Unfortunately Muddy has been blatantly ripping off other people's product designs for a few years now. Last year they copied HSS vest and harness designs verbatim. They've also ripped off Redneck's hay bale blind design and Millenium's seat design as well. I have no problem with making similar products. Competition is always good. However stealing someone's design, changing the color and logo and calling it your own is
What are you all saying that there may be a lack of integrity in the hunting products industry? Next thing you are going to say that many of the products don't work like they do on TV.
There was a sharp decline in the way muddy was and now is. Seem to happen a few years ago when they got rid of the regional reps. They should change their slogan to "Muddy, Big Game......it's all the same. When big game acquired muddy they should of just dissolved it. Now they just rebrand each others equipment to sell to the sister companies customers.
Very low of muddy to do. Haha but I couldn't help notice that Hawk then uses Mathews signature slogan in the hashtags hahaha
This is blatant copying. But, if a product does not have a patent on it, then its fair game. Companies copy each other all the time. They take the same idea, make it look a bit different and call it their own. Unless you put a patent on it keeping others from using it without fear of going to court, you're fair game. I love my Muddy Safeguard Harness and will continue using it. I'll also probably purchase some of the Hawk tree accesories.
Not to throw stones here, but the Lone Wolf Alpha Tech stand looks pretty similar in design to the Older Muddy Stands (pre buy out). I feel like it was Lone Wolfs attempt to draw Muddy customers over to Lone Wolf by offering almost the exact same stand with a Lone Wolf logo on it. Not saying it's right or wrong, just an observation.
I don't work for Lone Wolf nor did I design any of their products. If you want to say they copied Muddy, have at it.
I'm just merely pointing out that this in not some isolated incident, and I know you don't work for them but this site is partnered with Lone Wolf which does shape your opinion on their products and their competitors products. I'm not finding any fault in that either, it's a business. By the way, I'm not trying to knock Lone Wolf. I love my Alpha II stand. Hand's down it's the nicest stand I own.
It's amusing to me that so many people have piled onto this one. Yet there have been several other identical cases where other manufacturers in this space have done the same exact things........yet people love them. What's different here?
I think it is the whole Trust Us campaign they have going that rubbed me when seeing this. Either way it isn't the first time no doubt this kinda thing happens and won't be the last.
This is the first time one manufacturer has publicly called out another for copying their products. Most of the time they just complain among themselves or to their dealers. Likewise, people in the media are too scared to say anything because they rely on ad dollars from these companies to stay in business and don't want to tick anyone off. The Internet and social media has opened up a whole new avenue for information to get out there, and for people to respond to it. Personally I think it's refreshing to see a company lay it on the table and call it for what it is. If the response is enough to give companies pause before ripping someone off, job well done. If not I guess we'll all go on with business as usual.
Does anyone know if there was a patent on it? I'm all for competition... But Muddy copied Hawks product far too much.
I would venture to guess that if there was a patent, Hawk didn't hold them. I can't imagine a major company would put products out there that clearly infringed on a patent. My guess is that Hawk has these accessories manufactured by some supplier in China. That supplier decided to branch out and offer the products to other resellers and Muddy bit. Maybe it wasn't a good decision, but it seems to be what happens to companies that make deals with these Chinese manufacturers. I have no proof of that, it's just my gut feeling. Interestingly, Muddy has a 2016 product lineup on their web page and it doesn't contain any of these products. Can someone that was at the ATA show confirm that they actually saw these products/flyers at the Muddy booth? Just curious since I haven't seen any BH.com videos coming from the Muddy booth.
I think anyone that shrugs this off is just as bad. More companies need to start calling out one another on these issues. Personally, I never go through products looking to see who copied who. It'd be nice to support the companies that keep innovating instead of replicating.
I believe this nails it on the head. We're talking about some chinese manufactured hooks and things. My local Wal-mart was selling Hawk accessories this past year if that means anything. If anything, it could mean that the manufacturer is shopping their items around, hoping to land a major name in industry to sell more product. Perhaps the Hawk brand simply wasn't selling enough. If a company doesn't patent it, or have a clause saying their manufacturer can't sell the same thing to another company, then there is nothing saying that anyone else can't do the same. Not saying morally its right, but business is business and we all know how morals tend to fly out the window when it comes to business.
On HAWK's Facebook they claim their products are 100% their own and 100% made in their own factory...I find this hard to believe with the cost of their products.
They could own a factory over seas though, no clue personally though. As for the patent thing, Hawk isn't like a huge company and a patent lawsuit would probably put them under before they would even win or lose against Muddy/Big Game.
