Folks, here's a post from Robert Vess, of Vess propellors that he posted on another site:

This is a wonderful hobby with a bunch of great people in it. And there is a marvelous infastructure that supports all of us in every way imaginable. You can participate in a forum of fun and knowledge, pick up one of many magazines, or talk with countless RC enthusiasts to learn about anything you want so that you can expand your RC experience to any level. And the products that are now available to support your pursuits are wide-ranging and impressive.

But we must all recognize that all of this rests upon the fact that each and every person who provides these products and services to make our hobby flourish is expending time, sweat, and money to offer you something useful and unique while hopefully making a living in the process. It's the American Dream to provide for your family while doing something you truly enjoy.

Unfortunately, the world is littered with people with less-than-ideal morals who ignore the fundamental values of mankind in an effort to feed their greed. And we are in the midst of a few such people right here within our precious hobby. Let me give you one example that just so happens to involve my company, Vess Propellers.

When I set out to design and develop my props, I closed my eyes to the "norm". I started with a clean sheet of paper and used advanced engineering methods to compute blade shapes and twist distributions that were unique while offering some distinct benefits in performance. And you, the consumer, recognized the attributes of my products, chose to use them, and brought me a hard-earned piece of the market. This is how it's supposed to work: you use your mind, think outside the box, work hard for countless hours perfecting the design in the computer, flight test until it's right, sincerely support your products in the field, and then you reap some benefits if it meets public appeal, right? For most of us the answer to this is YES. But for some, they skip eveything but the "reap the benefits" part.

I have what I would consider to be a great customer base who are all quite passionate about my products. One such customer was at an event several months ago and was expressing the attributes of Vess Props to the owner of a major giant scale hobby distributor, thinking that he might be interested in carrying my line. That person arrogantly responded "I can pick up the phone and call one of 5 shops in Asia today and have my own Vess Props". Apparently this wasn't just idle bravado. I have recently obtained detailed documentation that this major, well adverstised, giant scale product distributor purchased one each of my propellers from one of my dealers and then shipped them to China to have copies made. This is not the stereotypical case of someone outside of the continental US copying our products but rather one of our own citizens initiating this act of theft and dishonesty againt his own countrymen! This is lower-than-low in the business world and exposes this person and his company for what they are.

But I am not going to name this person or his company. I am going to sit back and watch. And when the time comes that he decides to bring copies of my products to market, I'll involve the justice system accordingly. But, you can help too. You will know who this is if and when the copies begin to surface. Then it will be up to you to decide if his actions warrant your business. I understand that this is not the first time he has engaged in unethical business transactions and I suspect that more people will begin to speak out, too.

All I can say is that I hope you choose to support businesses that operate with integrity and honesty, have your best interests at heart, and show you each and every day through their actions.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and mull over it's message.

For those who don't know, Robert Vess is the real deal! It's people like him who make this hobby what it is.

Sincerely,
Chris Todd