Many of you are familiar with the Teradek ACI (Assistant Camera Interface) for the RED DSMC2 cameras. It seems that Tilta made a knockoff and present it at NAB. Accidentally, the inventor of the original ACI saw that knockoff. Read what happened next.

The R&D of knockoffs

Sometimes, Chinese companies are a nightmare for innovators. They’re constantly copying and mimicking original products, causing startups and small companies to shut down, and even bankruptcy. In most cases, the knockoffs are cheaper regarding money, but also in term of standards. The bottom line is that the consumer gets an inferior product with impaired quality.

To understand this undesirable phenomenon, watch below the research made by The Verge about small companies being diminished by Chinese giants.

If your Kickstarter/startup product enters the market, it can be easily reverse engineered to create a knockoff that can put entire companies out of business. Even if the product is patent protected, it does not worth chasing justice due to the massive amount of money involved regarding legal expenses, against huge companies that own the cash to fight back.

#boycotttilta (Boycott Tilta)

That’s what happened to Mark L Pederson. Mark has partnered with Teradek to invent and develop an ACI (Assistant Camera Interface) for the RED DSMC2. The Teradek ACI was shipped on September 2018. The ACI module simplifies camera control and management by combining a smartly- designed software UI with physical controls. Mark was inspired by other similar solutions implemented on cinema camera like ARRI and Sony. The mission was to improve the RED’s ACI and to produce more efficient ACI device than the original RED DSMC2 Sidekick, in other words, creating a Sidekick on steroids.

Accidentally, Mark saw a knockoff of his invention in Tilta booth at NAB. It seems that Tilta (which is a Chinese company founded in 2008 which specialized in developing and manufacturing tools for filmmakers) has made a remarkably similar ACI to the RED DSMC2 cameras.

As an act of protest, Mark decided to write a few angry posts blaming Tilta on mimicking his invention, tagged by the title #boycotttilta. See one of the posts below:

Tilta CEO apologizes

Surprisingly, Tilta CEO, Yang  Shao has commented to Mark post, saying that the ACI product made by Tilta is not for sale and was developed primarily to 50 rental houses. Let’s read Yang’s full comment:

“I really apologize for this situation. We deeply regret the fact that this product was displayed on the camera at our NAB booth. This red control module displayed today is one that we had customized for one of the biggest Chinese rental house clients who own over 50 red cameras and our cages, they have seen that we have the created a RED side focus module back in NAB 2017. They had sent us a few popular camera UI designs along with a 3D design file for the exterior module and asked us to manufacture it for them. Since they are one of Tilta’s biggest clients, our designer didn’t give it much thought and just made this prototype for them. But Tilta does not have any plan to sell this specific product. We just realized that this issue will affect Teredek and Mr. Pederson, so we have removed the product from our display and we will change the design for that rental house. Tilta has been developing and manufacturing products of several years now and we would like to be known for our unique and creative design solutions. We wish to utilize our design resources to create products that define our brand and to improve the quality of camera accessories in the market. What happened today was a mistake that we certainly will not be repeating. Our deepest apologies to Teradek and Mr. Pederson. We really appreciate the support from everyone and will not be making such mistakes in the future.”

We just realized that this issue will affect Teredek and Mr. Pederson, so we have removed the product from our display and we will change the design for that rental house.

Tilta CEO

Final thoughts

That sounds suspicious. First, if there is no mimicking, why to change the design? Second, what does it mean “change the design”? Tilta knows it’s wrong. However, what if Pederson didn’t visit Tilta’s booth? Is there a chance that Tilta would sell the ACI as their own product?

Anyway, the thread is above, feel free to read and comment. Also, take a look at the picture below (click for larger view). The photo shows Teradek ACI vs. the Tilta ACI side by side. Judge for yourself. Is it a knockoff or an originally authentic product?

Is it a knockoff?