Sup with Zen Magnets?

Well, we’ve shipped no sets of magnet spheres for the past seven months. And although it’s not technically illegal to sell Zen Magnets or Neoballs in the US, we can’t import more due to the magnet ban. The very last of our supply of Zens and Neos will be available this November (for email notification, click here), and after that we won’t have more until we succeed in defeating the ban. And that’s only one of our three simultaneous legal battles.

Compliance Magnets

In the meantime, we’ve begun accepting orders for our new Compliance Magnets. They are still magnet spheres that can be used for construction, and they will ship in time for the holiday season. Compliance Magnets will obey, conform, and abide by all CPSC regulations but still be capable of most of the same structures as Zen magnets. Find details at micromagnets.com.

But to be clear, these new tiny magnets are Not designed for ease of use, they are designed to fit inside the regulatory limits set by the CPSC. They are not a substitute for Zen Magnets, for which our fight continues. Given a choice between Compliance Magnets and no magnets at all, we choose Compliance Magnets. But don’t get us wrong. The CPSC’s attempt to remove proper magnet spheres from the US market for all ages, in all states, is still disproportionately irrational regulation championed by unelected regulators, based on dishonest data and baseless assumptions, to create unclear, ineffectual rules, despite the greatest historical public opposition. Meanwhile Europe is still laughing at the US for banning Kinder Eggs.

Battle Summary

Our current legal situation is summarized as follows:
Battle 1: Awaiting results. This was our December 2014 court battle. The judge must decide whether or not we have to recall currently sold products. A judgement was to be rendered as early as March 2015, but as of now we’re still waiting. The results will greatly affect the other two fights.
Battle 2: Early stages. We are appealing the nationwide all-ages rule that effectively bans magnet spheres. This is by far the most expensive battle, and our new product is largely to fund this legal challenge. But a product safer than skateboards should not be harder to obtain than guns. This is the most important one to win.
Battle 3: Just started. We get vindictively sued for purchasing raw fungible magnets from Magnicube, who was bullied into settling, even though the magnets came from the same factory we use for Neoballs, and we only used the same thing that would have been ok to purchase directly from China. They pulled the neat trick of labeling magnet spheres dangerous based on the bullied settlement of a fallen competitor, without any judge evaluating the merits. A large portion of our neoballs are now “stained” by recall until the outcome of this battle, which means we will only have a small portion of our Neoballs for sale by the end of year.

 

Magnets must be respected, but need not be feared.

💙 Zen Magnets