The war between MD manufacturers is running its course. First Texas, the American corporation producing Fisher / Bounty Hunter / Teknetics metal detectors, has sued Deteknix, the American-Chinese manufacturer. The latter has announced its demise, and… a newly established trademark — Quest Metal Detectors.
First Texas filed a lawsuit against Deteknix (formally the US manufacturer, too) in US court in autumn 2016. The claim was based on the fact that a new (in 2016) Deteknix Quest Pro metal detector’s software resembled the already existing platform of the Teknetics T2.
Where did Deteknix come from? Starting from 2007, fake brand-name metal detectors appeared abundantly in the markets. The country of origin was China. The first Chinese counterfeits were mini machines for personal security inspection – the very same hand-held detectors that were used at sporting events, concerts as well as in airports. Two years after, fake devices for hobby detecting – a complete copy of the Teknetics T2 and Garrett PRO-Pointer – appeared on metal detector store shelves.
Counterfeit machines were produced in hundreds and thousands. For that purpose, special enterprises emerged in China, with their production capabilities exceeding those of some world-known manufacturers (e.g., White’s, Detech).
Because of high demand for fake devices, the list of counterfeited metal detector brands became enlarged, and Chinese entrepreneurs became even more impudent. First, brand name Deteknix was established, under which pinpointers and metal detecting accessories were being sold. A while later, the enterprise named Deteknix was registered in California, USA, which was preparing to release super new products – the Deteknix Quest PRO, Deteknix Quest Gold and Deteknix Quest Diver metal detectors. It was 2015.
Deteknix took part in exhibitions in the USA where a strange fact came to light – the new Deteknix devices were equipped with a coil that looked very similar to the already existing one. Is it a coincidence?
However, that wasn’t the only coincidence with regard to the Deteknix detectors. Almost one year after, First Texas studied out the Deteknix Quest Pro model and made a new discovery – the device was a copy of the Teknetics T2. Did it really take so much time to provide that expertise?
First Texas has won. Deteknix has conceded defeat. But the Chinese are not about to surrender! They have immediately announced a new brand – Quest Metal Detectors.
I personally never got acquainted with the Deteknix Quest Pro. Although I had it in mind. The main advantage of this machine is versatility – it can be used both on land and underwater. But after viewing the videos made by other hobbyists I’ve lost my desire to own the Deteknix Quest Pro. Look how a blogger nicknamed ‘themetaldetectorguy’ is beating his detector, in attempts to make it operational. A very illustrative video!
FT (facebook):
To all Fisher and Teknetics Sales Agents, First Texas Products has dismissed its lawsuit against Deteknix after the two companies entered into a Confidential Settlement Agreement
Deteknix acknowledges that FTP owns the T2 software and agrees to the validity and enforceability of First Texas copyrights in its software code.
Deteknix has agreed not to infringe any First Texas copyrighted software code in current and future products. Deteknix will take reasonable steps to ensure that their agents, servants, officers, directors, employees, successors, and attorneys do not violate the terms of our agreement.
This is great news that we were able to come to such terms. And, after a quick perusal of the Deteknix website it appears they have abandoned the Deteknix name brand.
In light of this, we will soon be rewriting our distributor agreement. This agreement will take a dim view of counterfeit reselling, and include strong deterrents against infringers. We ask that each of you look closely at your product offering and make sure that you are not selling any company’s products that infringe the copyrights of any metal detector manufacturer.
Best Regards, Timothy Mallory Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Will XP, the French manufacturer, be the next victim, which is found responsible? Now it is being sued, too – by Minelab. More info on the Deteknix Quest Pro can be found here and here. All about Quest Metal Detectors, the new manufacturer, will be collected here.
who said $$$, anyway in europe if you close your company you cannot be accountable for any cash due ( exept employe salary) that it.
Maybe the best outcome for FTP.
Great! That’s exactly what the world needs. Less accountability.
They lost – trademark gone, detector gone, and a lot of money paid in damages – otherwise fFrst Texas would’ve let it go to Trial and Deteknix would’ve suffered substantial punitive damages far in excess of whatever First Texas demanded in the settlement. Clearly guilty of copyright innfringement – they admitted it in the settlement – they would have lost big-time.
By the way, this case was filed in the United States under US law for activities which took place at least in part in the United States by Deteknix. What French law may or may not provide for in such cases is irrelevant.
What is the new email address for quest
Hello im trying to contact quest /deteknix my xpointer is broken and under warranty there is no way to contact quest/ deteknix no answer at cali customer service number thanks in advance for anx help
That is not a good reflection on Deteknix to not notify customers of the situation. What about all the Scuba Tector owners out there. Just left in the dark. I finally saw on md-hunter.com that Deteknix was done. As much as I like the Scuba Tector, it sucks that they did not have loyalty to their customers to make notifications and updates.
They’re under the name Quest now. I’ve been on their facebook page.
Quest is a non responsive company making suspect products to this day. When on the second use of their “scuba tector” it flooded all efforts to contact their support went unanswered, no reply from them. The unit was charged per the instructions and high quality silicone was used on the O- ring per the instructions. The first use was very short and the unit was not opened between first and second uses, day two days apart. I was reluctant to purchase it in the first place but it seemed like a good unit for my wife to use snorkeling. I have 33 years experience and own several top waterproof detectors from Whites, Minelab, Garrett and Fisher among the 9 detectors I use. Buyer Beware this company is not your friend in the world of metal detecting. They got their start making Chinese knockoffs, were sued and now rebranded as Quest.
Fwiw, I’ve had decent experiences first with deteknix, then with quest as my issues spanned their transition. I don’t specifically disagree with ytc but they have been responsive. I emailed about a common scubatector malfunction and they had me send it in. They failed to repair it because it magically stopped malfunctioning when they received it but it continued to work after they sent it back. A year later it resumed the failure and I’m in communication with them again now. Not sure why it would be different but they’re not stonewalling me.
I had to also send one in to Quest they honored the Deteknix warranty. By now that shouldn’t be an issue any longer as it was a 2-year warranty. I think this story leads people to believe that they were responsible for all the metal detecting counterfeiting that came out of China. They were the first to attempt to go legit. Seems with some adjustment they succeeded and did.
First Texas has been lying about the “made in USA” logo for years and now they will no longer be able to do that. I would assume that also had something to do with the settlement. It isn’t hard to take apart any one of their detectors and show of the assembled in Mexico sticker and show that the parts were sourced from China before they are assembled sent to and distributed out of Texas. Just like every other US based company that does that same thing, you take the risk in intellectual fraud when outsourcing to foreign labor to save a buck.
This puts all First Texas products and Garrett along with even companies like Kellyco in blatant violation for years of abusing the “Made In the USA” label. I believe this was also a nail in Whites coffin as they would also have been in violation had they not shuttered. Garrett purchased the rights to Whites not just for the intellectual rights but to try and continue to say “made in the USA” when that is far stretch if the new rule is upheld as it needs to be. As of now they deserve the fines since they do not have the legal right to claim made in the USA.
On July 1, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) finalized a new Made in USA labeling rule that becomes effective August 13, 2021.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized the Made in USA Labeling Rule, which codifies its long-standing enforcement policy requiring that marketers making unqualified Made in USA claims on labels be able to prove that their products are “all or virtually all” made in the United States. The FTC stated that the rule is intended “to deter rampant Made in USA fraud.”
The rule provides for a broad range of remedies by the FTC, including the ability to seek redress, damages, penalties and other relief from marketers that make deceptive Made in USA claims on labels. The rule enables the FTC for the first time to seek civil penalties of up to $43,280 per violation of the rule. The rule is effective August 13, 2021.
The rule prohibits marketers from making unqualified Made in USA claims on labels unless (1) final assembly or processing of the product occurs in the United States; (2) all significant processing that goes into the product occurs in the United States; and (3) all or virtually all ingredients or components of the product are made and sourced in the United States.
In its public notice, the FTC stated that consistent with the FTC’s past Made in USA decisions since the 1940s, the rule recognizes “the established principle that unqualified U.S.-origin claims imply to consumers no more than a de minimis amount of the product is of foreign origin.”
The FTC stated that the rule only applies to labeling claims. The FTC announced that it will continue to bring enforcement actions against marketers that make deceptive U.S.-origin claims falling outside the rule under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The rule does not supersede, alter or affect any other federal statute or regulation relating to country-of-origin labels.
The rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 323, states that the term “Made in the United States” means “any unqualified representation, express or implied, that a product or service, or a specified component thereof, is of U.S. origin, including, but not limited to, a representation that such product or service is ‘made,’ ‘manufactured,’ ‘built,’ ‘produced,’ ‘created’ or ‘crafted’ in the United States or in America, or any other unqualified U.S.-origin claim.”
After this they might as well say that First Texas is a US-China-Mexico based manufacturer, LOL I am sure it is hard to hold people accountable for something you yourself are also doing.
Anyway, water under the bridge now as Quest seems to be doing just fine, now also out of Texas. Texas has some lackadaisical labor and generous tax laws in play. I will say I did not deal with people that seemed native to the US when I had warranty issues with “Quest”. Warranty also seems to be to send the old one in to Texas now and not California and receive the new improved model back. At least on the Scuba Tector. The new model is an improvement over the older one. I will be getting the new Pro model to play with especially after the good customer service I did received from them, with exception to getting them to answer questions, they didn’t want to divulge more than what was necessary for the warranty replacement.
This is where you send them in. A smallish shared building in Laredo Texas of all places.
El Dorado Metal Detectors
1309 Iturbide St. Laredo TX USA 78040
Contact Person: Selim
Tel: 1 956 508 1241
Quest for my money have the best machines on the market for features, prices , quality depth and more bar none.. Love them.