months from the time Tim got his gift of a MISTI until he came out with the Tonic stamp positioner is probably too short of a time. Tim and Tonic presumably already had their version in progress, but chose to keep it quiet, even when he was given a MiSTI.

Yes, he praised it, and encouraged a new entrepreneur. MSP automatically assumed that he copied her idea. I don't think he did. I think it actually would take longer than two months to come up with what was shown at CHA.

Also, Tonic seems pretty confident that the lawsuit is not going to delay them more than 6 to 8 weeks. They must know a few things that we can only speculate about (which is precisely what I am doing here). Reportedly, they are going back to an earlier version. That suggests there was a version already in progress when the MISTI came out, and they have documentation to prove it. To minimize the legal issues, they are sticking to marketing the earlier version for the time being, but I would not be surprised if the improved version comes out later, after they have resolved all the legal concerns.

I can't remember if it is copyright or patent laws that allow for "simultaneous design" -- but it recognizes that different people can come out with similar products at the same approximate time. That is another possible point in Tonic's favor.

I really think that Petunia is going to lose the lawsuit with Tonic.

I preordered tim's stamp platform..... I am going to be upset if what I get is very different.  I wonder how all of these companies will handle it.  Money was taken out of my account already, too