Festool Domino patent

[TRITON]

Or whatever its called Patent etc etc.

Im under the impression that a tool patent lasts 20 years, but not entirely sure. So does anyone know for sure ?.

Even the basic tool is the best part of 900, and you can get a lot for 900 quid. My biscuit jointer was about 200(makita) which makes the price of the domino pretty much a rip off.
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[Jameshow]

Or whatever its called Patent etc etc.

Im under the impression that a tool patent lasts 20 years, but not entirely sure. So does anyone know for sure ?.

Even the basic tool is the best part of 900, and you can get a lot for 900 quid. My biscuit jointer was about 200(makita) which makes the price of the domino pretty much a rip off.
.

Bet the Chinese have their hands on the buzzers!!

 

[Alpha-Dave]

£500 when I bought mine -6 years ago.

In that time it has more than paid for itself in saving materials (mostly from stopping me screwing up) and saving my time so that I can get on with something else.

 

[Doug71]

It will be interesting what appears when the patent does run out but I can't see anyone producing a cheap version. Look at the Triton attempt at a duo doweller, I don't think I've heard a good thing said about it and the engineering needed for that must be easier than for a Domino.

I have just bought a Makita biscuit jointer and it's fine but certainly not Festool quality, I think Lamello is probably more comparable to Festool quality wise and their biscuit jointers are close to £600 now.

 

[Sideways]

Patented in Germany and Europe, validated in Germany, France, Italy and UK
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/036999222/publication/EP1757415B1?q=EP1757415B1
Due to expire in June 2026

Lots of chat about it on other forums but the only discussion to find the actual patents is here.

Everyone else esp in the USA is just speculating about 2024 to 2027 expiry without finding the actual patent numbers.

Domino is a fairly sophisticated beast so I would imagine a major global manufacturer with a good range of woodworking powertools would be best placed to make the investment, build a competent tool and sell enough to get a payback. Makita and Milwaukee ?

Festool are good but other specialist makers like Lamello, Mafell, Trumpf and Fein are all arguably or definately better. The firm who will make money out of a copy will be one who can manufacture to a good enough standard that the tool will work reliably and have the scale to bring the price down and sell in much bigger volumes.

 

[TRITON]

Due to expire in June 2026

I'll possibly have one by then. Though tbh its a flip up between the jointer and the sawstop festool tablesaw. Its the cost of the jointer when you compare it to something like their saw. You get a lot more bang for your buck with the saw,versatility wise than the jointer.

Jointer £800 and the saw is £2k

 

[Inspector]

I bought my Lamello in the mid 80's and it was stratospheric in price and didn't come down much when the imitators followed. The really cheap versions were and are not worth buying. I suspect similar for the imitators that follow the Domino.

My father was working in furniture factories in Denmark in the 40's. He told me he used what he called "long hole" boring machines, (horizontal mortisers). They worked on the same principal as the Domino does with the bit sweeping side to side from a pivot behind the fence, kind of like a teacher waving her finger at a bad kid. Festool basically made it portable for the modern times by reimagining an old idea. I wonder what the next "new tool" will be?

Pete

 

[Doug B]

It will be interesting what offerings emerge when the patent runs out, I don’t think a biscuit jointer is a good comparison in that it’s basically a grinder with a fence so any company that makes a grinder could make one.
Whereas with the domino you’ve got to provide that sideways movement & the mechanism that does that has got to be fairly robust, it must come under considerable strain when pushing a 14mm cutter 70mm in a piece of oak, I imagine just that will weed out the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Jameshow]

It will be interesting what offerings emerge when the patent runs out, I don’t think a biscuit jointer is a good comparison in that it’s basically a grinder with a fence so any company that makes a grinder could make one.
Whereas with the domino you’ve got to provide that sideways movement & the mechanism that does that has got to be fairly robust, it must come under considerable strain when pushing a 14mm cutter 70mm in a piece of oak, I imagine just that will weed out the wheat from the chaff.

Chinese are good at copying though...

 

[Spectric]

It will be interesting what offerings emerge when the patent runs out, I don’t think a biscuit jointer is a good comparison in that it’s basically a grinder with a fence so any company that makes a grinder could make one.

Yes it will be very interesting, any other company will have had plenty of time to evaluate the domino and at least design a prototype that addresses many of the issues raised across the various forums and discussion groups, the question is do they believe there is a market for one and would festool fans buy into it. The downside is that it would impact the aftermarket companies that supply items to help get round the issues, ie Senaca, FC tools and Woodpeckers.

I do not believe that a cheap copy would be much good, this tool needs to be more precise not less, without the patent then the actual machine could be copied because it does a great job of drilling the oblong hole and it is not obvious how this could be improved but an updated base that utilises rods like a router would be great for alignment.

 

[Adam W.]

I've never had an issue with alignment using a domino.

 

[Rhossydd]

do they believe there is a market for one and would festool fans buy into it.

It's not Festool fans that a company need to appeal to, they'll already have bought in. The market is a pent up demand for a cheaper version from people that won't pay the Festool premium.
If Makita or DeWalt can sell a DF500 copy at £450 they'll be in big demand.
Yes, there's possibly some clever accessories they might add, but from what I've seen and read the basic Domino machines are already very sound and have very little room for improvement.

 

[Adam W.]

An also these are professional tools aimed at the professional market where purchasers knock off the vat and write the value off against their tax bill.

In my case with DK tax a £900 tool ends up costing me £345

 

[scooby]

Or whatever its called Patent etc etc.

Im under the impression that a tool patent lasts 20 years, but not entirely sure. So does anyone know for sure ?.

Even the basic tool is the best part of 900, and you can get a lot for 900 quid. My biscuit jointer was about 200(makita) which makes the price of the domino pretty much a rip off.

I think it’s pretty much the same with most tools. Some people spend loads on a table saw (saw stop, powermatic, etc). I’m happy with my Bosch job site saw..do I think the others are a rip off, no. If you can afford it, you enjoy using it and it makes you more productive then it’s worth the price.

I, and everyone here, will agree it’s obnoxiously expensive. It really made me cringe when I bought mine but it’s definitely been worth it. Comparing it to a biscuit jointer isn’t really fair, I sold my Makita biscuit jointer as it never got used.