Gun patents and clones

[Speedo66]

Since we're talking about patents and trademarks, there's also "trade dress".

This is design in continuous usage that acts as an identifier for the product. One that comes to mind is the 7 bar grill of Jeeps. Jeep sued Mahindra for using a similar grill on their Roxor Jeep clones and won.

 

[upptick]

I feel like I've been on this Earth long enough to know this answer, but I don't. Why are certain guns like 1911's and AR15's able to be manufactured by anyone, but not other guns? I understand there are some 19th century Western designs built by the Italians such as Uberti, but that makes much more sense since they are ancient. But there are a lot of years between the 1911 and AR15. The AK47 is one notable exception, but why not others?

Patent Attorney here.

A gun design can be copied if it is in the public domain, and whether something is in the public domain depends on several factors. First, IP law varies by jurisdiction, i.e.a patent in the U.S. is not effective in Brazil and vice versa although a U.S. patent could be used to block an infringing import from Brazil. . In the U.S., patents last for 20 years measured from the date of filing and copyrights are good for the life of the author plus 70 years after his death. Copyright matters because of blueprints and engineering drawings that are needed to build a firearm. There might also be some trade secret issues, such as exotic blends of composite polymers and metal alloys. I think there probably is a lot of direct copying in the firearms industry, like when Smith and Wesson blatantly copied Glock designs in the 1990s and got their head handed to them in the ensuing patent infringement litigation.