When you fall, I will be there to catch you -With love, the floor
| Bruce, saw Mike Briggs today. He came dangerously close to shooting the match...but escaped before we could force him into it. Ha looked at my X5 and ran off of get one. |
| Posts: 5809 | Location: Epping, NH | Registered: October 16, 2004 |
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Little ray of sunshine
| I'm sure SIG thinks it didn't infringe, and that their design is different. It had to be aware of Steyr's design. But that is what lawsuits are for. This is a somewhat arcane area of law. Unless you know the designs intimately and have a fair amount of experience litigating these, it will be hard to predict how this comes out.
The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything. |
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| Good Morning Gentlemen,
I'll go way out on a limb here - in my former life I was a patent attorney.
There are a lot of variables, but if the patents are from the late 1990s, the term is twenty years from filing, plus any additional time allowed by a term extension created by the prosecution period - not caused by the applicant.
The protection afforded under a patent - are the claims. Even if the description in the patent's specification may go off in many directions, and with many details, the claims are the actual boundaries for protection - the so called metes and bounds, taken from real estate convention and property law.
I have not looked at the patents at issue, but I suspect this is far from a simple case. I worked on patent litigations in the past where certain punctuation in the claims, and how that punctuation impacts construction of the claim elements; decided the case - meaning no literal infringement, and the defendant wins. |
| Posts: 143 | Location: NoVA | Registered: August 27, 2014 |
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My hypocrisy goes only so far
| D.O.A.
U.S.M.C. VFW-8054 III% "Never let a Wishbone grow where a Backbone should be " |
| Posts: 6952 | Location: Central,Ohio | Registered: December 28, 2008 |
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| Forgot to mention, That the fact that patents came from the late 1990s means that even with the US Supply contract now creating a storm of interest, the Steyr Company still needed to police their issued patent. Policing a Patent or Patent Portfolio, prevents problems like this - especially problems happening years after a competitor's patent has issued, and is out in the wild.
If too much time has passed, Steyr will have a hard time convincing the courts that they did proactively protect their rights under their patent - and this is only assuming that their could be any infringement.
Also, if Sig knew about Steyr's Patent - which it probably did, since companies will investigate the terrain before spending the resources to tool up, and manufacture a product; it seems pretty unlikely that they went forward with a threat of potential litigation hanging out there.
If Sig knew about the alleged "infringement" and did not care, or did not take steps to work out a deal with Styer, that is "willful" infringement. Willful infringement - if proved - is TRIPLE DAMAGES! I cannot believe Sig would have done something as foolish as that. But you never know. |
| Posts: 143 | Location: NoVA | Registered: August 27, 2014 |
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Go ahead punk, make my day
| Time will tell; SIG has a history of playing fast an loose, recall their SIG516 Bolt issues - wasn't in LMT or someone else who held them to the fire??? |
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Behold my Radiance!
| quote: Originally posted by SigSentry: The serialized part on the sig pro is the frame. Pistols like the lc9s that have a "frame insert" that is serialized can at least have the frame replaced "technically" but Ruger won't sell separate frames.
This is true, but the Steyr patent makes no mention of serialization as a claimed feature. -B
Designer and custom pistolsmith at Grayguns Inc. Privileged to be R&D consultant to the world's greatest maker of fine firearms: SIG SAUER Visit us at http://opspectraining.com/product-cat/videos/ to order yours, and Thank You for making GGI the leader in custom SIG and HK pistolsmithing and high-grade components. Bruce Gray, President Grayguns Inc. Grayguns.com / 888.585.4729 |
| Posts: 9526 | Location: Reedsport & Spray, Oregon | Registered: October 06, 2003 |
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| Not the first time Sig has borrowed others designs... LWRC Int had a nifty bolt carrier design that Sig basically appropriated and advertised as their own in their piston AR debut. Sig will have to prove their design is different or change the design as they did with the lwrci carrier by adding lightening cuts and other subtle changes to their carrier. |
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Armed and Gregarious
| quote: Originally posted by astraightshooter: Forgot to mention, That the fact that patents came from the late 1990s means that even with the US Supply contract now creating a storm of interest, the Steyr Company still needed to police their issued patent. Policing a Patent or Patent Portfolio, prevents problems like this - especially problems happening years after a competitor's patent has issued, and is out in the wild.
If too much time has passed, Steyr will have a hard time convincing the courts that they did proactively protect their rights under their patent - and this is only assuming that their could be any infringement.
Too many people are ignorant of this concept, or choose to ignore it, as it applies to patents, trademarks, and copyrights. About a year ago many people vilified S&W for taking steps to protect their trademarks, and painted it as merely a big company picking on smaller companies. Many didn't want to hear that S&W needed to aggressively protect their trademarks or risk losing them.
___________________________________________ "He was never hindered by any dogma, except the Constitution." - Ty Ross speaking of his grandfather General Barry Goldwater
"War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want." - William Tecumseh Sherman
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addicted to trailing-throttle oversteer
| quote: Originally posted by RHINOWSO: Time will tell; SIG has a history of playing fast an loose, recall their SIG516 Bolt issues - wasn't in LMT or someone else who held them to the fire???
It's the main reason why there's a 2nd gen 516. Evidently LWRC was not amused by SIG's loose and 'free' antics with the 1st gen design. Exeter didn't even wait for a determination from the courts before releasing the 2nd gen bolt design. I have one of each and frankly the 1st gen LWRC ripoff...er, I mean... inspired replica...has been the better and more reliable of the two. |
| Posts: 8983 | Location: Drippin' wet | Registered: April 18, 2010 |
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Big Stack
| There will be a settlement. Steyr will likely get some payout, and maybe some level of continuing royalties. |
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| Very interesting....guess the attorneys will help figure this one all out. Curious to see how it will affect any other contracts the P320 has won and is in the process of fulfilling.
Old School German Sigs,....Quality and Reliability you can consistently depend on, right out of the box.
**Remembering 9/11/2001 Celebrating 5/1/2011**
OPUS DEI CUM PECUNIA ALIENUM EFFICEMUS
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Big Stack
| And the Honor Guard. Oh, and the Ruger American Pistol also, IIRC. They use a removable chassis also. quote: Originally posted by Veeper: Wouldn't this also cover something like the Beretta Nano?
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