There had been a rumour about Ultimate Airball sueing Supair and the Leagues that use their bunkers.
ProPaintball.com had reported that bunker manufacturer Ultimate Airball is gearing up for a legal campaign against Sup’Air / AdrenalineGames and possibly US-based leagues utilizing the SupAir products.
According to ProPaintball.com, the issue with the paintball leagues is the use, display and “promotion” of patent-infringing products. Back in 2007, Ultimate Airball was granted
Patent # 7,223,185 for a “hide behind bunker system and kit with impact dampening anchors”.
Ultimate Airball have been making bunkers since 1999 and claim to have the ordinal patent on them. Dale ford was talking to Craig Miller and it does not seem to be as bad as people think. Craig Miller him self
said that
Our Attorneys have NOT filed any lawsuits. There are some issues with royalties and breech of contract alright, but no apparent lawsuits on the horizon.
Dale: Craig, is it true that Ultimate Airball is trying to “Kill
Paintball as we know it?”
Craig: What the… Dale? What on Earth are you talking about?
Dale: There is a website out there that published a “rumor”
indicating that Ultimate Airball may sue field operators, leagues and
manufacturers who are infringing your tubeless inflatable bunker patent.
Craig: That’s totally absurd and completely false. Sounds like a
desperate last-ditch effort by our competitors to try to reverse the sales
trends that have been flowing in our favor since Ultimate Airball’s return
to full production in 2009. While a patent could be used to protect an
innovator against infringing users, sales, and manufacturing of a patented
device, usage suits are very rarely aimed at individual users, because
launching so many lawsuits would be ridiculously expensive. Tournament
“Paintball as We Know It” is played on tubeless inflatable bunkers that we
innovated in the late 1990’s. Before Ultimate Airball, inflatables had tubes
and fans, so to correct the poster’s comment, Ultimate Airball actually
improved tournament Paintball as we know it, by removing the troublesome
tubes and fans more than 10 YEARS ago.
Dale: The comments section after their “Latest Rumor”
article has posts from several people who think you’re going after game
fields. Any truth to that?
Craig: That’s absolutely ridiculous, and probably written by our
competitor. I have been an outspoken proponent of supporting game fields
throughout my 20+ year career in Paintball, and my actions have supported my
words. We would obviously never even dream of launching hundreds or
thousands of lawsuits against our customers, or our potential customers.
It’s a ridiculous effort at smearing us, and it won’t work. I noticed that
most of those people didn’t use real names. They all have the same avatar.
The source of this weak effort is too obvious.
Since that interview, ProPaintball have updated their story to include Craigs point of view and clarification of the matter.
The full interview by Dale Ford of the Fordreport.com Craig Miller addresses some rumors... | The Ford Report
Here is a rough run down on the development of the bunkers:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Richter on PBNation first came hyperball (sewer pipes)
next came sup air with hoses connect to every bunker and fans continually pushing air into bunkers
next came fans and batteries in bunkers to blow them up
next came ultimate air free standing bunkers that were very durable and made of white water rafting material. (this when paint started breaking on bunkers the ones with fans had much less paint breaking on the bunkers)
sup air sponsor most major national events(there is a world cup with multiple fields of ulitmate air; maybe a season or 2)
sup air starts making the blow up bunkers we see today
extreme rage bunkers come out; so do air ups and other off brands pop up too (DBX Kingmann)
sometime ultimate air gets a patent...
check out old warpig.com videos to see bunker pogression |
About Ultimate Airball: Quote:
HISTORY:
In 1999, Brimstone Enterprises founders Craig Miller and Milt Call conceived and created the first successful tubeless inflatable Paintball bunker systems. A Patent Application was promptly submitted. In the year 2000, Brimstone Enterprises, Inc. was formed to manufacture these simpler, much more durable, American-made tubeless bunker systems: Ultimate AirBallŪ. Their rugged durability exceeded anything available, and despite a slightly higher price, the simplicity, convenience and much longer lifespan won widespread acceptance from Game Field operations and Tournament promoters. They were not the cheapest to buy, but quickly established a reputation as being by far the cheapest to OWN and OPERATE.
Competitors tried to compete, but Ultimate AirBallŪ’s versatile tubeless system left only one obvious option – to unfairly COPY the Patent-Applied-For stand-alone bunker design. Several competitors illegally offered cheaper offshore-made products. Soon, copies of Ultimate AirBallŪ’s tubeless design became the “standard” of the industry, but Brimstone refused to cut corners with cheaper fabrics, foreign labor, or inferior quality, and much of their sales were stolen by imitators. However, the sweetness of competitors’ low prices was soon overshadowed by the bitterness of lower quality. Frustrated field operators longed for the multi-year durability of Ultimate AirBallŪ’s heavier fabrics, tougher welding process, and American-Made quality.
In 2007, Ultimate AirBallŪ was granted U.S. Patent # 7,223,185. The Patent application went through the entire process “clean” - meaning every Patent Claim was totally uncontested by any competitor, a rare but legally indisputable outcome. Today, Ultimate AirballŪ is proceeding to successfully defend their Patent through amicable licensing agreements, and has returned to full production of the toughest inflatable bunkers ever made, and the dealers and field operators have collectively applauded the return of Ultimate AirballŪ!
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Craig Miller and Ultimate Airball squashes rumours of legal battle 
