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Lawrence company wants to drum competitor out of business

A Lawrence company that sells a gizmo for tuning drums says a guy who sells a smartphone app for tuning drums is violating its patent.

In a lawsuit filed last week in US District Court in Boston, Overtone Labs, which makes the Tune-bot, says Eric Rosebrock of Kissimmee, FL, knows full well that his iDrumTech Drum Tuner violates its drum tuner patent because the company originally shipped him one of them for a review on a YouTube channel Rosebrock runs - and because the company told him the technology was in the process of being patented.

The iDrumTech app has a "Tuning Calculator" feature, which allows users to calculate the target frequency for a particular drum based on various user inputs such as drum size and desired fundamental note. Upon information and belief, the target values output by the iDrumTech app were copied directly from values calculated by Overtone based on proprietary methods developed by Overtone for Tune-Bot users. Upon information and belief, Web Freaks appropriated these output values by using the Overtone tuning calculator, which Overtone makes available on its website at http://www.tune-bot.com/tuningcalculator.aspx.

Overtone wants Rosebrock to knock it off, plus lost profits, penalties and lawyers' fees.

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PDF icon Overtone complaint44.46 KB


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Comments

This lawsuit is a complete waste of time. iDrum Tech is a FAR superior tuning technology. And it's $95 cheaper...and is an app on a phone. The output values are not appropriated in the same manner as the Tune Bot. You can't patent drum tuning...or a device that aids in the tuning process. That's akin to Apple trying to patent the swiping motions on a phone. Bottom line...Overtone labs released a product that was outdated before it hit the shelves. This is simply a case of one company not staying on the edge of technology while another is actually paying attention to what the consumer wants. The same thing happened with music publishing, record labels...the list could go on. Overtone labs is trying to prolong the slow death of their outdated product and business model.

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I own both tune-bot and idrum but only because I bought tune -bot first and spent $95 more than I needed to. Recording frequencies is not new or innovative. Trying to patent capturing frequencies is like trying to patent reading or recording with a microphone. This is ridiculous. Tune-bot failed to innovate and evolve. They made a product that works well but lack ease of use and functionality. It just lacks all the accoutraments that idrum has and now they are mad because someone else beat them at their own game. Hey Tune-bot, how about you focus your efforts on building a better product that can compete with or out perform idrum? It sounds as if you are lazy and find it less effort to sue someone and make a living off thier innovation than to make something yourself. I won't be sell my Tune-bot, I will just crush it instead. Actually, I think I will post tons of you-tube videos showing how superior idrum is to your product. You should be ashamed.

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Sounds like someone is butt-hurt that they're selling a more expensive version that someone has already improved upon... Sorry bro that your expensive device is now getting killed by a phone app.

Pretty sure this is comparing apples to oranges as the Overtone Labs product is comprised of chips and circuit board while the phone app is code?

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After this childish act by overtone labs, I will tell EVERYONE I know not to purchase a tune bot. I travel in a touring band and have a lot of exposure, and will make it a point to trash them to anyone I can. This is pathetic.

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Tunebot is like a major record company in current times. They know they're going down so in a desperate attempt to save a sinking ship, they just start suing people. It was their mistake to develop a physical device to do something a smartphone is clearly capable of doing. They should have seen this coming. There have been numerous drum tuning apps available before Tunebot joined the party. Even if Tunebot is right, and superior, the fact they are suing a guy making an honest living is so low that they are quickly becoming hated in the music industry. Rosebrock has a background of major contributions and love for the drumming industry, and the Tunebot folks do not. They picked the wrong guy to sue. Eric already has the whole drumming community behind him. I guarantee you that this lawsuit is costing Tunebot more sales than the existence of the iDrumTech app ever would have. I have many friends who work for retailers at a management level, and they are returning Tunebots to the distribution center/main office as defective, just so they are not available in their stores, and they tell people who ask about Tunebot to buy the iDrumTech app instead. Classlessness doesn't fly in the drumming community. They have Eric's back. We all do.

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