BBR Legal
At BBR Motorsports, our employees love motorcycles! We ride more than anyone deserves to. We spend a lot of time and money on innovation simply because we have a pure passion for the sport. It's what we do! Every product we create gets our best effort because we know that we will personally end up riding with it. And every product we put our name on has been designed and tested by our BBR employees to be the very best money can buy.
We also love competition. It is exciting for us to see all the new companies building parts for 4-stroke minis. We believe competition is healthy for the sport and for the industry. When we see a great product hit the market, we get just as excited as the next guy (whether we built it ourselves or some guy carved it out in his garage). Creativity and innovation are the American way!
At the same time, there is a disturbing trend emerging in our industry. Apparently, there are a handful of companies that have no problem stealing product designs, making exact copies of existing products, and then selling them as their own. We are very aware of the crop of knock-off parts that litter the Internet, and we know the companies producing them. Some of these companies have roots in foreign countries, and some are based in the US. Some claim to be the actual manufacturers of BBR parts (they claim the only difference is the brand name on the product). One of these companies are even stealing our website photos (which in itself is a violation of federal and international copyright laws). With a little PhotoShop® work, they are showing our products as their own! In addition to being outright fraudulent, these business practices are shady and very unhealthy for our industry. Every day, we hear from customers who have sent money off to these companies on the Internet (or E-Bay®) thinking they are ordering a BBR quality product. They are disappointed when they receive nothing at all, cheap copies of good products, or useless junk.
Another concern for us is the situation where a person or company will take a BBR product down the street to a local machine shop (or send it over seas), to have it copied. Just like any innovative company, we expend a great deal of energy and expense in the design and development of our products. It costs them next to nothing to steal our designs. The concern is that these "knock-off" products are scary. They are often made from substandard-grade metals, are often not heat-treated properly (if at all), and the craftsmanship is outright dangerous. In our high-risk sport, this is absolutely unacceptable. We (BBR) are not exclusive in our concern. Many of our competitors are feeling the same way about this growing problem.
Just to be clear, we are NOT knocking overseas production. We use overseas manufacturing technology on some of our products (engine castings, chroming on fork tubes, forgings, etc...). We are also NOT knocking the many innovative companies and backyard shops producing quality competitive products. Some of the coolest products we have seen are the result of entrepreneurs who create products in their private machine shops. We are simply stating our concern over the stealing of product designs, and the dishonest marketing that goes along with it.
Over our history, we have taken legal action against these people and/or companies, and will continue to do so. It is costly, but we are committed to defending the integrity of our name, our products, and our company at any cost. Most important, we are committed to defending the safety of the riders in this sport. We make it clear that we consider importers/resellers to be just as "at fault" as the manufacturer of the products, and will take the steps necessary to affect all involved parties.
Again, we want to state that we appreciate the competition from our rival companies. The growth of our sport depends on this healthy competition. It allows us all to do our best work and keeps us innovating for the future. But for those companies who copy our designs, products, marketing, photos, or anything else that is under clear copyright protection, please see the attached letter, and count on contact from our legal partners.
BBR Product Protection (PDF format)
Thanks to everyone who supports genuine BBR products, and all the best to our competitors who practice friendly, fair and honest business competition! Thanks!
Duane Brown
President, BBR Motorsports, Inc.
Duane Brown President
Duane Brown President