Pioneer PLX 1000 ancestry

What does Trump have to do with this? Is he responsible for Pioneer defrauding Technics?

How are they "defrauding" Technics? Technics wasn’t producing turntables when the PLX came to market. It was only after the recent surge in vinyl sales that Technics got back in the game. They had sold off most of their original tooling as well -- something they wouldn’t have done if they were so concerned with intellectual piracy.

Pioneer improved upon the original 1200 design with a damped tonearm, detachable cables and higher torque motor. They were targeting the DJ market while the 1200 was originally marketed toward audiophiles. Regardless, if Pioneer was defrauding Technics there certainly would’ve been a legal confrontation. That’s how commerce goes in the modern world. The Chinese can get away with making exact clones of something and selling it on their home turff, but once a product is imported, the infringing company can easily be sued in U.S. courts. Technics certainly would’ve done just that, had any valid patents been violated. Remember also that Pioneer had been selling direct drive turntables with S-shape arms well before the arrival of the SL-1200, as were Kenwood and Yamaha. Did Technics ever have exclusive rights to those technologies? I highly doubt it. By your logic, one could argue that they pirated those designs from elsewhere, and therefore, they too are defrauders.

As for the cosmetics, they’re not quite the same either -- differences in magnitude similar to those of dozens of DD tables sold in 70s. The Pioneer is only sold in black. It has an anodized arm tube, different switchgear, different strobe color and even different tonearm geometry.

@helomech:  I don't know of any evidence that Technics sold off the original tooling for the Technics 1200.  According to Technics, one of the reasons they discontinued its manufacture was that the tooling was worn out.  Since they made millions of the thing, I find this easy to believe!

My understanding is that Technics was the first to introduce a direct drive turntable.  The Technics SL 1100, out in 1971 had an "S" tonearm and was direct drive.  The 1200 came out in 1972. The first commercial direct drive turntable was the Technics SP 10 but this was intended for radio stations, generally.

^I've read conflicting accounts. One article claimed it was sold off, another claimed it was worn out. Even so, they gave up the turntable game well before the Pioneer came to market. Any patents they had were long expired. You'd think they would've gone after the Audio Techinca had they felt defrauded as the LP120 bears a much closer resemblance to a 1200 than does the PLX. If a company feels it's been defrauded in any way, it will certainly take legal action against the offender. Like it or not, that's just standard business practice anymore. If you've ever lived in the Northeast US for any length of time you've probably witnessed or heard about some extremely frivolous B vs B suits. Company's will sue their competitors for anything that can possibly net a positive outcome in a reasonable court, let alone egregious patent infringement or intellectual theft. The same was true back in the 70s.