Vortech Patents

[Onewolf]

We are soon going to need a 2nd powerhead for our 90 gal tank and my wife insists on keeping the electrical cord out of the tank so that implies a $360 Vortech MP40 as opposed to a much less expensive option. I started doing some research on the applicable Vortech patents and it looks like they have the technology/design locked down for many years.

Latest powerhead patents

Aug 27 2013 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9551343

Sept 15 2015 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9534602

These patents are extensions of patents that date back to 2006: https://patents.justia.com/patent/7393188

Since the patent period in USA is 20 years it looks like it will be at least until 2026 when someone can sell an alternative. Unless someone wants to license the patents which I'm sure Ecotech would make financially painful. And good for Ecotech.

Just rambling....

 

[CC13]

We are soon going to need a 2nd powerhead for our 90 gal tank and my wife insists on keeping the electrical cord out of the tank so that implies a $360 Vortech MP40 as opposed to a much less expensive option. I started doing some research on the applicable Vortech patents and it looks like they have the technology/design locked down for many years.

Latest powerhead patents

Aug 27 2013 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9551343

Sept 15 2015 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9534602

These patents are extensions of patents that date back to 2006: https://patents.justia.com/patent/7393188

Since the patent period in USA is 20 years it looks like it will be at least until 2026 when someone can sell an alternative. Unless someone wants to license the patents which I'm sure Ecotech would make financially painful. And good for Ecotech.

Just rambling....

I honestly for the life of me can't recall who it was, but there was another aquarium equipment manufacture that had a patent VERY similar to the one that Ecotech holds and it was years before Ecotech (I am referring to their first generation of pumps - not sure if they have added any new patents since then, but Ecotech was not the first to invent a magnetically driven pump combining a wet and dryside), that was already invented years earlier and the patent expired.

I am trying to find the thread and the patent, someone posted it a while back on RC, it came up in a thread on that forum.

 

[CC13]

I think I found it:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ab/fa/d2/e7b6b6fcdc564c/US3481586.pdf

This was the actual first patent utilizing magnets and a wet and dryside which expired. The Ecotech pump is based off this. This patent was taken out in 1969.

 

[TheHarold]

We are soon going to need a 2nd powerhead for our 90 gal tank and my wife insists on keeping the electrical cord out of the tank so that implies a $360 Vortech MP40 as opposed to a much less expensive option. I started doing some research on the applicable Vortech patents and it looks like they have the technology/design locked down for many years.

Latest powerhead patents

Aug 27 2013 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9551343

Sept 15 2015 - https://patents.justia.com/patent/9534602

These patents are extensions of patents that date back to 2006: https://patents.justia.com/patent/7393188

Since the patent period in USA is 20 years it looks like it will be at least until 2026 when someone can sell an alternative. Unless someone wants to license the patents which I'm sure Ecotech would make financially painful. And good for Ecotech.

Just rambling....

Drat, so I have to wait till 2026 to get my Jebao Vortechs?

 

[Onewolf]

Drat, so I have to wait till 2026 to get my Jebao Vortechs?

It could be even longer if the 20 year patent clock 'resets' everytime they refine the patent (like they did in 2013 and 2015).

 

[Silver14SS]

Drat, so I have to wait till 2026 to get my Jebao Vortechs?

When has a patent stopped Jebao

 

[TheHarold]

When has a patent stopped Jebao

True. You think it’s the actual technology/manufacturing capability holding them back?

 

[Silver14SS]

No idea, doesn't seem like the technical challenges of moving the drive to the outside of the glass would be that great for them considering the number of products they've had success with. I assume they'd have the technical ability, but it's just a guess. Another guess is it being cost prohibitive compared to the price point they want to be at?

 

[ca1ore]

I've made the point a few times over the years that what the vortech accomplishes (some would say attempts to accomplish) is much more advanced from an engineering perspective than most powerheads and that chop-shops like Jebao are unlikely to attempt it. Not saying they couldn't, though the fact that they have not with their general disregard for IP says a lot (to me, at least).