Does it matter who David is or who Goliath it? I care more about who is right and who is wrong. You're saying that the big box stores never get screwed by the little guys? Or that simply because you're a big box store that you should take it in the ass all day long and keep quiet?

I fail to see the reason behind the rash judgment that i see here. I am apparently in the minority.

Here are picturs of both companies 4th gen racks(stealth for gobi)
Whitson:

Gobi:


They are very different once you look at the actual details. The gobi rack has 6 mounting points compared to WMW's 4. The WMW has its tabs welded to the rack not separate bolt on pieces like gobi.

Both use expanded metal for their floor structure. But Gobi has theirs in 2 pieces with a break where there is a cross member attached to the higher members. WMW has all of his cross members across the bottom under the expanded metal grate.

Also you will see that the back of the gobi rack isn't square. The upper cross member doesn't extend as far back as the lower one does.(This is sort of their trademark for their stealth roof racks) the WMW is square and extends just as far back.

I can't speak to the wall thickness of the tubing that each use since I would have to cut one in half to do so.(anyone want to let me cut one in half?)

Also on the subject of the cross members gobi does a square cut on the ends and then pinches them and welds them to the round tube. Where as It looks like WMW fish mouths them and welds the entire area. WMW's method is much stronger, but the gobi method is designed for commercial production.

Also I can't exactly see where the seams are for the WMW rack. I'm guessing it is made in 2 pieces and then has a plug matching the ID of the tube inserted and then welded and ground so it looks like a continuous tube. You can see the gobi rack bends the outter profile in 2 halves and then slips a coupler over the tubes OD and welds it, to make it one piece. Not quite as nice of a finished product but from a production standpoint its much cheaper to manufacture.

Also the front braces on the gobi rack don't really allow for a large LED bar to be mounded across the front.

BTW, WM can easily counter-sue Gobi for financial losses if Gobi claims are false. And yes, i am sure lawyer fees are covered for WM if Gobi is found to be the dumbass here.

But you did actually say blatantly copied?! Thats why I posted that. Also objective?! You seem to be calling the kettle back? Since the beginning you haven't been objective, while you have intermittently said let the legal system work here and there, you have been contradicting anything about WM argument. Also if you truly understand the legal system you realize that with enough money and the right lawyer, the thief can always trump the righteous(case in point OJ Simpson. As for the personal attack on me. . .my rack ordered was not cancelled as I have had it for a while now, but thanks.

There is a difference between discussion and mindless bantering. And for you to finally say I'm no expert racks, your past posts made seemed to infer otherwise about your vast knowledge of the sorts.
Also the belittling and mindset you have comparing this to Trayvon is beyond. Although your trigger words and jumping all over the realm in a single argument and in multiple other examples all over the forum does explain the high number of posts you have. Although not very insightful for some I apologize that you feel threatened when some logically refutes your stance, and you then resort to playing the victim card.

This is very unfortunate! Like a lot of you i planned on owning a WMW rack some day in the future also. I hope this gets resolved as quickly as possible for you and you come out on top! You would think they would go after Perkins performance for they're roof rack? I think Perkins is identical looking to Gobi rather than WMW! But at the end of the day i bet you Perkins isn't pushing out anything near as many racks as WMW so Gobi's going after the bigger threat!

Perkins Performance roof rack

Hey dude...here is a quote from my FIRST post in this thread: (top of page 4)

Please don't let personal feelings get in the way of objectivity.

Again in my entire counter you ignore several critical points. So lets make this clear for you:
The actual facts from post#51 as stated by you
"Should it not be WM's job to come up with a better design to beat Gobi than (blatantly) copy an existing one????? "

So again your ranting is fruitless and I dont see how you could come out of this one. But again I'm sure your back pedaling will prove to further delineate from what this original thread is for and instead make it about self.
Cheers to boosting your eliteness

Somehow every other posts consists of you saying "dont let personal feelings get in the way". Again seems like that is all that you do and you are always right in your arguments/discussions and it is never due to personal but clearly stated scientific fact.

Oh never mind. I now know what i am dealing with. Geez dude open your mind. Good talking to you.

What your own words proving several of your past posts invalid, and again only taking part of my posts to refute?
Good luck out there kid


Likewise

Perhaps they did.

I tried looking up Perkins Performance, Puyallup WA. An entry on Yelp from 2013 claims it is closed.

Norton blocked access to their website perkinsperformance.com and flagged it as a malicious website.

Anybody had contact with them lately?

Great observations. There are definitely many design decisions made by Whitson that are not present on the Gobi rack. Whether these differences are enough to completely dispute the alleged infringements, well, time will tell.

Wow, amazing how much things change in just a few hours!

Some peoples kids......

Josh,

Please don't let the direction of this thread to deter you from keeping us informed on the status of your situation. I do hope that if you ever feel the need to do a go fund me page or something, to let us know, there will be people willing to do what they can however little it may be to help out.
Godspeed!

I think Thai should represent Gobi and Wadle5 should represent Whitson but not in the court room.........on the trail. A battle of driving skills tested across all terrains. Winner gets bragging rights and the loser has to answer every single thread in the 5th Gen section about tires, shocks and.........roof racks for 6 months straight.

Answer. . .or correctly give information. Don't leave the 4th gen section out of this offer. As I can tell you right now I am not that well versed in the almighty 5th gen, except for the fact it is going to be my next vehicle.

____

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