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Smith and Wesson has sent cease and desist letters to four companies who are making custom "show guns" for Brownell's to showcase their products at the 2016 SHOT show.
S&W—which is just finally earning the forgiveness of many in the industry for their “smart guns” collusion with the Clinton White House in 2000—has instead sent a bullying cease and desist letter to the four companies that built the 2016 Brownell’s “Dream Gun” to be proudly displayed at SHOT Show in Las Vegas next month.
Show guns are nothing new. They are flashy, typically custom-made firearms showing off products or services.
A competent firearms industry legal team would know of show guns, and the role they’ve long played in helping promote products and services in the sort of “win-win” way we’re described.
But Smiths legal team of Ballard Spahr aren’t apparently a “competent firearms industry legal team,” and are demanding that the four companies receiving the letter:
1. Confirm in writing that neither you nor any third party will display the Infringing Product, or any similar product, at the 2016 SHOT Show or make any other commercial display or promotion of such Infringing Product;
2. Cease the sale of any firearm modified by you or any other third party that bears any Smith & Wesson trademark, including, but not limited to the S&W® Marks or the M&P® Marks;
and
3. Turn over to Smith & Wesson your inventory of the Infringing Product, or any Smith & Wesson product modified by you in the first instance that bears any mark owned by Smith & Wesson.
If we do not hear from you by January 5, 2015, Smith & Wesson will pursue its rights and remedies to the fullest extent permitted by law without further notice to you.
This is perfectly in character for S&W's current owners, going back to before they purchased S&W (at the fire sale after their last debacle), to when they lobbied to have their shitty hammer locks foisted upon the whole industry.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati
"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
I just checked the Facebook page. It looks like S&W is trying to walk it back:
James Debney, President and CEO of Smith & Wesson, said, “I would like to clarify that we fully support the Brownells Dream Guns® Project and we appreciate that it showcases the many ways in which our customers – loyal fans of our M&P brand – can choose to customize their M&P firearms. Our decision to contact the companies that worked on the project was intended to protect the trademarks that support the M&P brand. When a product bears the Smith & Wesson and M&P trademarks and is purchased new with our lifetime service policy, we want to be sure that the consumer knows it has passed our demanding quality standards. In our efforts to protect that promise and to preserve the brand that we and our customers cherish, we did not fully understand the intent of the Dream Guns® Project and we overlooked the opportunity to convey our enthusiasm for the creativity and innovation that Brownells and all of the companies involved have demonstrated. We look forward to seeing the firearm on display at the upcoming SHOT Show in January and at the NRA in May.”
"If at first you don't succeed, that's one data point." XKCD
I bet the lawyers needed something to show how diligently they were representing their client's interests to justify their retainers, and thought this would suffice, not knowing diddly or squat about the actual firearms industry.
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
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