VESC-X will now be called "Enertion FOCBOX Motor Controller"

It’s the great trademark war of 2017

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LOL - well eMTB has technically already been coined by the Electric Mountain Bike community! :laughing:

It’s the great even of 2017… like the great crash of 2016…

I really agree with the sentiment that members of the community have made the VESC what it is today. My first VESC setup was awesome… for two years ago, but nothing like my board today. @Ackmaniac and his firmware changed everything for me. Better acceleration control, and better braking make a better VESC and @Ackmaniac’s contributions were possible because the VESC software is/was open source. Benjamin deserves credit and reward for his contribution to our little industry. I just want to say thank you to all of the rest of you that contributed as well.

Whilst I do 100% agree with everything you are saying, Sadly it’s just not how the business world works.

Marketing a business (or product) & Building brand recognition is similar to playing a game of chess. Trampa are positioning themselves to try and win the game (as any for-profit business should), but this is just one move and the game is only just beginning. I suspect there will be more moves to come… think software restrictions.

I must say that I am VERY surprised that “VESC” was able to be trademarked. The trademark attorney that processed this application obviously didn’t do a thorough search or have an understanding about the mark being used as a common Verb, or its origins! So without opposition (yes we all could have opposed this), it got approved. But it doesn’t matter now it’s done!

Furthermore, anyone could have trademarked the name VESC. Beto, the guy who coined the term could have, I could have done it, you could have too or Maytech for that matter. So at least Ben Vedder has got it now. I think that is probably the best situation.

So moving forward, Ben Vedder now owns VESC and we can’t change it. Yes it is true that various vendors have spent THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS marketing that name and spent countless hours writing articles & doing tutorials and basically running a gigantic beta program to iron out the bugs! … The value we, the community & vendors, have created for that brand is HUGE! I would estimate the VESC brand to be worth over 1 million dollars ¶ in terms of brand revenue, for a few thousand $$ it’s now owned by Ben Vedder (which I think is very fair payment for his work so far) - Ben has achieved this thanks primarily to the guidance of Trampa who are hoping to benefit financially. Frank would not have spent coin if he didn’t think it was a good investment!

THIS IS BASICALLY WHY PEOPLE ARE PISSED OFF



So what do we do now? Do we sit around crying about it? no point doing that.

What I intend on doing is putting my energy into promoting FOCBOX because it is protected we can invest with confidence. We now have control over our destiny and we have the ability to succeed or fail without impacting anyone else livlyhood.

This is actually an amazing feeling!

I am not a gifted electronics engineer, nor am i a coding genius… but i am no doubt one of the most successful business operators, Sales & marketing specialists in this industry.

So for me, this situation is perfect! I love building brands from the ground up & I believe FOCBOX will soon be renowned as the premium & affordable solution for DIY esk8 builders.

We will also be offering some exciting deals for resellers who want to get involved with the FOCBOX brand.

There will also be OEM opportunities for vendors who need hardware manufacturing support.

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For once, I think we agree on something :wink:

I’ve sat back so I could actually process this, and today, I felt ready to share my opinion.

I’ll move on and maybe something good will come from this too…

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“FOCBOX” = the ex-VESC previously known as the VESC-X.

So does that make us “FOCBOXxers” or “BOXFOCcers”?

I like BOXFOCcer. It feels more natural to me. Like as if I’ve been one my whole life. :wink:

You hit the nail on the head here. It really is an opportunity for the community and for you in particular, Jason. A good marketing push will make the name VESC a distant memory. Right now Trampa is bumping the price to cover R&D costs. That means that those building on the open architecture can still produce a similar quality product for a lower price. Combine that with a decent marketing approach for a different trademarked name and Trampa could be left holding a big bag of nothing that they paid for. The question will be whether the software and other hardware innovations still remain open source and shared or will they close the doors on that in the near future. My bet is the latter, but time will tell.

Edit: BTW, you need to update your website. No FOCBOXES to be found

I’ve already updated my esk8.builder app i’m working on to include the new name for the focbox.

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“listening to the wind of change”

Benjamin needs the Mark, that is fact. No intentions to play funny games, locking stuff down, creating incompatibilities etc… Relax, sit back, no worries.

We, Trampa will probably never sell the cheapest HW, we take what we can eat, not more. We specialize in top shelf stuff… Expect to get what you pay for…

I hope the funding situation for the VESC Project will get a bit better now. All vendors and users should think of supporting Benjamin as good as they possibly can. He put a lot of effort into the new code and there needs to be some fair renumeration to keep up motivation. You have absolutely no clue how much work it was!

I’m glad some vendors also see the chance to build up their very own brand, based on good reputation.

Frank

@longhairedboy : Be sure to update your text too! - > “Going to be pushing the limits of your board on a regular basis, get the VESC-X.”

thanks for the reminder!

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So does that mean its guaranteed to work in FOC mode without DRV issues ?

I’ve been using the the beta version at 12s on FOC for almost 7 months with zero issues

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Are you going to donate to Benjamin Vedder ? The “focbox” is still a vesc at heart.

@onloop i spotted 6 pins beside the Cap that have no connections. is it the JST Connector PÜlace for Debug/programming ? I managed to erase my bootloader so I’m not able to change firmware anymore.

could you tell me the pinout of the debug/programmer pins on teh PCB please

I’m sure @Blasto or @JohnnyMeduse could help you with this.

the pinout is wrote on the PCB…

a TM application in Au starts the ball rolling at just over $100, by the time it is gazetted it is close to $500 if you don’t have objections. This depends on the mark type and class(es). From there you can apply to the “madrid protocol” for mass application in other markets or you can apply to each one individually. Au is small the cost is low, bigger markets often cost more… I have applied for a little over a dozen marks with a TM attorney and filled 2-3 times that my self.

The Au TM search engine ATMOSS

Once you apply you can claim the TM (pending), but it will take at least 6 months or so…

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