The case maker Jack Justis is an endless supply of topics for us to explore. Today's is copying and origins. On AZ Billiards, the world's largest pool and billiards forum, Jack has made a couple interesting statements that serve as a good lead-in for today's commentary.

Here is the whole quote; "To my knowledge no one ever made an interior that only went half way down in a case. This is something that John Barton said to mislead people into believing that our ProLite interiors were like this. What he should have said is that the lower part of the interior used a diffrerent material than the upper half. The butts and shafts were still separated just as they are in our latest "Sport" interior which used the same material from top to bottom."

Followed up by this one; "You said this is not a JB case but yet it appears to have an interior that John Barton claims to have invented. Just curious who made the case. Would you mind letting me know?"

We will talk about the whole thing shortly first let's set the context. A man posts a case for sale on the forum and it appears to look like something we produced, similar exterior appearance, similar looking interior appearance. I was talking to one of my buddies recently about cases that are now copying our style, especially the J.Flowers style. I told my friend that some of these cases do look like ours but that some of them have interior liners that only go about halfway down the tube. So my friend gets on the thread and asks the seller if his interior goes all the way down. It's a question he should have asked in private but it's not necessarily an invalid one.

There are in fact cases on the market where the interior liner does not reach all the way to the bottom. Famously my Justis ProLite from 2006 has an interior that stops about 1" from the bottom. So anyway Jack feels the need to chime in and berate my friend. The only problem is that Jack decides to make a few statements which are false and misleading and one which is true but equally misleading.

1. He says "To my knowledge no one ever made an interior that only went half way down in a case." This is probably true. But not for the reason Jack would have you believe. Jack would like the reader to believe that he has experience with a vast array of cue cases. In truth he does not have that experience. He has not spent a lot of time acquiring and dissecting cases for the purpose of learning how they are built. I have.

2. He says "This is something that John Barton said to mislead people into believing that our ProLite interiors were like this. What he should have said is that the lower part of the interior used a different material than the upper half. The butts and shafts were still separated just as they are in our latest "Sport" interior which used the same material from top to bottom." This is NOT TRUE. I never said any such thing about Jack's 'ProLite' interiors only being lined halfway down. Never, not once, not ever. I said that his ProLite interiors were made of a synthetic fabric for about five inches and then spliced into paper thin nylon for the rest of the way. Then the ultra-thin nylon didn't even reach all the way to the bottom. At least that's how it is on my 2006 Justis ProLite case. I will update this post later with a video which demonstrates this interior.

Keep in mind that Jack has delivered around 300+ of these 'ProLite' cases with this flimsy nylon interior to his customers in the past four years. I never said that the liner only went halfway down, but even it had it didn't really matter. Jack sells an envelope case he calls the Roadrunner which has no dividers at all and nothing past the first few inches. Jack Justis does not care about your cue.

3. Then he says the following; "You said this is not a JB case but yet it appears to have an interior that John Barton claims to have invented. Just curious who made the case. Would you mind letting me know?"

Which then brings us to the topic of copying and innovation and basically human achievement. Jack selfishly wants to try and trap me somehow and catch me in a lie of some sort. He is desperate to do this so that he can have some satisfaction by "exposing" me. He delights in saying that I copy all other case makers and thus I can only guess that his motivation for this question is to somehow prove that I copied my interiors from someone else.

I copied my interiors from Joe Porper. When I was 18 years old I got my first Porper case and I loved it so much because my cues went in with a very satisfyingly snug fit. I didn't know it at the time I bought the case that the case was made of hard foam and that the cue would sink deeper and deeper as it kept pushing the foam walls outward. Eventually the cue was so deep I would have to beat on the case to get it to come out. But it was secure.

So when I started building cases I wanted to make that same snug fit but without the need to upend the case and beat on it to remove the cue. So I invented what became the Instroke padded interior. Since then 20 years ago I have been thinking of ways to improve on that interior. To that end I have invented the UltraPad, the OrganicRebound, and the SecureTube interiors. You can read more about each of these on the website here www.jbcases.com/ordering.html The UltraPad is the one which was copied by the unknown casemaker and the subject of conversation. Now I want to make an important point about this, so natuarally it's going to be bigger and bolder.

I don't care if our interiors get copied. I would be very happy to see EVERY case maker go to padded interiors. The reason is that I believe wholeheartedly that the first duty of a case is protection and then comes how pretty it is. I am tired of harping on this subject. I am tired of consumers assuming that their case maker cares about their cue. So I would be very happy to see case makers start caring and giving consumers cases with the protection that the cue needs built in.

Then we can all compete on who builds the prettiest and cleverest cases. If someone wants to do cookie cutter cases where one is blue and one is red and each one is decorated slightly differently then great. Do it but wrap all that icing around a well baked cookie.

My stance on copying is that it's through imitation that we become better. As children we learn through imitation, as adults we learn and grow through building on the achievements of others. This is a natural cycle and it, along with division of labor, is the basis of all human progress.

Outside of Joe Porper there isn't another case maker who can say that they have been copied more than me. All of my production designs were knocked off and continue to sell well. Am I a bit upset that other companies have made a lot of money off of my designs without any compensation to me. Yes I am. But then again I have the pleasure of knowing that something I created is continuing to provide income and employment for people all over the world from the people who make the case to the people who sell them.

Is it ethical for one person to copy another person for the purpose of making money? Well that's a big question isn't it? If I am a farmer and I plant beans then who am I to tell my neighbor across the way that he can't plant beans? If my neighbor discovers a better way to mix fertilizer then why shouldn't I try to emulate that? Now, I can be the kind of guy who thinks that I can do it all by myself and I don't fancy fertilizer to increase my yield. I don't need to buy heartier seeds and don't need to keep myself educated as to the best way to farm. And that might work for me or it might not. But when the rest of the world is enjoying increased prosperity and productivity I will still be at the mercy of fate rather than to take advantage of all the creativity and inventiveness and yes, copying in the world.

Is is crappy when someone copies another person's work verbatim and even does a worse job of it just to make quick and easy money? It sure is. But it's something that everyone has to deal with. It's nothing new.

Does anyone know why brands exist and when they came into being? Brands and packaging came into existence at just about the same time, packaging was of course first though. Wine merchants in ancient Greece noticed that their competitors were selling "inferior" wine and claiming that it was the superior kind and since all merchants had similar vessels no one could know the difference unless the wine was opened and tasted. So merchants began to order specially molded pots which had their distinctive "brand" on them. Thus consumers would be able to look for the brand and thus have trust in the contents. So deceptive copying has been around as long as man has been exchanging money for goods. As long as someone is successful with something then someone else will copy it in some way.

So in that sense it's a measure of success when someone wants to do what you do and be like you. There is however a difference between emulation and innovation. Between copying and improvement. If all anyone ever did was make nearly exact copies then we would all be making fire with stones and hunting with spears. The fact of the matter is that Jack Justis copied Jay Flowers/Nora Van Horn and Dennis Swift when he got started. Then he gradually improved on what they did and built a better case (at least better than the Flowers/Horn cases). He forged his own style based on their foundation. Sometime later he took the interior from an el Cheapo case and that became his "ProLite" interior. This time he didn't even bother to improve anything but he did manage to reduce his own labor investment AND bring the weight down. So copying has it's benefits.

Now, Jack likes to sling the accusations that I am copying him and copying everyone else. And he means copying in the "bad" evil greedy capitalist way. Not copying in the innovative let's make this a better world way. But the fact is that every case "style" I have ever touched has been made better than what came before it. Starting with the padded interiors which are a huge improvement right there. Anyone with half a brain sees and agrees with that.

Then we move on to the exterior. With Instroke I introduced easy-access pockets, improved latches, as well as a great new look. Now with my new company we have done three new versions of the padded interior, improved the butterfly interior, invented the Puzzle Latch, invented the L-zipper for box pockets, have invented a way to make the folded ends on the Fellini-style cases (GTF Brand) stay put forever, improved the interior of the Fellini-style case tremendously, have made great improvements to cases in the price classes from $20-$300, and the list goes on and on. And now other case makers are copying our interiors. Jack Justis has finally made some improvements by allowing his Chinese supplier to send him a better version of the ProLite. The companies making knockoffs are starting to understand that they should also provide better protection as consumers are smarter now. So in conclusion everyone copies, very few innovate. It's the innovators that move the world forward.

One only need to look here – www.justiscases.net and here www.jbcases.com/casesbyname.html to see who is the innovator and who is still stuck in the last decade.

This question was asked by a person on the AZB forum:

“Why wouldn’t every manufacturer include a tighter fitting padded inside?…it only makes sense IMHO…”

Mr. Justis responds, “Mainly because it offers nothing more than a catalist (sp) when mixed with chalk dust to damage the cues finish. Over time, excess friction combined with chalk dust can turn the cues mirror finish to one full of micro scratches better known as haze, not purple either. Why take a chance when it can be avoided.”

So let’s examine some of the interiors Justis offers to see if he practices what he preaches.

Let’s start with his Roadrunner cases. This is an simple “envelope” case which is made of one piece of leather folded in half. Justis provides a piece of suede leather for about three inches down at the top. The parts are not separated at all.

So it’s quite easy to see that Mr. Justis has no concern whatsoever about “chalk dust” causing damage to the finish of the cues placed in these cases. And he has made these cases for Black Boar, Szamboti, and many others.

Now let’s examine his Pro-Lite interior:

Mr Justis claims that a padded snug-fitting interior combined with chalk dust causes micro-scratches. He says that “excess friction” is the cause.

Friction occurs when two things rub against each other that is clear. Justis cases are made with a tight knit fabric for the first five inches and with thin nylon after that. Any chalk dust on those fabrics stays on the surface and does not filter through.

His cases are loose fitting so the cues slide and bounce freely.

Which means that they rub on that chalk a lot. The following are all pictures of Justis interiors I have collected over the years.

Notice the chalk dust that is INSIDE the butt cavities on these cases. I presume that this happens because there it’s not always easy to hit the shaft hole when inserting the shafts.

So that’s enough for you to see clearly that Justis cases attract plenty of chalk dust that sits on top of the fabric. So if Mr. Justis is correct that chalk dust plus friction causes finish damage then I wonder why he builds a case which allows the cues to move so freely on this chalk filled cloth.

Would you deliberately put some chalk on a piece of fabric and rub this on your cue vigorously? No? Well what do you think is happening to your cues in a Justis case when you are driving down the road? The cues are allowed to slide and jiggle and get jarred. So they are sliding and rubbing against that chalk filled cloth.

But wait what about that snug fit that we provide? Isn’t Justis right that any chalk dust dust with a “snug fit” will be worse?

Well before I answer that let’s look at one more thing about Justis and how much he does not care about his customers.

He has advocated several times online that his cases can hold more cues than there are cavities. To do this one has to double up in some of the compartments. Which means that there will be a – wait for it – hold on – oh my – a tight fit!

Let’s recap what Justis said about cases with snug fitting interiors:

“Mainly because it offers nothing more than a catalist (sp) when mixed with chalk dust to damage the cues finish. Over time, excess friction combined with chalk dust can turn the cues mirror finish to one full of micro scratches better known as haze, not purple either. Why take a chance when it can be avoided.”

So I have to ask then why does he tell his customers that they can do this:

Seems awfully hypocritical in my opinion.

The fact is that Jack Justis does not care one bit about your cue. If you call him up and tell him that your cue was somehow damaged in his case he will call you a liar.

Case in point:
CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL SIZED IMAGE

CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL SIZED IMAGE

So folks now you have a little more information about Jack Justis. The truth is that he builds cases with as little effort as he can. He has put zero thought into whether his interiors are truly protective or not preferring instead to put all the responsibility on the case owner to be extra careful when using a Justis case.

I have been doing this for 20 years and have easily more than 25,000 cases on the market with padded interiors. In all that time there has been no such epidemic of people coming to me with “micro scratches” or finish hazing caused by our cases.

I personally believe Jack is snorting this chalk dust and then making the outlandish claims he does. But if he truly believes what he is saying then maybe he can account for the images above.

Something to think about when you are considering your next case.

Hopefully this is the final entry in the Justis Chronicles.  Jack sent me a message the other day to say that he had removed this statement “Envied by One, Copied by Many” from his signature on AZ Billiards. As if having it there were some sort of punishment for me.

The fact is that Jack Justis is confusing fact based competitive comparison, i.e. our interior protects better than his, with envy.

Justis has settled on one type of case that he chooses to build and all of his customers must accept that style if they want a case built by him. In that style he manages to build some nice looking cases.  It isn’t any different than when a cue maker decides to build cues a certain way and sticks to it.

I have chosen to build cases with no boundaries and no set patterns. My only insistence is that all the cases we build should protect the cues to the highest degree possible.  Mr. Justis doesn’t care about cue protection one bit as evidenced by the flimsy way his outsourced interiors are constructed.

The rumor mill says that Jack Justis is about to change his interiors for the better. If true then I wonder why? Couldn’t have anything to do with the competitive pressure he has been getting about it hmmm???

Well anyway, Mr. Justis, not too many people are copying you, not nearly as many as copied my cases over the years, but until you can turn out cases like these that we do you won’t find any envy on my part over what you do.

When you are bringing cases like this to the party I will envy your ability.  So putting a signature designed to taunt me in your posts on AZ Billiards says more about you than it does about me.

My job is to build world class cases with protection as the first priority.  As you can see above we handle that easily.

I hope that the rumors are true and that you will finally show your customers that you care about their cues by improving your interiors.  Then you will have earned back some of my respect.