Is it ok to copy a W5 head and make it better or are we just mad at Speedmaster
I don't care if anyone copies a W5 head or where they make it. As long as they make a good product I would buy it. It would be really nice if they made the head in the USA, but if they did it would end up being quite expensive, which would be fine except for the fact that if it starts selling the China man will make a copy of it and cut the price by 40% and it will really suck for the people that spent all the time and money to develop it. You can't put a patent on the old W5 head, but I would look at any and all changes I can make to the design so that I can make up any and all arguments to the patent office on why my new design head deserves a patent. If you can secure a patent on the design you should be good to go on making the head in the USA and making the investment. I have quite a bit of patents to my name and one thing I can tell you is that the patent office does not verify your claims, so if you claim that your new raised intake port with smaller valve combustion chamber helps you burn fuel better and no one has raised this claim before, well you have just been awarded a patent. That is basically what GM claimed on the patent of the GM Performance Parts heads "fast burn" combustion chamber, and guess what? No one copied that head while the patent was active. Did the heads do what GM claimed, maybe and maybe not, but it does not really matter as it stopped anyone else from copying the design for 20 years.