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Mossberg Trigger Patent Dispute – How to Invalidate a Mossberg

Photo credit: The Truth About Guns The Anatomy of a Patent Lawsuit What every patent applicant can learn from the Mossberg Dispute As most of us were enjoying the elegance and convenience of the Kentucky Exposition Center at the NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Mossberg filed a lawsuit against 12 trigger makers on the first day of the show.  No “We’ve got a problem” letters.  No phone calls.  Just “Bam!  You’ve been sued.”  It’s a hair-trigger legal strategy that raises the question of whether Mossberg figured they’d probably be sued in 12  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | June 8, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Guns.Com Article about Gun Patent Attorney Ben Langlotz

The PR Triumph I Never Expected I was pleased, flattered, and humbled to be featured last month in a profile interview by one of the Internet’s most prominent gun news blogs, Guns.com. The author gave me a chance to share what I think is really important for gun inventors to know, and threw in a few extra nice words about me after the check from my mother cleared. Seriously, I must thank all those who have had faith in me the early years beginning 15 years ago, when I was an experienced patent attorney who hoped to make my hobby and passion for guns into part of my  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | May 10, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Can a Cartridge Design Be Patented?

This is an article written by Kevin Crank for AllOutdoor.com. Crank is a wildcatter, meaning that he makes wildcat cartridges. Wildcat cartridges are customized versions of commercially available cartridges, usually designed to enhance some performance characteristic of the original cartridge. These alterations produce measurable differences in ballistic performance, and he reached out recently to find out whether or not the designs were patentable. Enter Kevin... ### My colleague Russ and I were debating the merits of new cartridge design when Russ asked a question  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | April 14, 2016 | Firearms, Intellectual Property Advice, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »

How to Write a Provisional Patent Application

I try to be observant and to follow the trends, especially in my small specialized world where law, technology, and guns intersect.  But I managed to underestimate the significance on what I think is the biggest thing to happen in United States Patent Law in my lifetime. I’ve written before about how important it is to file to secure patent rights as quickly as possible, under the new First-to-File legal regime that Congress enacted about three years ago.  I had no idea how significant this would turn out to be for inventors and innovative companies everywhere.  I  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | March 10, 2016 | Books & Resources, Business, Firearms, Firearms Industry Advice, How To, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »

SHOT Show News

“V” is for a Very nerVy Trademark Strategy The “V” is a friendly jab at a prominent SHOT Show exhibitor.  Not a client of mine, Daniel Defense had their first SHOT Show about the same time as mine, and I’ve often expressed my admiration for their marketing prowess at the show.  They sponsor the SHOT Show planner map on my iPad, they’ve sponsored hotel keycards, and even the tops of lunch tables. So I’m unsurprised by creative and aggressive strategies coming from those smart guys.  Still, I was surprised last year to see that they had applied to register  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | February 1, 2016 | Firearms, Intellectual Property Advice, Legal News, Opinion Pieces, Trademark | 0 Comments Read More »

Are Customizers Infringing on Trademarks?

On December 23rd, I ducked away from the family fun and checked my Facebook page only to find some firearms industry news with trademarks at the heart of the issue.  Y’all know how I love trademarks, and will tell you that they might just be the most valuable asset of your company.  But there are limits.  And I believe those limits were embarrassingly exceeded in a PR debacle that generated a rapid-fire social media response. It turns out that the owners of the most powerful trademark in the firearms industry*, the thousand-pound gorilla, decided to throw some weight  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | January 11, 2016 | Firearms, Firearms Industry Advice, Intellectual Property Advice, Legal News, Opinion Pieces, Trademark | 0 Comments Read More »