Your Privacy Choices
F4 Defense, a new firearms company who’s Mission Statement includes: “F4 Defense is unrelenting in its pursuit of innovative and game changing weapon platforms for the military, LE, and civilian markets” is launching its first rifle to a bit of a controversy.
Through Facebook, Blacklist Industries President Reco Simms has contended that the design of F4’s new receivers was commissioned by Blacklist Industries. Blacklist contends the design was completed by the contract engineer but that the engineer declined to bill Blacklist and now is a co-owner of F4 Defense.
Originally posted on July 28th by Mr. Simms:
Well doesn’t this look all to familiar….
I found a CAD designer to do a upper receiver for me based on a blank with my vision and input some time ago. Instead of billing me accordingly as we agreed upon, he runs off with my files and partners with some international clowns at F4 Defense. Not even surprised F4 Defense doesn’t have the decency to respond to me. Lets have a round of applause for these guys and their originality.
Since I have no legal grounds to sue, I’ll just see to it that everyone knows this is my shit! Maybe this will get them to reply once the word spreads
Update: Now they are claiming that Nathan who is the co owner of F4 Defense sold the upper to F4 Defense because I did not pay my bill for the design. I cannot possibly pay a bill without an invoice or any response from the person who is supposed to send the invoice. But magically the designer that I supposedly refused to pay is the co owner of F4 Defense
🤔
F4 Defense was not quite going to take it on the nose, issuing a statement on July 29th:
The following is our response to Blacklist Industries’ claim that we stole their upper design.
In May of 2016, F4 Defense contracted Nathan Fuentes, a freelance firearm engineer to help us build our line of products. At the time, Mr. Fuentes was working with several other companies, including Blacklist Industries.
According to Mr. Fuentes and backed by documentation, the design was offered to Blacklist Industries, but payment was never received, leaving the ownership of the design as intellectual property of Mr. Fuentes.
F4 Defense invited Mr. Fuentes to join our team in Spring of 2017 as our Chief Designer. In so doing, his designs and intellectual property became available to F4 Defense, including the upper design we have manufactured.
We find the capricious claims by Blacklist Industries unwarranted and false.
F4 Defense is a company grounded on sound ethics, principles and business practices. We will continue to build quality and innovative products for the firearms industry despite others who try to besmirch a company on its launch day.
Dave Fairfax, COO
F4 Defense
That would seem to be a strong statement, but Mr. Simms did not agree with the assertions that payment was never received as he was never invoiced be the agreement:
And the lies continue…. show some dated invoice or emails or it didn’t happen!
Waiting to see those documents they claim to have just like im still waiting on the invoice I never received. Waiting to see where I declined to pay….It supposedly exists but yet they didn’t care to share it with the public.All while trying to comprehend how the CAD Designer who ran off with my design is now a co owner in the company he supposedly sold my design to. Pretty elaborate story that has no proof and it all confirms that the design is in fact Blacklists.
We’ll be following the story from here, but its a fairly large allegation that the design was ripped off, if not potentially stolen.
Where Mr. Simms is asking for documentation, I think it also fair if they are fighting in the court of public opinion to likewise release his side of the story with e-mails and documents to back up his assertions.
