Point of fact: AR-15 is actually a trademark owned by Colt. That’s why there’s the Ruger AR-556, and the S&W M&P 15 Sport II, which are marketed as AR-15 style rifles. Kinda like Styrofoam; people misuse the trademark (esp. styrofoam cups; such a thing has never existed) regularly, but it’s still owned by the Dow Chemical Corp. (Or was; I think they sold that division off to E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.)
The trademark probably won’t last too much longer though, as it’s become genercized AND Colt wasn’t the inventor of the product or the name. They also no longer manufacture civilian AR-pattern rifles, so they’re on really shaky grounds for defending the name.
Bayer lost the trademark for Aspirin. Xerox almost lost the trademark to their own name, and had to actually start advertising their products as “photocopiers” instead of “Xerox machines.”
Point of fact: AR-15 is actually a trademark owned by Colt. That’s why there’s the Ruger AR-556, and the S&W M&P 15 Sport II, which are marketed as AR-15 style rifles. Kinda like Styrofoam; people misuse the trademark (esp. styrofoam cups; such a thing has never existed) regularly, but it’s still owned by the Dow Chemical Corp. (Or was; I think they sold that division off to E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.)
The trademark probably won’t last too much longer though, as it’s become genercized AND Colt wasn’t the inventor of the product or the name. They also no longer manufacture civilian AR-pattern rifles, so they’re on really shaky grounds for defending the name.
Bayer lost the trademark for Aspirin. Xerox almost lost the trademark to their own name, and had to actually start advertising their products as “photocopiers” instead of “Xerox machines.”