OOAK Table Tennis Forum

From the very start, this whole issue has smelled like some sort of insider deal to create a profitable monopoly in TT ball manufacturing.

IMHO this never appeared to be being driven by the best interests of players. Whose best interests does that leave?

It also seems a strange co-incidence that two TT ball scientists would randomly meet and marry... I wonder whose work the patent really was?

I'm very confident the plastic ball and size increase will never happen. Let alone in 2014. The whole idea has totally stalled and the ITTF haven't mentioned it in months and months. In fact they have been unusually silent altogether. Don't want to shake thing up any further I guess. They were dangerously close to being replaced by a new controlling body the way they were going Indy car style. Formula one came close to the same thing happening a few years ago when they pissed off the teams too.

Got an email from FIT updating me on the patent issue surrounding the poly ball. FIT hired an attorney to evaluate the poly ball patents worldwide and provide an opinion on whether FIT members would be subject to patent infringement lawsuits if they chose to produce non-celluloid balls.

It was the judgement of that attorney that indeed companies who produce, sell, or distribute non-celluloid balls in the countries protected by those patents--Europe, US, China, Japan, and possibly Korea if it approves the patent application--could be subject to "enormous legal disputes and litigation". Therefore, the attorney recommended that FIT members restrain from the sale of non-celluloid TT balls.

FIT will have meetings at the European Championships and World Cup to discuss the legal findings and what actions to take. But unless something happens pretty quickly to resolve this matter of patent infringement, my guess is that the ITTF will have no choice but to delay implementation beyond 7/1/14 as no manufacturer is going to take a chance on producing the new balls if they are likely to be subjected to patent infringement lawsuits as soon as they do.

The lawyer also stated there was an easy way to circumvent the patents if it was possible--simply include a small amount (he suggested 5%) of celluloid in the plastic formulation for the new balls. Whether that is possible or not, I haven't heard, and the lawyer's report does not address that possibility.

The report also said that a German Company--Weener Plastik GmbH--has challenged the European patent on grounds of insufficient disclosure, inadmissible extension beyond the content of the application as filed, lack of novelty, and lack of an inventive step. Such legal actions typically take several years to resolve, but in the lawyer's opinion, he believes that Weener will ultimately prevail.

Lastly, the lawyer contacted ITTF about his findings and to get a reaction to the problems noted therein. And--surprise, surprise--the ITTF has not responded.

Larry

I'm very confident the plastic ball and size increase will never happen. Let alone in 2014. The whole idea has totally stalled and the ITTF haven't mentioned it in months and months. In fact they have been unusually silent altogether. Don't want to shake thing up any further I guess. They were dangerously close to being replaced by a new controlling body the way they were going Indy car style. Formula one came close to the same thing happening a few years ago when they pissed off the teams too.

Wouldn't it be "funny", if the ITTF ends up buying the patent rights that are the current holdup?

Does anyone have a link to this patent? (For the patently curious, like myself...)

Iskandar