Well as most of you know I've been trying to stop the unauthorized use of my original Boost Overlay photos and directions which were copied by LFP and used without my permission for over a year now.
Do you remember the "I've been ripped off. Don't let this happen to you!" thread that attracted over 20,000 views a while back? If you are new to this board or didn't catch it, here was my beef with LFP in a nutshell.
I am the originator of the Hilton Boost Overlay. A clear self-adhesive vinyl overlay that installs over the stock boost gauge on Terminators and Gen 2 Lightnings. When installed and calibrated per the detailed instructions, the overlay allows accurate measurement of up to 23 pounds of boost depending on the style of overlay chosen.
The Boost Overlay was born, developed and produced with help from many suggestions and comments from members on this very board. It quickly became so popular from word of mouth here at SVTP that I built a website to handle the orders. The very generous Travis who owns SVTP was nice enough to allow me to promote The Boost Overlay even before I became an official vendor.
Soon after it's introduction on SVTP the Boost Overlay gained national recognition and articles were published in three major automotive publications. From there things started to take off. I was approached by several vendors who wanted to carry my product. We worked out an agreement that was mutually acceptable for both parties involved. The most recent of which is Lethal Performance. Jared and company are a great bunch of guys over there by the way.
OK, flash forward a few years. The "folks" (I'm being very kind and restrained with that adjective believe me) over at LFP decided that if they couldn't purchase my Boost Overlays from me for next to nothing and make a huge profit off me that they would copy pictures from my web site and my instructions without my permission and bootleg their own boost overlay.
When this was brought to my attention I got on their web site and actually ordered one from them to see what they were up to. Sure enough, they had taken pictures from my web site Hilton Boost Overlay of my own Hilton Boost Overlays to sell their bootlegged product.
But the real kick in the nuts came a few days later when their product arrived. It was a cheap, inferior copy that didn't even match the original fonts (type styles) used in the original gauges.
I posted a thread about this right away on SVTP, complete with a side-by-side comparison and an explanation of what had occurred so everyone could see the BS they were trying to pull. Not long after, Travis asked LFP to not be a vendor here anymore.
I have emailed, phoned, written and sent registered cease and desist letters to LFP and nothing has done any good. I hold a copyright on the pictures too. Registered with the Federal Copyright Office. I've spoken with a number of attorneys who have told me for 5 to 10 thousand dollars they would take on the case. I simply don't have the expendable means to go after the bottom feeders at LFP and force them to stop doing something they should have never done in the first place. Unfortunately they continue to thumb their noses at me and are still selling their inferior product to an unsuspecting public who see my product's picture on their website but end up getting a POS bootleg overlay from them.
OK, I tried to keep this short but thought you should have some history as to what has been going on. Here's the "little justice" part.
A couple weeks ago a member on this board (ripnesscobra) told me that LFP was up to their old tricks again and were selling boost overlays on ebay with (you guessed it) my pictures from my website. I contacted ebay, produced documentation that I hold the copyrights to the photos and shortly after that the listings and the pictures were pulled. Wow, I wish everything was that easy!
Anyway, just wanted to update everyone who has been following this huge PITA and let you all know that I have indeed gotten at least a little justice for my efforts.
Thanks again to Travis and all the great members on SVTP (sorry this post was so long Jimmy) for their business and support over the years!
Ray H.
Do you remember the "I've been ripped off. Don't let this happen to you!" thread that attracted over 20,000 views a while back? If you are new to this board or didn't catch it, here was my beef with LFP in a nutshell.
I am the originator of the Hilton Boost Overlay. A clear self-adhesive vinyl overlay that installs over the stock boost gauge on Terminators and Gen 2 Lightnings. When installed and calibrated per the detailed instructions, the overlay allows accurate measurement of up to 23 pounds of boost depending on the style of overlay chosen.
The Boost Overlay was born, developed and produced with help from many suggestions and comments from members on this very board. It quickly became so popular from word of mouth here at SVTP that I built a website to handle the orders. The very generous Travis who owns SVTP was nice enough to allow me to promote The Boost Overlay even before I became an official vendor.
Soon after it's introduction on SVTP the Boost Overlay gained national recognition and articles were published in three major automotive publications. From there things started to take off. I was approached by several vendors who wanted to carry my product. We worked out an agreement that was mutually acceptable for both parties involved. The most recent of which is Lethal Performance. Jared and company are a great bunch of guys over there by the way.
OK, flash forward a few years. The "folks" (I'm being very kind and restrained with that adjective believe me) over at LFP decided that if they couldn't purchase my Boost Overlays from me for next to nothing and make a huge profit off me that they would copy pictures from my web site and my instructions without my permission and bootleg their own boost overlay.
When this was brought to my attention I got on their web site and actually ordered one from them to see what they were up to. Sure enough, they had taken pictures from my web site Hilton Boost Overlay of my own Hilton Boost Overlays to sell their bootlegged product.
But the real kick in the nuts came a few days later when their product arrived. It was a cheap, inferior copy that didn't even match the original fonts (type styles) used in the original gauges.
I posted a thread about this right away on SVTP, complete with a side-by-side comparison and an explanation of what had occurred so everyone could see the BS they were trying to pull. Not long after, Travis asked LFP to not be a vendor here anymore.
I have emailed, phoned, written and sent registered cease and desist letters to LFP and nothing has done any good. I hold a copyright on the pictures too. Registered with the Federal Copyright Office. I've spoken with a number of attorneys who have told me for 5 to 10 thousand dollars they would take on the case. I simply don't have the expendable means to go after the bottom feeders at LFP and force them to stop doing something they should have never done in the first place. Unfortunately they continue to thumb their noses at me and are still selling their inferior product to an unsuspecting public who see my product's picture on their website but end up getting a POS bootleg overlay from them.
OK, I tried to keep this short but thought you should have some history as to what has been going on. Here's the "little justice" part.
A couple weeks ago a member on this board (ripnesscobra) told me that LFP was up to their old tricks again and were selling boost overlays on ebay with (you guessed it) my pictures from my website. I contacted ebay, produced documentation that I hold the copyrights to the photos and shortly after that the listings and the pictures were pulled. Wow, I wish everything was that easy!
Anyway, just wanted to update everyone who has been following this huge PITA and let you all know that I have indeed gotten at least a little justice for my efforts.
Thanks again to Travis and all the great members on SVTP (sorry this post was so long Jimmy) for their business and support over the years!
Ray H.
