Sleek Craft Patent MOD VP

[Ron Hill]

Never knew about this. Jim Buckhorn gave me the first issue of The Western Boatman, February 1983...

Sleek Craft ad...

[Skoontz]

I was always under the impression that Sidewinder boats were the first ever to successfully gain a patent for their hard lined design and wrap around windsheild that was integrated to the deck. Soon after that year, which was 1968 or 9, many companies saw the success that design had and made similar versions. Switzercraft for example took the Super Sport foot print, integrated a wrap around windshield and called it the "Playboy". Sidewinder later filed suite against some manufacturer and everyone's designs changed soon after. Sleek Craft appears to have done it for the bottom design, have there been any claims by them against those who copied them???

[Mark Poole]

Patents on boat hulls are nothing more than marketing hype. In the 80's, a big contingent of boat builders tried to put some teeth into boat patents. Supreme Court tossed it out saying that there were too many variables in the industry and that putting a patent on every boat mold would hurt the boat business more than help it. How well it gets thrown against the wall and sticks depends on the court. If a case goes to the high court it will get tossed out. I remember years ago seeing a patent on the "stepped transom". How many people claim to have invented that?

I do remember going for a 100 mph ride in one of those Sleekcraft Mod-VP's. Very solid ride for a mono bow style design.

[Ron Hill]

I do know that there was a boat company called Ranger (Not Ranger Bass Boats), but Bruce shut them down and got their molds.... I think the anti-splash laws actually have some teeth in them today....

Here is a picture of the LATE Kim Howard when he won Havasu...(I have no details on Kim's passing except to know he passed around CXHristmas, 2006..)...

[Miss BK]

The reason boat hulls couldn't be protected in the past was due to one judge who made a ruling that 10% of a hull had to be changed before it would not be considered design theft. This judge had no clue what was involved in designing boats, nor what constituted the most important aspect of a boat hull. He didn't understand how easy it would be to take someone else's years of work, and make a non-running surface 10% modification. In other words, that one ruling destroyed all design protections the true builders once had.

Today, you might not be able to put a patent on a hull, but as of 1998, you can definitely get a copyright on your original hull design. The fine is $50,000 and destruction of all copies and molds + any loss of sales. This law actually sticks as it has already been used a few times.

Here's a link to this new law:
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap13.html

Patents on boat hulls are nothing more than marketing hype. In the 80's, a big contingent of boat builders tried to put some teeth into boat patents. Supreme Court tossed it out saying that there were too many variables in the industry and that putting a patent on every boat mold would hurt the boat business more than help it. How well it gets thrown against the wall and sticks depends on the court. If a case goes to the high court it will get tossed out. I remember years ago seeing a patent on the "stepped transom". How many people claim to have invented that?

I do remember going for a 100 mph ride in one of those Sleekcraft Mod-VP's. Very solid ride for a mono bow style design.

[Mark Poole]

I guess in this part of the country nobody bothers to copyright a boat. As soon as anyone builds a 15 to 22 ft. fishing boat that sells it gets splashed, and splashed again. It is stupid funny how many of the same hulls are built by different companies. Many times there are no changes made at all. It has been years since I have seen an all original design show up around here.

[tthibodaux]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I have three friends who all have the same boat with a different name, Cobra,Viper and Hawk all the exact same boat 2 are the same year.