Engraving lighters illegal?

[Dave Yanke]

The most they can do is to invalidate any warranty on their product if engraved by someone else.

Actually, they can not even do that. Just like adding aftermarket parts to your auto won't invalidate a warranty, neither will engraving. In both case, the work done has to directly impact or cause the failure. See the Magnuson-Mass Warranty Act for more info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuso...s_Warranty_Act

[Joe De Medeiros]

I understand the difference. Zippo is saying that personalization is OK. But, that customization is not.

So, what about when a club or organization asks an engraver for 100 lighters marked with the club's logo (copyright approved). And, they have the intent to sell them as a fundraiser. Is it OK to take the job? Zippo is saying no.

K

Customization, to me would mean changing the fit or function of the lighter, engraving, painting or gluing on decals is personalization, or value added. It's none of there business what you put on it.

[Robert Walters]

Zippo has been hit VERY HEAVILY by counterfeits hurting their bottom dollar over the years.

So they've taken a very aggressive legal approach to anything that might even graze that realm, and have made sure all their employees follow through with that line of thinking, even if it's trivial.

Since they do personalization internally, I suspect that's what you have come across. I bet if you asked them to put it in writing you would get a different attitude =)

Zippo's Lifetime warranty doesn't cover finishes (even if NOT engraved).

When I've sent in lighters to be repaired, they replace the entire insert, re-weld the hinge on the outer case, and ship it back to me.

[Bill Cunningham]

Ah, here it is... good ol' Blue Jeans Cable (I've purchased from them in the past, good prices):
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/...onse041408.pdf

An 8 page response only a (former) lawyer could produce

Now that was an interesting read! I'm sure Monster Cable sent him everything he asked for with-in the 14 day period.. hahaha.. Shooore they did!

[Rodne Gold]

Monster Cables are considered lower than a snakes belly by serious audiophiles world wide - they have sued just about anyone using the word monster - including charitable orgs.
Cables themselves are contentious - some spend many $1000's on em and others say they make no difference. Monster , in being so aggressive have lost the high roller market and their products have been relegated to the lower end and far less profitable arena. Bose are similar - considered a joke cos of their litigious manner. No audiophile worth their salt would consider buying either of these products - their abuse of the patent and trademark/copyright/whatever law has hurt their chances of building a respected brand among the trendsetters in the hobby.
As to Zippo - well , I would buy a knock off any day and have , they work just as well at 1/10th of the price - I lose lighters often and would rather lose a cheapy than a genuine way overpriced zippo.

[Mark Ross]

I awlays had to laugh about the gold connectors both on the back panels of equipment as well as cables. The claims are what they are, but if you open up equipment, it is usually that the gold connector is soldered with a wire, onto a PC board which has copper traces. Yeah...impeadance imsmheadance...

It is low through the cable but at either end (speaker or amp), it basically nullifies any gain you get from "gold" connectors.

Bob Pease wrote some very interesting articles about this in Electronic Design, his column was called pease porridge. Being an electrical engineer, he backed up his disputes with gool old hard data from bench testing.

The old addage about a fool and his money...

Plus, if you have a tin ear, what does it matter?

[Lee DeRaud]

I awlays had to laugh about the gold connectors both on the back panels of equipment as well as cables. The claims are what they are, but if you open up equipment, it is usually that the gold connector is soldered with a wire, onto a PC board which has copper traces. Yeah...impeadance imsmheadance...

It is low through the cable but at either end (speaker or amp), it basically nullifies any gain you get from "gold" connectors.

The benefit of gold connectors is pretty much zero (IMHO) for high-insertion-force connectors like RCA jacks.

What I've noticed is that for things like microphone plugs, the unplated ones (especially in 1/8") tend to lose conductivity, probably from surface corrosion, if you don't rotate or pull/reinsert every couple of days. The most annoying culprit is the cable between my netbook (AKA "SuperPod") and my stereo: it had that problem with three different cables until I replaced it with a gold-plated one (Radio Shack, not Monster ), which has been stable for several months. (Gold-to-gold would obviously be better in cases like this, but I refuse to speculate what kind of cheap stuff is lurking inside the jack of the netbook.)

[Rodne Gold]

The cable issue has been the source of raging flames in the audiophile community. My take is that moderate spend on well constructed cables is not material when it comes to some system costs , lets say 5% of the system or a little more is not going to matter. The peace of mind is probably worth it.
As to hearing differences with various cables , if you think you hear a better sound thru one or another - then even if its psychoacoustic - it's a truism for the listener and they do get benefit for their money.
Much like spending money on a fine bone china cup cos you swear tea tastes better out of it.

There are unfortunately a lot of snake oil salesmen in the cable world , like a digital cable that had a gel filled casing and another that had led's shine thru a clear gel to improve transmission - offered at $5000 range and so on...

[Niklas Bjornestal]

I awlays had to laugh about the gold connectors both on the back panels of equipment as well as cables. The claims are what they are, but if you open up equipment, it is usually that the gold connector is soldered with a wire, onto a PC board which has copper traces. Yeah...impeadance imsmheadance...

Isnt the main reason to use gold plated connectors, that they wont oxidize and therefore make better contact. The soldering/wire/copper traces isnt very sensitive to oxidation.

[doug king]

Whew... now that we have that out of the way.... Where can I order lighters that can be engraved using cermark? Anyone help newbie out?

[John Barton]

Whew... now that we have that out of the way.... Where can I order lighters that can be engraved using cermark? Anyone help newbie out?

Here? ebay

Maybe here:

http://www.google.com/search?q=whole...ient=firefox-a

[Ken Smith]

The person that I had been talking to at Zippo told me to contact their head office for clarification on their policy. I chose to go on vacation instead. Ha! I guess they've chosen not to weigh in here directly. Bummer, I love when vendors try to explain/justify policies like this in forums like ours.

Ken