I wrote to these guys to get their feedback on their product and about the rummer they ripped off the Boyer system..........Email's posted below
Pazon ignitions mmmm ....
wonder how many folk realise that a Pazon ignition system is basically just a rip off of a Boyer ignition system the design of which was taken by a husband and wife pair that left Boyer Bransden employment and set up in competition in NZ !. Theres gratitude for you .
well Pazon claim that whilst they worked in the R&D dept at Boyer they helped improve the design but even if they did that design was Boyers property and copyright . i would suggest that is why they set up in NZ where they are probably immune from a copyright action but that is speculation of course.
When I ran an interative electronics Company back in early 2000 I made sure that all my employees signed a confidentiality agreement but it still didn't stop one asswipe from leaving and setting up his own Company in his garden shed and selling my designs to my clients.
The Husband & Wife were employees of Boyer Bransden not contractors ?. He claims that he was eventually made a Director of Boyer ie an employee of the Company
Employees do not generally retain intellectual property rights over anything they produce for their employers unless there are special agreed circumstances..
Hi, I have 5 XS650's. I am writing to you to inform you about slanderous comments that have been made about your selves and your ignition system. I belong to the premier XS650 forum, XS650.com. A member here has been making accusations you have ripped off the Boyer Ignition system when working for them and copied the ignition and selling it as your own. Here is a link to the thread
http://www.xs650.com/threads/boyer-and-pamco-ignition.46859/page-10 starting at post no 192. I an informing yourselves because i do not think it is right that this sort of behavior is tolerated. Especially over the net and especially as the XS650 has recently lost a good ignition system, Pamco,(to it being reversed engineered) and forced Pamco to stop production. Our community is crying out for a good replacement at a reasonable cost. I also invite yourselves to have a look at the site and to, maybe, join and offer some real information about yourselves and your product. The thread i linked to is one i made up about the pamco to help collect all relevant information into one thread, for the members and Pamcopete. Thank you, and since i have now found your ignition i will definatly look to you when i replace my point or if the Pamco i bought has any trouble The XS650 community, Forum), has over 27,000 members and a lot of these members have old Honda's, Triumphs, Kawasaki's, and belong to other forums. If one person spouts misinformation about parts supplied by companies then this will also reverberate around the other bike forums. As an X kiwi, (Taranaki), myself i do not condone this behavior and it is not in my nature to do so. All he Best, -----
Hi ----,
We would like to set the record straight on the comments made on the forum, specifically by ‘peanut’.
We are a husband and wife team, who worked for Boyer-Bransden Electronics.
I was there for 24 years, ending up as managing director.
Together with my wife, Debbie, we ran just about every aspect of the company, and were both made directors of the company.
When were made directors, we received no further benefits, other than the title ‘director’, which did not mean anything to either of us.
We both resigned as directors about six months later, and left the company shortly after that.
Neither of us had official contracts, only basic letters of appointment.
Proper detailed contracts were drawn up for everyone in the company, including us.
We ensured that all staff that we were responsible for had contracts, which were read and signed by all parties
The contracts for Debbie and I had to be approved and signed by Ernie & Kathy Bransden.
This was never done. We can only conclude that it was not important enough to them.
When we left Boyer, Debbie and I set up a hair extension business.
Quite different to electronics I know, but it proved successful for us.
Running this did not require too much time on my part, so I used the free time to work on ignition system design and development.
We saw an opening in the market for not only improvements on what was already there, but new products and applications.
After leaving Boyer-Bransden, we received a letter from their legal advisors.
The letter made claims, including that we had taken designs and stolen property (stock) from them.
We responded with a letter, and all the claims were rebutted.
In the letter, we also pointed out that Ernie Bransden himself had reverse engineered another person’s product (a dynamo regulator).
I personally witnessed him spending many hours working on this. To be fair, I believe that the final product he came up with was an improvement on the original.
No further correspondence was received from them.
From the forum post:
Pazon claim that whilst they worked in the R&D dept at Boyer they helped improve the design but even if they did that design was Boyers property and copyright
No research & development was done whilst we were at Boyer-Bransden, except on the digital ignition systems.
In the ‘90s, Ernie Bransden wanted to produce a digital ignition system, to run alongside the analogue systems.
He designed the hardware, and my part was to write the software.
Around the same time that we brought out our Sure Fire (analogue) ignition system, the Sparx brand came onto the market. Sometime later, other brands were introduced.
All of these ignition systems work in a very similar way, but we haven’t heard or read of anyone complaining that these are a ‘rip-off’ of the Boyer.
We appear to have been singled out for these negative comments, simply because we worked for them.
However, with all the years of experience gained there, we believe that this lends an advantage to the products we make, and to our customer support.
The patent that relates to the Boyer ignition system ran for 16 years, and expired before either of us joined the company.
This is why the other makes of ignition system are not infringing the patent, as it is no longer in force. Copyright would not normally apply.
The Copyright Act protects expressions (i.e. artistic). It does not protect ideas, procedures, processes, systems, method of operations, concepts, principles, or discoveries.
The Boyer product labels continue to carry the patent number, intended as an anti-copying deterrent.
Our Sure Fire system is an improvement over similar products in a number of areas, including design, function, reliability and user-friendliness.
The other ignition systems we produce are far removed from the Boyer products.
Our Altair and Smart Fire digital systems are unique to us in operation, and hardware/software design.
Also from the forum post:
i would suggest that is why they set up in NZ where they are probably immune from a copyright action but that is speculation of course.
Our decision to move to N.Z. was set in motion before we left Boyer, and before we had set up our own electronics business.
The move to N.Z. was for lifestyle reasons. There was certainly no ‘running away’ to avoid lawsuits or anything of the kind.
We will continue to work on new ideas and applications, improving on existing products, to offer the best ignition systems out there for the classic bike enthusiast.
Best regards,
Andy Perkins
PAZON IGNITIONS LTD.
274 Hot Springs Road
RD 2
KATIKATI 3178
Bay of Plenty
New Zealand
Tel: +64 75495878
Fax: +64 75495879.