Category Archives: earlightswindle FAQ

April 1st – with a serious background

earlightswindle exclusive, earlightswindle FAQ, investors, ,

Many thanks to all concerned visitors who wondered about the re-direct to Valkee.com. I had prepared a stricter version with technical details, but I will leave it at that. I accidentally found a new unbelievable piece for the Valkee saga. I am checking this out at the moment and will not waste time.

So stay tuned – this is also meant for the snail media writers who regularly visit me and my twitter account for lame articles of theirs. I am serious about this one.

However, although Valkee Ltd did not seize earlightswindle.com, it still is squatting a large number of such domains, for instance earlightswindle.net and .info. Whois it?

Domain Name: EARLIGHTSWINDLE.INFO
Domain ID: D51708183-LRMS
Referral URL: http://www.joker.com
Updated Date: 2015-01-19T07:15:36Z
Creation Date: 2014-02-17T11:36:28Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2017-02-17T11:36:28Z
Sponsoring Registrar: CSL Computer Service Langenbach GmbH d/b/a joker.com
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 113
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID: CAFI-397749
Registrant Name: - -
Registrant Organization: Valkee Oy
Registrant Street: Elektroniikkatie 5
Registrant City: Oulu
Registrant Postal Code: 90590
Registrant Country: FI
Registrant Phone: +358.404554331
Registrant Email: 
Admin ID: CAFI-397748
Admin Name: Juuso Nissila
Admin Organization: Valkee Oy
Admin Street: Elektroniikkatie 4
Admin City: Oulu
Admin Postal Code: 90590
Admin Country: FI
Admin Phone: +358.407019897
Admin Email: 
Tech ID: CAFI-397748
Tech Name: Juuso Nissila
Tech Organization: Valkee Oy
Tech Street: Elektroniikkatie 4
Tech City: Oulu
Tech Postal Code: 90590
Tech Country: FI
Tech Phone: +358.407019897
Tech Email: 
Billing ID: CAFI-397748
Billing Name: Juuso Nissila
Billing Organization: Valkee Oy
Billing Street: Elektroniikkatie 4
Billing City: Oulu
Billing Postal Code: 90590
Billing Country: FI
Billing Phone: +358.407019897
Billing Email: 
Name Server: B.NS.JOKER.COM
Name Server: C.NS.JOKER.COM
Name Server: A.NS.JOKER.COM

So that’s where the money goes. CU soon!

Do 87% of Valkee users recommend the product to others?

earlightswindle exclusive, earlightswindle FAQ, investors, ,

When Valkee was awarded the HuuHaa- (Humbug-) Prize in Dec 2012, the company reacted with a stream of apologetic press releases and the announcement of a public test. The result was presented in February 2013 on Valkee’s website:

valkee-users

Why would 69% of users possibly recommend the scam device to others? The answer is utterly simple: The company chose the participants, which had to apply (!) for participation.

The ads read:

So apply … ps. the chosen get bright light earbuds, to own them forever…

What results could we expect?

Strangely, with the launch of the Valkee-2 device, there appeared a 87% recommendation rate, allegedly from an user survey done in February 2013 by “Apex Healthcare Consulting”.

Just for the case that anyone really thought that’s a reliable number.

Does Valkee’s earlight work, because it is approved as a medical device?

earlightswindle FAQ, ,

When the refurbished Valkee-2 device was launched in September 2013, Valkee’s marketing tried to defend its claims with a crude statement about earlightswindle.com. Their advertorials on partnering websites came with a text which points have been repeated ever since, if somebody questioned the efficacy of the earlight:

  • Valkee has been tested clinically for both treatment efficacy and user safety according to the requirements of the EU Medical Device Directive (93/42/EEC) and is consequently an approved European medical device in Class 2a for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD, Winter blues) and its many symptoms, and is CE-marked for that. Many other additional health benefits of bright light are being studied currently, by Valkee and by others, including health technology majors. All clinical studies of Valkee since mid-2012 have been double-blind, placebo controlled, even if not all have been published to protect new IPR, nor is there any requirement to publish all.

The device is approved and must therefore be effective for Seasonal Affective Disorder. The rest is elusive, and there may be some results some day. We may not publish these.

The company claims further to study the effects of bright light as a part of the health tech industry. Valkee knows very well, that earlight, or their euphemism “transcranial bright light”, has nothing to do with true bright light. Their last line of defense is in any case, that the scam device was officially approved.

Valkee’s website had a link to a “CE Class II(a) medical device certificate” for years:

The linked file can be downloaded here. It says very clearly, that the product quality was tested. No word about any efficacy check. VTT Expert Services Ltd. (the only notified body in Finland), which ok-ed the device for approval, never had the competence to check for efficacy.

The document disappeared from Valkee’s website the very same week.

Conclusion: No independent 3rd party confirmed the efficacy of the earlight device.

What are the side effects of Valkee’s earlight?

earlightswindle FAQ, , ,

According to Valkee’s accounts, side effects of the earlight include:

  • headache
  • migraine
  • insomnia
  • nausea
  • vomiting
  • dizziness
  • earache
  • abnormal sensation in the maxillary region
  • tinnitus
  • tiredness
  • irregular heartbeat
  • irritability
  • lightheadedness
  • orthostatic hypotension.

In their negative, unpublished placebo-controlled study, >28% of the users experienced unwanted effects. These are only the spontaneously reported events – an under-reporting inherent to industry-sponsored clinical trials. The real numbers are therefore unknown, but likely to be much higher.

Is Valkee’s earlight a finnish invention?

earlightswindle FAQ, investors, ,

or: How to con a president, part 1.

When Juuso Nissilä and Antti Aunio applied for a patent for their earlight device in 2006, the answer of the finnish patent office was short and clear:

no-finnish-patent

None of their 13 claims or “inventions” was patentable. 12 were already invented by other people and patented before. One claim was unclear and could not be checked. One was not patentable even if it had been new: diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in humans cannot be patented in Finland.

A 4-year legal battle ensued then, resulting in a quite strange variant: Patented were LEDs in earphones, in case they were connected to a cable, that was linking to a controller, which must be operated by a user using software.

In other words: Earlight treatment is not a finnish invention, and especially it is not Valkee’s. Extraocular bright light is not. The ear canaI as a route was known before. And light-emitting ear plugs were not new. The idea of influencing one’s emotions with earlight was also preexisting.

What did Nissilä and Aunio invent to justify an INNOSUOMI award?