What I don't get is that they commented about the sound enclosure voiding the warranty on the cup. Why didn't they also mention that the cup's warranty would be voided if used on another company's blender to intimidate you? Furthermore, why would they even go to the point of mentioning that your company's sound barrier device would void their warranty after they told you to stop selling the product? If you can't sell it why would you need to be informed that your consumers may have warranty issues down the road? Finally, why is a CPA writing this to you and not a lawyer? I would investigate the matter further. Anyone can send a letter like this and claim to work at company xyz and not really work there. Have you ever heard from them again?
I do believe there may be some patent issues with the blender personally, but I'm not experience. If the design of the blade to blender attachment from the vitamix to the omni are virtually the same then we immediately should have our antenaes up in the air. How are they the same? Did somebody copy that part of the design? Many overseas companies are doing this because they can make the same product as here overseas for a fraction of the cost by just stealing other people's hard work. The only thing is that these companies are getting shut down. Look a Vibram 5 Finger shoes. They recently got many China fraudulent businesses shut down from google and Ebay etc bc they are selling fakes. I'd say be open minded about what they are saying to you and look further into it.
On the other hand the blender is enticing to me with my current financial situation and I may take you up on your offer before you get shut down. Just hope my warranty would still work.
You make a good argument about the magazine cartridges being universal which I had previously read. Just as many companies in the U.S. are corrupt so are many companies in China no better fraudulently living off of U.S. manufactured products bc they are stealing ideas from us and reverse engineering them. This costs them little to do since we had to put in all the thought process and desisgn efforts here which cost money to do. On the other hand if you watch some documentaries (found on Netflix) like The Future of Food you see companies putting out patents to control industries for pure profit at the expense of you and I health and financial wise. Ex: Monsanto put a patent on their seed and provided that it could not be sewn. When cross pollination occurred leaving genetically modified seed from Monsanto in natural growing fields (not by their planting) the natural seed was contaminated. Monsanto pays a staff to check fields. When they find a field with their seed they sue the farmers bc they can profit on the lawsuit since most farmers can't afford to continue a court case after $30, 000 and they settle out of court paying Monsanto. This also rids of competition and eventually higher costs for everyone since you have to rebuy seed every year since you can't sew it and you have to buy their chemicals to harvest it or it won't grow.
I see what you are standing for (your business and you won't let some big company win again) which I like. It's not fair when these companies try to rule all and everybody else suffers. In this case we assume that Vitamix is not the first company to even make the blender so then whose patent are they stealing or did they have to obtain rights? It sounds like they may have made an attempt to better their product. Definitely it looks different and isn't labeled the same which will help its case if it ever came down to that.
As far as a patent goes, you're right that it is not needed. If you don't have one though someone can outright copy your product without paying any royalties to you. That's why a patent can prove very beneficial. Even if someone betters your product within a certain time frame you can generally getter the producer to give you a small royalty for using part of your product. Patents can be tricky though. If you produce an engine with a green box around it and I copy your engine and put a red box on it am I infringing? It looks different so it must not be? At some point there must be extreme differences in products to differentiate them. I'd say yours is arguably different otherwise you would've from a lawyer by now.
Good luck and thanks for the reviews that you performed! Tim
