Violet Design Ltd.
Violet Design is a division of Latvian medical equipment manufacturer SIA Scruples.
Although the Violet website states that the company began as a vintage microphone repair service in 1998, the question of when the company began designing and manufacturing microphones is a matter of some debate. According to Blue Microphones, Scruples was selected by Blue to do some design and manufacturing for the original line of Blue mics, and following the early success of these models, violated its noncompete and intellectual property agreements by releasing lookalike models of the Blue mics under its own brand, Violet Design.
The Violet staff were active on the music and gear forums at the time (2005), claiming ownership of the designs and calling into question Blue’s honesty in the matter.
Scruples/Violet suffered a setback in 2006 when the OHIM ruled that Violet’s design registrations for six Blue mics were invalid; Blue issued a press release at the time announcing plans to pursue the matter with the California Supreme Court.
The OHIM’s decisions were issued on 2006-08-23, and applied to Blue’s Blueberry, Mouse, Baby Bottle, Cactus, Kiwi, and Dragonfly.
Regardless of the history and IP conflicts, Violet can count among its assets Juris Zarins, under whose leadership the company has since released a number of innovative products.
Violet Designs still offers restoration services for U47, U48, M49, ELAM 250/251, CMV 563, 3, 4, 5 and RFT tube microphones.
See also JZ Microphones, another spin-off of Scruples/Violet, also headed by (and named for) Juris Zarins.
