MBU Imitators Apology

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Moore Bettah Ukuleles

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As a follow up to a recent thread, I received this email this morning. It's good to know that UU has sufficient clout to make companies stand up and listen. Mahalo again to everyone who made their voices heard. You make us all proud to be a part of the ukulele community.



Dear Mr. Moore,

This is Dean from Ayers Music and this is an official apology from us.

We made two custom ukulele according to players request and design but we did not check and research the origin of these two designs. We checked your website and find that these are your designs and we feel deeply sorry about using your design in this improper way.

We will take down the pictures from our website soon and write a official apology on our website. We will be more careful about the custom design in the future.

We are sorry about this and we hope you could accept our sincere apology.


Best regards,

Ayers Guitar
 
I guess that is better than nothing. I still don't think they didn't know it was your design. I wonder how many nasty emails they got. (besides mine!)haha
 
It's something, but their definition of 'soon' is the part that makes me curious. The pics are still there.
 
A bunch of us that wrote in got this reply:

Dear Sirs,‎

Thanks for your messages.‎

These two ukuleles are actually custom models requested by players. We make the ‎ukulele according to their design but we made a mistake that we did not check and ‎research the origin of these designs. I checked Mr. Moore’s website and feel deeply ‎sorry about this. ‎

We will take down these two designs out from our website soon and send Mr. Moore an ‎official apology. ‎

Thanks for all your opinion and we will be more careful in the future.‎

Thanks,‎
Ayers guitar


For whatever it is worth...
 
Next to the NRA, who has more clout than the UU!

PETA, ASPCA, Sierra Club, MADD, DAMM... Oh...that was a rhetorical question... LOL

John
 
Nice to see a good outcome!
 
Honestly, that was more than I expected... I hope they live up to their promise to investigate in the future. I still don't think it explains the story of how the frog design came to be...
 
Honestly, that was more than I expected... I hope they live up to their promise to investigate in the future. I still don't think it explains the story of how the frog design came to be...



I agree with you CJ,that frog story sounds fishy..haha

still wondering how they can make the frog inlay look exactly like Chuck's work..do they trace it somehow or what?
but I say their apology is better than nothing..i think...

P.S.
Hey CJ..i just went back and read the tree frog post..did the person who posted it say it was an original design by them? and with their lasers,CNC,,etc it took them 2 to 3 weeks to do the inlay? more confused now...what else is new..? haha
 
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:confused: Ever consider licensing them the designs and start a lower-priced line?
.... "Moore-or-Less Bettah Ukuleles"
 
:confused: Ever consider licensing them the designs and start a lower-priced line?
.... "Moore-or-Less Bettah Ukuleles"

Now that's funny!

I'm pleasantly surprised by this apology from Ayers. Good for you Chuck!



Scooter
 
:confused: Ever consider licensing them the designs and start a lower-priced line?
.... "Moore-or-Less Bettah Ukuleles"

He gets approached all the time plus offers to apprentice for free but that's not Chuck's style. Maybe he'll consider those options down the road but even his "spec" ukes are very unique.
 
Aloha Chuckie,
Woo hoo that is great news...I guess UU has some clout....I still think the ukes made in question should be returned and destroyed and a company policy made the any copies made without permission will be destroyed too....
 
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I know people want a Moore Bettah very badly. Really, why spend money on something that looks like someone else's Moore Bettah? There are elements of others' custom ukes that I would love if I ever had a custom made for me. But in the end, it would still be my unique ukulele and it wouldn't look like anyone else's.
 
Aloha Chuckie,
Woo hoo that is great news...I guess UU has some clout....I still think the ukes made in question should be returned and destroyed and a company policy made the any copies made without permission will be destroyed too....

It's terrible that this happened, and I really hope the company changes its ways and doesn't become a repeat offender. But even if the company were willing to refund the price to the buyers of those copied ukuleles, you'd still have to convince the owners to relinquish their ukes for destruction. That might not be so easy.
 
I think it's nice that Ayers apologized. But I feel like I've got to say this about the content of the apology. The only way for the company to be able to make an EXACT copy of the ukes was to have a picture of the ukes. Everything is the same, down to the color, the shapes, etc. If the company had photos of the ukes, they already knew, by definition, that it was the work of art by someone or some people other than those who commissioned the ukes. So even if they didn't know that it was Chuck's design, they had to have known it was SOMEONE's design. There is no argument whatsoever that these designs were somehow in the public domain. Bottom line--they knew they were doing something wrong.
 
:confused: Ever consider licensing them the designs and start a lower-priced line?
.... "Moore-or-Less Bettah Ukuleles"

LOL Paul....sorry Rick, he made me laugh...
 
That clarifies the first thread a bit better - your previous thread gave the impression they are making them on a large scale.
It states on their website they where custom made by request. (funny is the comment about the red eyes for the frog I think).
Their reply seems professional enough to be caring for a positive outcome.
Did you approach them directly yourself first or use the forum only to get their attention?
 
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