From the Zalman website....

"Zalman has many patents and design rights registered in various countries throughout the world.
They result from continuous investments on high-end technologies and innovative designs in a field
of people-friendly computer cooling solutions, and therefore, Zalman and Zalman technologies have
become a benchmark to many other manufacturers in the computing cooling field.

Unfortunately it is not difficult to find companies attempting to ride on Zalman's reputation by
continuously infringing upon Zalman's unique designs and technologies these days. They illegally
produce and merchandize the copy products without any preliminary permission or agreement.

These kinds of fake products look pretty much the same as Zalman's, but they lack Zalman’s
craftsmanship. Many problems were reported by customers on these products, particularly in high-end
systems. Furthermore, these manufacturers continue with their efforts in luring customers with
inaccurate test reports along with cheap and nasty products. As a result, all damages go back to
the innocent customers.

Zalman therefore, would like to remind our valuable customers of the risk of purchasing/using those
copy products and to announce that Zalman is preparing all possible legal actions to protect its
patents and design rights from those manufacturers."


I just wish that companies like Zalman, who has spawned many copy-cat products by various smaller outfits, would actually do something about it....more than just words. I've seen little actions taken against rip-off products.

*cough* NorthQ *cough*

You'll probably found that they tried, but it was too complicated and expensive to make it worth it. Especially since I think that Zalman has the kind of reputation that makes people buy their products, even if they were inferior.

Thermalright has similar verbage on their site.



The question is, "What can they do to stop it?"

Most of the serious knock-off companies are based out of China. For the Chinese government, protecting foreign IP is not a big priority. To the contrary, the Chinese government passively encourages the piracy because these companies are a source of tax revenue and high-tech job creation.

The most Zalman could do is file suit in the Chinese courts...and considering that the multi-billion dollar US movie and music industry can't get the Chinese counterfeiters shut down it doesn't seem likely that a little company like Zalman could.

Going after the retailers like Silenx that sell the knockoffs doesn't work either: All the retailer has to say is that as far as they know the products they are buying are legal. Without a court injunction saying that the knockoffs violate Zalman's copyrights there's no way to force them to stop selling them.

I guess it depends on how serious a company is about protecting their investment. For starters.....how about a "rip-off" page on their website. This could show examples of the many Zalman copies.....complete with names. They could further explain why the Zalman original was superior to the fake. I'm not much of a Zalman fanboy, but the many Zalman rip-off products are no doubt confusing to a computer newbee.....

The problem is probably that they didn't file the patents in enough countries. You can file your patents in e.g. Korea, the US and Japan, but that does not make them valid in the rest of the world.

But for every person that reads that page and says, "Ok, now I know that those are knockoffs and I shouldn't buy them" there will be at least one person, and probably more that says, "Hey, that knockoff performs 90% as well as the original, but costs 1/3rd as much. I don't give a rat's ass about Zalman's copyrights, I just want a heatsink that works for as little money as possible. Thanks Zalman for telling me where to buy them at". That's why you almost never see any company make mention of knockoffs of their products...it's like free advertising for the scammers.


What they probably should do is start threatening the US-based retailers. There's not much they can legally do to stop them, but an offer of "Stop selling the knockoffs and we'll let you sell Zalman" might be a start.


For many companies the way to deal with knockoffs is to funnel money in to development. Suing them is like playing whack-a-mole, but if you continuously upgrade your products the knockoff companies can't compete.

I don't know if that's true or not.....it certainly hasn't been used much (the rip-off page). From that Zalman blurb, it appears they are certainly bothered by copy-cat products. And I have heard many times that if you want an exact copy of almost anything, you take it to Hong Kong. In two weeks or less you have an exact copy in hand....or a pallet-full. In the case of computer products.....fans for instance.....it's no doubt true.