Sadly, MCM Electronics is carrying the knock-off product mentioned in the Cliff UK press release cited below. Unfortunately, I had placed an order. Getting a little paranoid about the situation, I went back to the MCM site to confirm the vendor was actually Cliff UK. It is not. I emailed MCM to cancel the order. Distributors have to get the message it isn't cool to sell fraudulent goods.
We'll see what happens now.
Cliff UK wrote:
The court in Topeka, Kansas, USA has issued its order in the long-running dispute between CLIFF UK and its ex-distributor, Cliff Electronic Components Inc. of Topeka, (Cliff USA now trading as CHK Electronics), and Andrew Brunt.
The court ruled that Cliff USA
had infringed on CLIFF UK’s American trademark,
engaged in unfair competition with CLIFF UK,
falsely designated the origin of its counterfeit goods marketed to American consumers,
owes CLIFF UK an unspecified money judgment and infringement penalties yet to be determined.
It also ruled that CLIFF UK is entitled to an injunction prohibiting Cliff USA and Andrew Brunt from engaging in further use of the CLIFF trademark or name. The court denied the counterclaims of Cliff USA and Andrew Brunt and found the latter personally liable.
The ruling confirms that only CLIFF UK, its’ USA subsidiary CLIFF INC. or CLIFF authorised resellers are entitled to sell products in the USA under the CLIFF brand name. Counterfeit products must not be marked with the CLIFF name nor sold as genuine CLIFF products.
I have a drawer full of the fake Cliff jacks that I bought from all the major vendors thinking each time I was going to finally get Cliff UK. I didn't.
I finally went in with Colossal to order direct from Cliff UK.
M Fowler wrote:I have my doubt that the AES are Cliff UK unless they changed?
Mark
They seem to go out of their way to say the jacks are "Cliff UK" and "Made in the UK." It'll be good to find out. They do also sell jacks labelled as "Plastic Jacks," clearly knockoffs but with no mention of Cliff or UK.
I have had a bunch of trouble with the "old" style Switchctaft jacks. I also started a thread about it a few months ago. YOU are not alone. A member here suggested I try these, and I did. Kind of the "Mil-Spec".....
They seem to go out of their way to say the jacks are "Cliff UK" and "Made in the UK." It'll be good to find out. They do also sell jacks labelled as "Plastic Jacks," clearly knockoffs but with no mention of Cliff or UK.
These were the last ones I ordered thinking that were the real deal but what I received were marked Cliff 3, Cliff 1, Cliff 5, etc. Cliff UK doesn't have a part number like the one noted with AES.
They seem to go out of their way to say the jacks are "Cliff UK" and "Made in the UK." It'll be good to find out. They do also sell jacks labelled as "Plastic Jacks," clearly knockoffs but with no mention of Cliff or UK.
These were the last ones I ordered thinking that were the real deal but what I received were marked Cliff 3, Cliff 1, Cliff 5, etc. Cliff UK doesn't have a part number like the one noted with AES.
Mark
Damn. Let's hope they too were misled by the former Cliff USA.
Yesterday I emailed CLIFF INC. and asked them who their resellers were in the USA.
I don't think they would mind me posting that email since it is informative and will only serve to help their business.
Hi Tom,
CLIFF USA was our previous distributor up until they went rouge in 2008. They took our drawings to China and copied our UK made jacks and represented them as CLIFF parts. We recently won our law suit against CLIFF USA, Andy Brunt and CHK Electronics. The court has ordered an injunction against them. US customs have already ceased some of their shipments on counterfeit parts with using the CLIFF name as well as some parts that infringed our US patents. Anybody buying or using these parts are also at risk.
Cliff Inc. is the North American Division for Cliff UK England.
As of today, you can buy from the following distributors genuine CLIFF UK made jacks.
CE Distribution
MCM Electronics
Newark Electronics
New old sound
Let me know if you need the contact phone numbers for any of the above distributors or require more information regarding this situation.
Best regards,
Bruce
Cliff Inc.
Articles regarding case in different magazine publications below.
Well good to know. So now when they say it is Cliff UK you actually get them, I didn't, but that was a while ago, can't remember the month/2011 that colossal sent me my jacks.
martin manning wrote:...I've not had any issues with the standard open ones either. (Probably shouldn't have said that...)
I knew it- just had some intermittent contact occur on the return jack (Switchcraft 12A) in my D'lator! After cleaning and retensioning it seems ok. Originally it looked to be just barely making contact with no plug inserted. Now there is a bit of sliding movement between the tip and switching leaves when a plug is inserted, which should provide some self-cleaning. Seems like the issue here was out-of-spec pre-load on the contacts.
