Arr, me hearties, there be pencil piracy afoot!

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Exhibit A: the Pacific Arc mechanical pencil, as advertised on Amazon.

Exhibit B: the Pentel P200 series.

So being the good citizen that I am, I passed Pentel Canada the link to the first item.

 

Reply: "Thank you for your e-mail. We will handle this counterfeit item through Amazon." 

Farewell, pirate scum!!! ☠️

(Though it is, I admit, externally a very good counterfeit. It's stupid, because all they had to do was just change a few things about the design and it would have been an original product, with nobody the wiser.)

 

[Admiral_Karasu]

@Ensign Cthulhu You may, no doubt, find this older blog post rather titillating reading.

http://onelonemanspensandpencils.blogspot.com/2013/02/pacific-arc-dp-03-03-mm-drafting-pencil.html

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, Ensign Cthulhu said:

Exhibit A: the Pacific Arc mechanical pencil, as advertised on Amazon.

Exhibit B: the Pentel P200 series.

So being the good citizen that I am, I passed Pentel Canada the link to the first item.

 

Reply: "Thank you for your e-mail. We will handle this counterfeit item through Amazon." 

Farewell, pirate scum!!! ☠️

(Though it is, I admit, externally a very good counterfeit. It's stupid, because all they had to do was just change a few things about the design and it would have been an original product, with nobody the wiser.)

 

Or they could have attempted to negotiate a license to manufacture?
But, some jurisdictions are more "tolerant" of copying than others, I suppose.

Good of you to be an upstanding person and report the situation on general principle.  🙂  

[Wolfswetpaws]

53 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

@Ensign Cthulhu You may, no doubt, find this older blog post rather titillating reading.

http://onelonemanspensandpencils.blogspot.com/2013/02/pacific-arc-dp-03-03-mm-drafting-pencil.html

Very interesting!  🙂 

[Ensign Cthulhu]

2 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Or they could have attempted to negotiate a license to manufacture?

I did actually raise with Pentel the possibility that it might be an authorized, licence-built product, but their reply left no doubt. 

[Bryan Handy]

Clutch pencils were a fad in the 80's. When I was at school, my Dungeons & Dragons friends and I swore by our Pacer® pencils, for their fine lines and required no sharpening. They were perfect for our Character Record Sheets.
Often, companies will send people products as acknowledgements for such actions you took. Pental didn't offer you some of their products in good faith?

[Admiral_Karasu]

7 hours ago, Bryan Handy said:

Clutch pencils were a fad in the 80's. When I was at school, my Dungeons & Dragons friends and I swore by our Pacer® pencils, for their fine lines and required no sharpening. They were perfect for our Character Record Sheets.
Often, companies will send people products as acknowledgements for such actions you took. Pental didn't offer you some of their products in good faith?

Yes, I think they first became available around that time. Late 70s/early 80s. Prior to that, we were using stacking point pencils, which also still seem to be available as well.

[Snargfargle]

Pacific Arc has been producing drafting supplies for 45 years. While the pencils may look similar to those sold by other brands, they are not counterfeits as they are clearly marked "Pacific Arc," nor are they direct copies. Pacific Arc pencils are not as high quality as the Pentels they superficially resemble but are good enough. It's more the lead than the pencil anyway.

 

 

Edited October 12 by Snargfargle

[Snargfargle]

If you live in the US you can get this pencil set dirt cheap as there are no import duties.

Amazon Canada.

 

Amazon US.

Edited October 12 by Snargfargle

[Admiral_Karasu]

Because you can't patent the looks, there's kind of a gray area that allows many companies to produce a wide range of products that are nearly identical to the originals they pay 'homage' to. Take Invicta watches, for instance. I got one of their diver watches, I don't wear it that much, but it's got a basic Seiko automatic movement that can be hand wound. Apart from the Invicta logo, it looks practically like an iconic dive watch produced by a much more expensive brand.

[Snargfargle]

Even with the currency difference that would still be only 13.75 Canadian if bought in the US.

[Snargfargle]

Just now, Admiral_Karasu said:

Because you can't patent the looks, there's kind of a gray area that allows many companies to produce a wide range of products that are nearly identical to the originals they pay 'homage' to. Take Invicta watches, for instance. I got one of their diver watches, I don't wear it that much, but it's got a basic Seiko automatic movement that can be hand wound. Apart from the Invicta logo, it looks practically like an iconic dive watch produced by a much more expensive brand.

Also, if you look closely, the Pacific Arc and Pentel pencils are quite different. The design is different, as is the color. It's only at a glance that they appear to be similar, especially when sold in a set of three colors.

This is the way our brain works. The harmless king snake is avoided because it looks superficially like the deadly coral snake. Better safe than sorry. The king snake takes advantage of our tendency to note similarities more so than differences, as does the cheaper pencil brand.

 

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 minutes ago, Snargfargle said:

Also, if you look closely, the Pacific Arc and Pentel pencils are quite different. The design is different, as is the color. It's only at a glance that they appear to be similar, especially when sold in a set of three colors.

This is the way our brain works. The harmless king snake is avoided because it looks superficially like the deadly coral snake. Better safe than sorry. The king snake takes advantage of our tendency to note similarities more so than differences, as does the cheaper pencil brand.

 

"Red touch black, you're safe Jack.  Red touch yellow, kill a fellow." 
 

[Snargfargle]

5 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

"Red touch black, you're safe Jack.  Red touch yellow, kill a fellow." 
 

That only works in the US, and only "most" of the time, even here.

Ribbon coral snake.

Aquatic coral snake.

[Admiral_Karasu]

1 minute ago, Snargfargle said:

That only works in the US, and only "most" of the time, even here.

Ribbon coral snake.

Aquatic coral snake.

So... these two are both harmless, right?

[Snargfargle]

Just now, Admiral_Karasu said:

So... these two are both harmless, right?

Oh, no, they are deadly.

[Admiral_Karasu]

5 minutes ago, Snargfargle said:

Oh, no, they are deadly.

[Snargfargle]

This is the Japanese coral snake.

[Admiral_Karasu]

11 minutes ago, Snargfargle said:

This is the Japanese coral snake.

Okinawa, actually Ryukyu Islands. Scroll down to see that one.

https://okinawanaturephotography.com/okinawa-coral-snake-venomous-snakes-of-the-ryukyu-islands-by-shawn-miller/

[Snargfargle]

13 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Okinawa, actually Ryukyu Islands. Scroll down to see that one.

https://okinawanaturephotography.com/okinawa-coral-snake-venomous-snakes-of-the-ryukyu-islands-by-shawn-miller/

The common name is either the Japanese or Okinawan coral snake. The reason it only occurs at the very south of the Japanese islands is that elapids, which are the sea snake and cobra family, are tropical and sub-tropical in distribution. I found a coral snake once when I was stationed in Louisiana in the Army. That's the only one I've ever seen in the wild.

 

[Ensign Cthulhu]

We go from pencils to snakes... what a fascinating and interesting derailment! 

Here's another Pentel wanna-be, this one from Desk Tech, found in a two-item blister pack at just $2.99 CDN before tax.

Although clearly branded as Desk Tech, it appears to be a closer copy of its Pentel forebear than the Pacific Arc. Unlike Pentel and Pacific Arc, the colour is purely a decorative affair; both the blackish one seen here and a somewhat paler grey item are 0.5mm. The plastic also feels different, more of a grippy, rubbery texture, as if DT felt the original was too slippery and tried to make improvements.

 

On 10/12/2024 at 1:44 PM, Admiral_Karasu said:

Because you can't patent the looks, there's kind of a gray area that allows many companies to produce a wide range of products that are nearly identical to the originals they pay 'homage' to.

I've seen "Magical Flying Pony" in the toy aisle at the dollar store. Any two-and-a-half year old girl who sees it will promptly shout "Twilight Sparkle!" so loudly they could be heard on Mars, but Hasbro must be blowing their top to know that an infringement lawsuit is tantalizingly out of reach. 

Edited November 15 by Ensign Cthulhu

[Ensign Cthulhu]

On 10/12/2024 at 1:05 AM, Bryan Handy said:

Clutch pencils were a fad in the 80's.

Still available today, from many manufacturers (or second-party sellers).

The Staedtler shown here is the reference standard, if not the gold standard. More commonly available outside of specialty shops than any of the others, and it recently got an upgrade to give it a token hardness indicator, although my Linex LH1000 and several others (including a deluxe item by Staedtler themselves) do a better job at that, while at least two manufacturers (Faber-Castell and Mitsubishi) will send you individual lead holders specifically labelled with a particular hardness if you're a professional who always has multiple lead holders with different leads in them on the go at once.

[Wolfswetpaws]

 🙂 🍿