Last week, O.F Mossberg and Sons filed a lawsuit against 12 separate gun companies for infringement of a trigger design patent. The firearm giant isn’t pulling any punches and is even targeting small one story gun shop such as DOA Arms which simply sells the timney trigger that mossberg is suing over.
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Even though the suits vary against all 12 companies, they all cite one similar infringement. Mossberg claims that a patent for modular trigger group, also known as a drop in trigger which can be used as a substitute for the AR-type rifle was infringed upon. This is according to documents the company filed with the Connecticut Federal Court on May 18 and 19.
The twelve companies that Mossberg is suing are: Tactical Fire Control (Phoenix, Arizona), Velocity Triggers (Phoenix, Arizona); Patriot Ordinance Factory (Phoenix, Arizona), KE Arms (Phoenix, Arizona), Hogan Guns (Glendale, Arizona), Elftman Tactical (Glendale, Arizona), DOA Arms (Virginia), Black Rain Ordinance (Missouri), Battle Tested Equipment (Phoenix, Arizona), TriggerTech (Canada), Rise Armament (Oklahoma), and Franklin Armory (Nevada).
The lawsuit states that Mossberg “has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law.” The company is seeking three times the amount of actual damages plus legal fees.
In 2015, Timney Triggers requested to renew the trigger patent after a re-examination from the U.S. Patent Office. Patent Attorney Bennett Langlotz told Guns.com, “The patent has survived a re-examination challenge once, and there are others filed since. But surviving re-examination does not make a patent immune to further challenge, including as a defense in a lawsuit.” Langlotz added that the there is a question surrounding the validity of the patent.
Mossberg’s general counsel, Joseph Bartozzi told Guns.com that the purpose for filing the lawsuit was to protect fair business practices. “If we don’t make it equal and fair for everybody, the ones who do play by the rules will suffer,” he said.
