Craftsman (tools) — BrandWiki

Craftsman (tools)

Overview

Craftsman

type	Hand tools, power tools, lawn and garden equipment, work wear
currentowner	Stanley Black & Decker
origin	United States
introduced	May 20, 1927
related	Evolv, Craftsman Professional, Craftsman Industrial, Companion, Dunlap

Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally a house brand established by Sears, the brand is now owned by Stanley Black & Decker.

As with all Sears products, Craftsman tools were not manufactured by Sears during the company's ownership, but made under contract by various other companies. While Sears did not directly manufacture tools and equipment in most cases, they did have ownership in some of their suppliers. An example of this was the joint venture that they established with Western Forge in 1965 and their partial ownership of Roper for a number of years. Both companies supplied products to Sears for many years. They were first sold in 1927 through the Sears catalog and in Sears retail stores. After the Sears–Kmart merger, the tools were also for sale in Kmart stores and through several other retailers.

In March 2017, Stanley Black & Decker acquired the Craftsman brand from Sears Holdings, which retained a limited license for Craftsman products.[1]

History

The Craftsman trademark was registered by Sears on May 20, 1927.

Warranty

Most Craftsman hand tools are advertised as having an unlimited lifetime warranty.[26] This lifetime warranty program was instituted by Sears when they began selling the Craftsman line in 1927.[27] This warranty program requires no receipt or dated proof of purchase. If the owner takes the item into a local retail store, it may be replaced or repaired free of charge.[28]

The full text of the warranty is as follows:

Sears has reduced the warranty in effect on many Craftsman non-powered lawn and garden products including rakes, shovels, clippers, brooms, trowels, pruners, hoses, sprinklers, hose nozzles, and other small gardening hand tools. Previously, it was a lifetime warranty—which on August 2, 2012, was reduced to 25 years with receipt required.[30] The lifetime warranty does not include precision hand tools, such as calipers and torque wrenches.[31]

Many consumers have also been reporting problems when attempting to obtain warranty repair or replacement on tools that are covered by the full lifetime warranty. Sears' official position is that the warranty should be honored, and much of the problem may lie with individual sales associates.[29] In some cases, Sears no longer sells particular Craftsman tools (tape measures, and wood clamps are two examples), making it impossible to replace a tool sold with a lifetime warranty with a similar Craftsman tool that will continue the warranty.

Some Sears stores limit the number of hand tools that can be exchanged per day, in an effort to reduce the abuse of the lifetime warranty. Stanley Black & Decker has stated that all previous warranties on Craftsman products will be honored[30] after the purchase of Craftsman in 2017. Some of the newer packaging (as of 2018 onward) on some Craftsman products does indicate that there may be a limit on returning warranty tools. As of February 2019, the "non-Sears" Craftsman does not have "open stock" in the stores as Sears does to replace individual items from a set that may require warranty. Stanley Black and Decker has indicated that they are working on introducing more individual tools to stores.

Power tools have a one-year warranty.[30]

Customers are able to exchange any version of the Sears Craftsman product at the stores that sell Sears Craftsman products such as Sears, Kmart, Ace, etc. Stores such as Lowes that sell Stanley Black & Decker Craftsman products will exchange replacement items at Stanley Craftsman supplied stores if they have the item. Lowes Corp stated, "We will honor all lifetime warranties no matter where the Craftsman hand tool was purchased.[32]".[33]

Legal disputes

In 1963, Sears employee Peter M. Roberts developed a quick release feature for socket wrenches. The feature allowed a person using such a ratchet to remove the socket from the wrench with one hand, freeing the second hand from grabbing the socket while the other hand held the ratchet.[34]

Roberts developed a prototype and applied for a patent in 1964.[35] While the patent was pending, he approached Sears and introduced the idea to them. Sears, which sold millions of sockets every year, saw the potential in the invention and asked for the prototype so it could be tested. After testing revealed the quick release would not weaken the ratchet, Sears began market testing the new ratchet and received favorable feedback. Sears then incorporated the quick release into a new line of ratchets, projecting sales of up to 750,000 units in the first year alone.

In January 1965, Roberts received a phone call from a Sears attorney asking for the name of Roberts' patent lawyer. Without Roberts's knowledge, Sears hired the patent lawyer, Charles Fay, and Fay ended up representing both Roberts and Sears regarding the patent. Around this time, Roberts's patent was approved, but Fay did not reveal this to Roberts. Negotiations for use of the quick release commenced, with Roberts being told that the quick release wasn't new and that any patent issued would be limited. Sears's lawyers also said that because of the cost (44 cents per wrench) of adding the quick release to the wrenches, a license was worth only $10,000.[36] What Sears didn't tell Roberts was that it planned to make 50,000 of the new wrenches per week.[37] Roberts sued Sears in 1969 after seeing his quick release on a wrench prominently displayed in a Sears catalog, but it wasn't until 1989 that the case was finally settled. Neither side revealed the amount of the settlement.[38]

In August 2002, Sears sued Emerson for using Sears-owned manufacturing equipment to create power tools for Home Depot. Upon the expiration of Emerson's 30-year contract to make Craftsman tools, Emerson was required to return the Sears-owned equipment. Instead, Emerson kept the equipment, claiming it to be obsolete and of little value. Emerson denied the allegations when the suit was filed, but paid Sears $10.8 million and returned all the equipment, while admitting no wrongdoing.[39]

In 2004, a class action by customers accused Sears of false advertising and consumer fraud for questionable use of the slogan "Made in the USA" for Craftsman tools.[40]

In 2012, Sears was sued by LoggerHead Tools, makers of the Bionic Wrench, after Sears released a competing product, the MaxAccess. Sears had sold the Bionic Wrench in its stores, but decided to not talk to LoggerHead about licensing the patent. Instead, Sears had its tool manufacturer, Apex Tools, create the MaxAccess wrench under the Craftsman name, claiming that the MaxAccess was designed not to infringe the Bionic Wrench patent. Other than coloring, the only substantial difference between the two wrenches was that the Bionic Wrench had the head at a 45-degree angle while the MaxAccess head was straight. LoggerHead was subsequently awarded $6 million in damages, but the verdict to be set aside because the judge misinterpreted the LoggerHead patent.[41][42]

In April 2017, Sears sued Western Forge, its former supplier of hand tools, for abruptly ending the contract to supply the tools. Western Forge violated the contract by demanding more money because of Sears's financial problems.[43]

On March 6, 2019, Sears was sued by Stanley Black & Decker, which accused it of breach of contract and trademark infringement over its new line of professional-grade mechanics tools under the Craftsman Ultimate Collection brand. According to the complaint, Sears breached the license agreement by launching its new tool line and touting its stores as "the real home of the broadest assortment of Craftsman".[44]