2022 Review

On the final business day of the year it is always a moment to reflect on the last 12 months and what our small Dallas based team created and shipped all around the world. It's a moment to reflect on 2022 and ponder 2023.

Constant Innovation and R&D Drives 67 Designs

Without doubt the #1 driver is solving real world challenges for how electronic devices such as phones and tablets are used in every kind of situation. We spend a lot of investment dollars on design and R&D. We go through countless iterations and different models to generate just one seemingly simple product.

The more simple a product looks the more edits get left on the metaphorical editing floor. That was true when we created the very first Simple Ball Mount that has been recognized by the USPTO for it's shape and unique design silhouette and characteristics. (Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Reg. No. 6,649,626)

Some of the New Releases in 2022

The 4RunnerRail™

The 4RunnerRail™ is another implementation of the Series 55 Rail System. Available in turnkey packs and rail and trackball packs.

No Arm Options

Building on the very successful arm-less clamp and device combo we created to help Vector Bar owners, we introduced a range of MagMount G3 and base combo packs. This has been warmly received by consumers looking for a more compact setup for projects as well as Enterprise clients looking to mount devices in various points for employees. Look for the Universal for Phones option in 2023.

Half-BroncoRail™

In January we delivered our first Half BroncoRail™ to customers. This has been a wonderful alternative to the Full BroncoRail™ introduced in 2021. While technically less than half the length, it has also been a fast favorite of the Ford™ Bronco community.

The Candy Apple Red Universal for Tablets

Building on the amazing response to the black Universal for Tablets we introduced the Candy Apple Red tablet holder in the late summer. This is proof that by being in control of our manufacturing processes here in the US we could work quickly with our local anodizer to launch a fun and extremely popular tablet holder.

The Only Dark Spot in an Otherwise Amazing 10th year for 67 Designs.

In April of 2022 67 Designs was sued in Federal Court by the company behind Bulletproof Mounting Solutions, F&V Corp of Ohio.

Our company has been impacted by a needless lawsuit fired out because the founder of 67 Designs notified Amazon.com that Bulletpoint products infringe on the original 67 Designs' USPTO issued trademarks relating to the Simple Ball Mount and the TacoRail®.

Amazon started taking products off their site and we have been defending ourselves in the courts ever since. The owners of F&V - Ryan Fry of Franklin County, Ohio and James Varner of Cuyahoga County, Ohio seem as determined in 2022 as they were in 2018 when Mr Fry and an associate first purchased 67 Designs products to send them to China to be copied. F&V targeted no other mounting systems company and insisted the copies matched 67 Designs exactly. The intent to copy our designs and drive us out of business by taking our business with imitations is laid bare.

Our lawyers are fighting hard to ensure that our team remains focused on creating more original works, doing R&D and creating US jobs.

The impact to our small company has been incredible. It has resulted in over $300,000 in legal fees in 2022 and we have had to halt extending job offers to local candidates as funds are diverted to lawyers seeking justice for infringement of our intellectual property. Let us hope that cooler heads prevail and that both companies - although built on polar opposite business models - can get back to focusing 100% on serving the needs of the market with original and very different looking products.

In Conclusion

67 Designs has enjoyed a very strong 2022 considering the economic backdrop of the biggest war in mainland Europe since WWII, inflation at record levels and of course public market meltdown all year.

We could not have done all that we did without some great vendors, wonderful staff and of course you - our customers.

We absolutely appreciate all the inquiries from end users asking for additional products and from companies that have very interesting custom hardware mounting requests. We look forward to a 2023 and we wish you, your family and your businesses a safe and healthy 2023.