Lawsuit filed over ACR by Robinson Arms

[HisDisciple]

I thought you gentlemen would like to know about this.

Breaking News: Federal Lawsuit Claims Remington ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) Violates RDMI (Alex Robinson of Robinson Armament) Patent
By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com

January 15, 2010
Updated on 1/16/10

On January 4th, 2010, DefenseReview published a quick piece on the new “leaked” Remington ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) video. Well, something rather interesting has since occurred involving the ACR. According to RFC Express, a website covering “US Federal District Court, Recently Filed Cases”, a company designated as “RMDI, LLC” is listed as the Plaintiff in a federal lawsuit (Civil Action No. 2:10-cv-00029-DAK) vs. Defendant(s) Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bushmaster Firearms, Rock River Arms, and MagPul Industries. The “COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT” federal lawsuit was, according to RFC Express, just filed on Thursday, January 14, 2010 (yesterday) in a Utah District Court. Remington and Bushmaster are part of the Freedom Group, which is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.

RMDI, LLC is a limited liability company owned by Alex Robinson of Robinson Armament (ROBARM), maker of the XCR Modular Weapon System tactical rifle series. DefenseReview has been informed by Alex Robinson that the lawsuit involves a patent that Mr. Robinson has on an “ambidextrous magazine release (a.k.a. ambidextrous mag release) and bolt hold-open”, and that the firearms involved in the alleged patent infringement/violation are the Remington ACR (previously known as the Bushmaster ACR) 5.56mm NATO (5.56×45mm NATO)/.223 Rem. tactical rifle, MagPul Masada ACWS (from which the ACR was derived and developed), Rock River Arms (RRA) LAR-8 7.62mm NATO (7.62mm NATO)/..308 Win. rifle, and the MagPul Massoud 7.62mm NATO/.308 Win. rifle. The official lawsuit document confirms this.

The official lawsuit document, which Defense Review has purchased and downloaded from the RFC Express website, states that the lawsuit is over U.S. Patent No. 7,596,900 (the “’900 patent”) entitled “Multi-Caliber Ambidextrously Controllable Firearm,” issued on October 6, 2009 to inventors Alexander J. Robinson, Darin G. Nebeker, and Jon C. Holway. It further states that “Defendants are liable for infringement of the ’900 Patent pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 271.”

The lawsuit document continues:

“Upon information and belief, one or more of the Defendants’ acts of infringement
were made or will be made with knowledge of the ’900 Patent. Such acts constitute willful
infringement and make this case exceptional pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §§ 284 and 285 and entitle RMDI to enhanced damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees.”

There’s a Chinese saying “May you live in interesting times.” This situation should help make for an interesting SHOT Show 2010. Speaking of SHOT, you’ll be able to find Alex Robinson/Robinson Armament at the Serbu Firearms booth (#20034). Serbu makes the Serbu BFG-50 single-shot bolt-action .50 BMG rifle, Serbu BFG-50A mag-fed semi-auto .50 BMG tactical rifle, and Serbu SUPER-SHORTY 12-gauge tactical/combat shotgun.