tpelle
03-30-12, 18:56
Since this is a sort of history question I thought I'd post it here.
This has been bugging me for a long time. Here's my question:
Regarding the "M16", the US Government somehow came to own the Technical Data Package. (That must be a story in and of itself, as the U.S. Government didn't, as I understand it, fund the design process and the construction of prototypes as they do for, say, a missle or airplane,) So, if the military wants to buy new AR15s they publish the bid spec, wait for builders to submit bids, evaluate the bids, and award a contract. Since the military owns the TDP they can buy M16s from whoever they want. Witness the contract going to Colt's or to HK or to FN, etc.
For M4s, however, I understand that Colt's actually funded, with private money, the development of the deviations from Milspec (TDP?) to convert the 20" rifles to 14.5" carbines. These changes obviously included the M4 feed ramps, the different weight buffers, different action springs, etc. They also copyrighted the name "M4" so nobody else can use it. So Colt's "owns" the M4 design, not the Government.
So, if the government owns the TDP for the M16, how did they come to let the M4 be a single-source privately owned product?
If the "M4" particulars are patented by Colt's....well, it seems to me that M4s have been around for a long time. Hasn't the patent expired? Why can't HK or FN or Fred's House of Rifles and Screen Doors just reverse-engineer the M4 changes and go into business making M4s?
If a private builder advertises a rifle or a receiver or whatever as an M4, isn't that violating Colt's patent? (Of course the owner of a patent has to bear the legal costs of defending the patent, and I guess Colt's cant sue the whole firearms industry.)
And what the heck is the distinction between the milspec and the TDP? (I'm guessing that the milspec is included as part of the TDP?)
Help me out here, so I quit waking up at night thinking about this stuff!
This has been bugging me for a long time. Here's my question:
Regarding the "M16", the US Government somehow came to own the Technical Data Package. (That must be a story in and of itself, as the U.S. Government didn't, as I understand it, fund the design process and the construction of prototypes as they do for, say, a missle or airplane,) So, if the military wants to buy new AR15s they publish the bid spec, wait for builders to submit bids, evaluate the bids, and award a contract. Since the military owns the TDP they can buy M16s from whoever they want. Witness the contract going to Colt's or to HK or to FN, etc.
For M4s, however, I understand that Colt's actually funded, with private money, the development of the deviations from Milspec (TDP?) to convert the 20" rifles to 14.5" carbines. These changes obviously included the M4 feed ramps, the different weight buffers, different action springs, etc. They also copyrighted the name "M4" so nobody else can use it. So Colt's "owns" the M4 design, not the Government.
So, if the government owns the TDP for the M16, how did they come to let the M4 be a single-source privately owned product?
If the "M4" particulars are patented by Colt's....well, it seems to me that M4s have been around for a long time. Hasn't the patent expired? Why can't HK or FN or Fred's House of Rifles and Screen Doors just reverse-engineer the M4 changes and go into business making M4s?
If a private builder advertises a rifle or a receiver or whatever as an M4, isn't that violating Colt's patent? (Of course the owner of a patent has to bear the legal costs of defending the patent, and I guess Colt's cant sue the whole firearms industry.)
And what the heck is the distinction between the milspec and the TDP? (I'm guessing that the milspec is included as part of the TDP?)
Help me out here, so I quit waking up at night thinking about this stuff!