I have to hand it to the seller, they found a niche that they could exploit. In this case, a GunBroker seller was offering fully trademarked 80% Colt lower receivers. The receivers are marked in the old “A1” style using older logos.

Colt claims and has filed for trademarks on nearly all of their logos, including the prancing horse engraved on the lower receiver (link to PDF).

The seller claims the receivers were manufactured by Tactical Machining. We e-mailed Tactical Machining for comment. Their reply was:

I think what the person is referring to is that the lower receiver was manufactured and then engraved by them. The only custom engravings we perform are available on our website. I think ATF might have a mild stroke with the sear pin hole being marked as well.

Given Tactical Machining’s statement, its obvious the seller is likely committing serious trademark violations having not consulted Colt for permission to use their trademark. Further, the seller marked the location of the full auto trip sear, which per the eloquence of Tactical Machining, is dubious at the least and highly illegal at the worst.

The seller would be in quite the grey area, as the ATF defines machine guns typically as having any machining work done to accept full auto components. With the engraved (machined) marking, it could easily fall into the “already machined” category despite being only 80% at the time of engraving.

Original auction: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=530797154#PIC