AR-15 Trademark?
I was debating with a salesperson in a store yesterday and have also traded some e-mails with a relative about the AR-15 name. I was understanding that the AR-15 name is a Colt owned trademark. The salesman was telling me that he bought a new Bushmaster 1 1/2 to 2 years ago and it is marked as an AR-15. Please help me with who is correct.
Thanks in advance
CDM
Thanks in advance
CDM
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I think your salsperson is right..... MAYBE [^]
It will hurt you, More than it will hurt me..
Life Member... N R A
American Legion, MECU, MWCA, SMSC, BSC, NASDS
Thanks for all the help!0 -
no company owns the ar-15 notation as that is the rifles type.the AR automatic rifle)-15 was developed by th Armalite Division of Fairchild Engine and A irplane Corporation between 1956 and 1958.the main designer was Eugene Stoner. Armalite then sold production rights of the ar15 type rifle to COLT in 1959.since then colt has produced thier version.in 1988 bushmaster got production rights also, from colt, and began marketing thier version.Stoner also makes an ar-15,but nearly all are bought by the government and modified for special forces use and designated the xm177.so the dealer was right to say he owned a bushmaster ar 15,but you are right that colt was the original producer of the gun. 0 -
Bushmaster rifles are marked XM15 and then a suffix for a sub type. A typical example (which I have in front of me) would be marked with the Bushmaster trademark, the serial number, and XM15-E2S. The current Armalite firm (not the original) uses the desigantion M15 and a suffix-- M15A2 for example. Knights MAnufacturing markets their rifles as the Stoner SR-15 rifle followed by a suffix for a sub type-- SR-15 M-5 for instance. Colt owns and controls the trademark AR-15 and no other firm can use this on a rifle without express permission from Colt. You cannot call your new soft drink Coca Cola and you can't call your new rifle an AR-15 and everything except a Colt is simply an AR type rifle. Colt stopped selling AR-15's to the public in 1989 and from that point on AR-15 marked rifles were restricted to dealers, police, and military sales. The new Colt rifles were given the name Colt Sporter and later Match Target. I'm sure Colt would be very interested to find another manufacturer using their AR-15 trademark on rifles. Over the years Colt has slapped law suits on many firms for marking their new production copy SAA pistols in ways which even resemble Colt markings.
Mark T. Christian0 -
Thanks again Mark.
SEE IGB!0 -
I wrote Bushmaster and asked, this is what I got back today,
Bushmaster models are marked XM15E2S as a model designation. AR15 is a Trademark currently owned by Colt Firearms. This is from the ArmaLite web site;
The ArmaLite Division of Fairchild developed the AR-15 in 1959. Fairchild licensed the rifle to the Colt's Patent Firearm Manufacturing Corporation, and Colt's assumed the AR-15 trademark.
No other manufacturer can use the Colt AR15 Trademark designation. ArmaLite currently uses the M15 model designation for its AR15 type rifles.
Thank you.
It will hurt you, More than it will hurt me..
Life Member... N R A
American Legion, MECU, MWCA, SMSC, BSC, NASDS
Thanks for all the help!0 -
The new ArmaLite company does use the AR designation for its line of AR-10 rifles as well as its AR-50 .50BMG rifle. The "AR" designation stands for Armalite Rifle as used by the original Armalite Division of Fairchild Aircraft. 0 -
The new ArmaLite company does use the AR designation for its line of AR-10 rifles as well as its AR-50 .50BMG rifle. The "AR" designation stands for Armalite Rifle as used by the original Armalite Division of Fairchild Aircraft. 0 -
The reason that the current Armalite firm can use the AR-10 as well as the AR-180 (AR-180B in this case) model numbers is because the original Armalite retained the rights two those two models (and a few others). The AR-50 is the sole product of the new Armalite firm and had no connection with the original Costa Mesa based company and the AR-50 model number has no historical connection what so ever. The AR-15 name was sold by Armalite to Colt and the AR-7 name went to Chater Arms (who later sold the rights). AR-10 and AR-180 remained the intellectual property of the owners of the Armailite name.
When Eagle Arms bought the name Armalite it inherited the AR-10 trademark along with the rights to use it. Reed Knight uses the designator SR-25 for this Stoner 7.62mm rifle. He had no choice in the matter because the AR-10 name was not available for his use and even having Gene Stoner on board offered him no chance to use the AR-10 name. The new Armalite company would also own the names AR-16, AR-12, and AR-180 and any others which remained with the original Armalite. At this time there are no patents left in force on the AR-15 rifles, they expired decades ago, but what is remaining is the Colt owned trademarked name AR-15. Anyone could go out and build an exact duplicate of an AR-15 and market it. Notice how the other firms use some form of the number 15 in their model designations? That is allowed, but you could no more call a new production rifle an AR-15 than you could market a new revolver and call it a Python...those names are taken!
Mark T. Christian0 -
As I keep saying, "AR-15" is a term of art, as well as a trademark. How anyone could get the idea that "AR-15" is merely a "type" designation is beyond me. That is saying that "Coca-Cola" is a type designation for a cola drink that can be used by anyone. As Mr. Christian so clearly documents, when Colt bought the rights to the ArmaLite AR-15, the name went with it. I continue to fight the losing battle of not applying the term "AR-15" to anything but a Colt rifle of a style discontinued long ago and so marked on its receiver.
Before Eagle became the new ArmaLite, its .223 AR-15-type rifles were called M15.0 -
Judge,
You will be fighting this war until RP returns that bucket of ice water-perhaps longer.0
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