#Lawsuits

The GWACS Armory/KE Arms lawsuit saga is set to continue well into 2023. For those who are out of the loop, GWACS Armory is suing KE Arms on the grounds that the KP-15 lower receiver violates certain NDA and trade secrets. If you’re interested in reading what has happened so far with this firearms industry lawsuit, we’ve provided several links down below to articles that should give you a good overview of what has happened so far.

Back near the end of July 2022, we reported to you from KE Arms that the company was being sued by GWACS Armory over alleged patent and IP theft in regards to the KE-Arms KP-15 Monolithic Polymer Lower. While KE Arms has been attempting to work towards a resolution with GWACS Armory, it seems that these efforts have failed and that this lawsuit will now go to trial. Russel Phagan of KE Arms recently reached out to us with a public statement on this development surrounding the ongoing lawsuit and we’ve posted it below for your convenience.

The KP-15 monolithic polymer lower receiver has been a great success. The KP-15 provides regular citizens with an affordable and fairly durable lower receiver that is also lightweight to boot and reduces the total number of individual parts needed to complete an AR-15 rifle. In a bit of recent news, GWACS Armory has made the decision to sue Russel Phagan, Brownells, and Shawn Nealon (inventor of the original CAV-15) for alleged NDA and trade secret violations in regards to the KP-15. In total, 5 different parties are being sued by GWACS. In response, Russell has made the decision to address these allegations both publically and in official court documents with supporting documents that have been filed and are now public. Russel has given TFB permission to publish these documents in the hopes that they will shed light on the situation so that the KP-15 project, which he believes directly supports the rights of all free people to be armed, can continue. The full statement is posted below, if you are interested in reading Russell’s full declaration made to the court,  you can read that here. KE Arms is also offering a 25% off discount code on all KP-15 and KP-9 receivers ordered through KEARms.com (use code: ‘DEFEND2A25’) which will no doubt go to support their continued efforts.

In a recent legal action against Griffin Armament (Hearing Protection LLC), Patriot Ordnance Factory (POF) has asserted that the Griffin Armament SR-RIGID barrel nut design infringes on POF’s  heat sink barrel nut patent which has similar design characteristics to the 1928 Thompson Machine gun barrel. In a press release provided to us by Griffin Armament, the company explains that they feel that the litigation against them is meritless and also unfairly reduces free-market competition. The full press release is below but we’d like to hear your thoughts and comments on this subject as always.

Michigan optics manufacturer Trijicon, Inc. has just filed suit against California based Holosun Technologies, Inc. The docket that was filed on July, 7th 2020 indicates that Trijicon is attempting to bring legal action against Hollosun over alleged patent infringement on Trijicon’s ‘541 Patent titled “Optical Sight.”

The United States Supreme Court has once again denied certiorari to all firearms related cases appealed from lower courts. These denials are added to a decade long list of other denials since the last landmark firearms case, McDonald v City of Chicago in 2010. The cases currently being rejected include arguments such as “justifiable need” in relation to carry a firearm, California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act”, prohibiting interstate handgun sales (in person sales), restrictions on firearms and magazines, and more we’ll look at below.  The denial to hear these cases means that whatever ruling was handed down by the last, highest court under the Supreme Court remains in effect within that court’s jurisdiction.

Much ado is made about the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or the PLCAA as commonly known. The legislation provides broad protections of arms manufacturers and sellers similar to those in other industries like aerospace and automotive. Basically, so long as a manufacturer sells their wares in compliance with Federal Law, they are immune from frivolous lawsuits.

In another instance of the firearms industry feeding on it’s own, it appears that Mossberg is exercising it’s control on the original Chip McCormick patent (US 7,293,385 B2), that it acquired a while ago, and bringing lawsuits against a number of manufacturers of drop in triggers.

Michael H. Blank, formerly of the Broadsword Group, LLC and Sharps Rifle company has formally filed suit against his former employer. Mr. Blank contends that he is owed a 10% royalty based on a verbal contract between Broadsword and himself for IP he brought to the company. Mr. Blank designed the 25-45 Sharps cartridge and alluded to be the designer of the Relia-Bolt.