Posted on 12/08/2005 4:15:24 PM PST by BurbankKarl
Windham, ME (December 8th, 2005) - Richard Dyke, Chairman and principal stockholder of Bushmaster Firearms, is pleased with a December 6 decision of the United States District Court in Maine granting summary judgment for Bushmaster in a trademark case brought by Colt Defense, LLC. In the case, Colt accused Bushmaster of infringing the “M4” trademark and the trade dress of the M4, both of which Colt claimed it owned to the exclusion of others in the industry. In addition to denying Colt’s infringement claims, the Court granted judgment for Bushmaster on its claim for cancellation of Colt’s federal trademark registration for the “M4”.
Dyke said he is pleased, not only for Bushmaster, but for the entire firearms industry. “Colt has for years made all sorts of claims as to rights it asserted belonged only to it,” he said. “And this case clearly shows Colt has been overstating its rights. In this case, the Court determined that the right to use the M4 term and to sell firearms that look like the M4 type, are rights that belong to the industry, not just Colt.”
The Court’s order affirmed a prior recommended decision of a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the case. Among other things, the Magistrate’s decision:
Held that the M4 is generic term which merely describes a type of firearm, and is not an identifier of Colt as a sole source for such firearms. In doing so, the decision noted that more than a dozen firearm manufacturers other than Colt have used the term M4 for years to refer to military-style carbines with collapsible buttstocks and shortened barrels. Since the M4 term is generic, the court granted judgment for Bushmaster that Colt’s federal trademark registration for the M4 should be cancelled.
Dismissed Colt’s claim for infringement of M4 trade dress both because the alleged trade dress is primarily non-functional and because Colt could not establish that the buying public associated the look of the M4 only with Colt.
Dismissed Colt’s claims for infringement of the terms M16, CAR, MATCH TARGET, AR-15 and COMMANDO because it concluded that there was no likelihood of confusion among purchasers as to the source of Bushmaster’s products.
The Court also held Colt could recover no damages on its only remaining claim under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.
MRP Goodness...imagine piston driven and 6.8 SPC or 6.5 Grendel....
OK, spill. I want to know more, haven't seen anything in the gun rags - any good URLs to share?
Perhaps it was spelled GP, but it was pronounced "jeep".
???
Are you making that up? It is impossible to imagine a company being so stupid they would sue to put a stop to an incredible value in free advertisement.
I thought that the Houston franchise changed its name because they were the first baseball team to have a fully enclosed stadium and the turf was called "astroturf". (And also because NASA mission control was located in Houston. "Astro" = "astronaut....)
http://users3.ev1.net/~wbthomp/colts.html
Above URL gives History of Houston Colt 45S
Thanks for that link! I remember going to see the Phillies play the Houston Colt 45s at Connie Mack Stadium when I was a kid. But I didn't see anything about Colt suing the Houston franchise to stop using the name "Colt 45s". In fact, it makes even less sense when you see that the original stadium where the Colt 45s played was called "Colt Stadium".
Did I miss it? Thanks.
Thanks for that link! I remember going to see the Phillies play the Houston Colt 45s at Connie Mack Stadium when I was a kid. But I didn't see anything about Colt suing the Houston franchise to stop using the name "Colt 45s". In fact, it makes even less sense when you see that the original stadium where the Colt 45s played was called "Colt Stadium".
Did I miss it? Thanks.
Dismissed Colt’s claim for infringement of M4 trade dress both because the alleged trade dress is primarily non-functional and because Colt could not establish that the buying public associated the look of the M4 only with Colt.
ROFL.. after the DC sniper, the look of an M4 is more likely to be associated with bushy than colt anyways.
eh.. i'll stick with my rock river, it shoots better than the colt my friend has.
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