Not only am I an American , but I work as a programmer . And I still think our IP laws are ridiculous . I ' m not against all IP protections . I do think there are some cases where they make sense . But in their current form they are bloated and overused . Perhaps most importantly , they reward capital , not the inventors . And our bloated legal system has a multiplier effect on their absurdity . I ' m also not against having a global standard for IP laws . But I think we need to reign them in and come up with sensible laws first , before we do that . <| sep |> I bought a sliding compound miter saw from HF a few years ago . It didn ' t cut straight and really needed to be babied . When it ate the plastic guard and tore the work out of my hands , I returned it for the same thing under warranty . This one worked for a few months then died . Returned it again and got a new one that appears to be made differently , because I have had no issues with it for a couple of years now , and it cuts straight . The point is , HF power tools are a risky proposition , and be prepared to go through a few to get the one that works . Maybe you just rolled the dice well on the first try .