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Patent On Fly Patterns!


Jake

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One of my favourite flies is the Teeny Nymph which works for me in just about every lake that I have fished. I wouldn't leave home without it. Jimmy Teeny invented this pattern when he was 12 years old and eventually, put a patent on his creation. You could not purchase this fly, unless he was the one that marketed it. I believe the patent has expired in the last couple of years.

 

I was wondering if there are certain patterns in your neck of the woods that were also patented? Plus, what are your views on this subject? Do you feel that you have the right to protect the killer fly, that you dreamed up?

 

Jake

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

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I would imagine that it must be almost impossible to patent a fly pattern.

Just the slightest variation in colour, material,size etc, and you could claim that it wasn,t a copy of the original.

 

Also,if the fly is supposed to be an imitation of the real thing, how could you patent that ?

 

It would also be a nightmare to "police".

"I gotta go where its warm, I gotta fly to saint somewhere "

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seems right ,if a person tied a fly, basicly there all tied the same way ,hook fluff feathers wire etc ,if it was based on colour it would change with every feather used ,on the same theme i dont think you can patent plants as there just a variation on the one before ,you can name them but thats about it ,in the near future our dna chaps will be patenting the genes that determine feather colour etc (as well as all of us) you will then be unable to make anything without their permission :( maybe you could copyright it :)

 

[ 02. September 2002, 07:37 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

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"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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This chestnut appeared many years ago in the monthlies..hard one to call..who invents the fly? how many "new" flies have u seen before? One instance. a Damsel pattern was tied originally(?) a fly tyer up here in Scotia..At the time this fly caught lots of fish, then it disappeared deep into flyboxes..3/4 years later, anglers from another area appeared at my local fishery and proceeded to empty the place, when asked the killer fly,one of them replied "Its a new fly tied by my mate" and he proceeded to show us the fly..I went into my box and produced the same fly tied exactly as his..same type hook materials etc..I was accused of buying it at such and such a fishery then the owner of the my local fishery appeared and voila!! he produced the same fly..and were told his mate had just tied this and invented it..well why argue?

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I should have added that Jim Teeny promoted the tying of his fly by selling the pheasant tail feathers and the instructions on how to tie them properly. He cornered the market, by preventing the commercial tiers from selling his pattern, to the general public, with the name Teeny Nymph attached to them. His fly had a reputation of landing a number of record breaking fish of various species. He in fact did patent his fly.

 

True story:

I met Jim Teeny at the Seattle, Washington Sportsman Show approximately 5 years ago. I explained to him that I used his pattern for the first time in 1993.

 

My best friend (Barry Schneider - deceased 2000 Nov. 28) and I were fishing the same lake (Knouff) that the Australian Fly Fishing Team were practising on, for the World Championship. Things were a bit slow for everyone on the lake, until we put the TN on. Well, Barry and I were getting double hitters (Rainbow Trout) for a long period of time. People were watching us, including the Aussies. It got to a point where one of the Australian boats approached us and said, "Okay mate, what are you using"? I ended up giving them a couple of the nymphs and they in turn, gave me a lovely hand woven Polish Nymph. He explained that the Polish Team made them and that they were rare.

 

The one thing that I remember most vividly, when I spoke to Mr. Teeny, was the enormous smile that I put on his face, by telling him, that story.

 

Your teeny nymph............

Jake

 

[ 03. September 2002, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Jake ]

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

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Jake:

One of my favourite flies is the Teeny Nymph which works for me in just about every lake that I have fished.  I wouldn't leave home without it.  Jimmy Teeny invented this pattern when he was 12 years old and eventually, put a patent on his creation.  You could not purchase this fly, unless he was the one that marketed it.  I believe the patent has expired in the last couple of years.

 

I was wondering if there are certain patterns in your neck of the woods that were also patented?  Plus, what are your views on this subject?  Do you feel that you have the right to protect the killer fly, that you dreamed up?

 

Jake

I seem to remember the "Dog Nobbler" name is patented, but not the pattern. Hence whenever "Dog Nobbler" flies are mentioned they are nearly always called Lead Heads.

Colin

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Colin Brett:

Colin Brett:

One of my favourite flies is the Teeny Nymph which works for me in just about every lake that I have fished.  I wouldn't leave home without it.  Jimmy Teeny invented this pattern when he was 12 years old and eventually, put a patent on his creation.  You could not purchase this fly, unless he was the one that marketed it.  I believe the patent has expired in the last couple of years.

 

I was wondering if there are certain patterns in your neck of the woods that were also patented?  Plus, what are your views on this subject?  Do you feel that you have the right to protect the killer fly, that you dreamed up?

 

Jake

I seem to remember the "Dog Nobbler" name is patented, but not the pattern. Hence whenever "Dog Nobbler" flies are mentioned they are nearly always called Lead Heads.

Colin

Colin, I bet that between the both of us, we have nobbled more dogs, than we care to remember! Am I right? Or is just me again!

 

Jake

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

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gwlloyd:

What does a teeny nymph look like then?

I did a search and came up with this site that illustrates the Teeny Nymph. Take away the tail and add a small peacock herl head and it will look like the ones I tie and use.

 

http://flytyingworld.com/PagesH/hs-teenyleech.htm

 

Jake

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

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Hi guy's I'm just back from extended work/fishing in foreign climes so I’ve not been on the site for a while.

 

Jake

 

The only patent regarding flies I've ever come across was for a method and not a fly pattern.

This was for the method of parachute hackling and was patented by Alex Martins of Glasgow but no doubt there are more out there.

 

I suppose you can take the view that as imitation is the sincerest for of flattery, so a successful pattern will be tied by other tyers to the exact pattern and called after the “inventor” aka the Tenny Nymph, Klinkhamer, Black Pennel etc instead of having minor changes made to the pattern to breach patent laws. Thus the original inventor goes down in immortality as the creator of the killer pattern.

 

Hope that’s of some use

 

Duncan

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