herrwalther said:
Correct. But the crux of the matter is how the patent was filed. Prince changed his name several times because the rights to his songs went to the record company. Prince wrote the songs and played the songs, but they were owned (legally) by the label. Same thing happened to George Michael for the song Freedom. Kellgren designed the P10 and the P3AT but that does not mean the patent is owned by him. Patent law is a whole nother set of snakes.
Do you have ANY REASON to believe George Kelgren was not or is not the CEO or principal owner of either of the firms associated with the Kelgren or Kel-Tec designs? I would note, too, that Kelgren isn't a singer who needs a record company to promote and distribute his output.
Every financial source I can find says that George Kelgren is the OWNER and CEO of
Kel-Tec CNC Industries. And, as best I can tell, he was also OWNER and CEO of
Kelgren Inc., the company that created and produced the Kelgren P10, P12, and a few other unique designs almost 30 years ago. One of those unique designs was the Grendel P30 (and a related carbine) -- which had a 30 round .22 WMR magazine. I'm sure some of the design traits of the P30 were used when developing the PMR-30 (and the related carbine), but the PMR-30 is certainly a better design than the P30.
You seem to assume that just because Kelgren doesn't hold patents for his designs, he (or his firm) was not responsible for creating the various older Kel-Tec guns.
If so, I wonder why other firms haven't sued him for stealing their designs? Hint: a lot of modern gun designs are NOT covered by patents, because these newer guns use pieces or parts of designs that were once patented but now are no longer protected. (Design patents generally only last 14 years.)
A company can take an existing (no longer patented) design, refine or subtly change it, and make it work better. Just because they've improved it doesn't necessarily make their version of an older design eligible for patent protection.
As is the case with many other new guns now in production, there was or is little about the Kelgren Inc, and Kel-Tec CNC Industries designs that were (or are) unique enough to qualify for patent protection.
That explains WHY Ruger, SCCY and other firms are able to copy Kelgren's designs and knock off Kelgren-pattern guns without having to go through the generally painful and costly design, testing, and start-up process.
Kelgren designed a number of weapons for Husqvarna and also designed the Intratec Tec 9 for the Swedish firm Interdynamics prior to his moving to the U.S. in 1979. Those firms owned the patents for his design work. That was also the case with the work John M. Browning did for Colt and FN-Herstal. JMB designed guns for various firms over his lifetime and was well-paid for his work, but the firms he worked for owned the fruits of his labors. He was, so to speak, a "hired gun designer." Kelgren became self employed.