|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Well all I really know is that the history of Colt, the AR-15, and the contracts to produce them for the military is very long and comlicated. Colt has been very protective of the design and the various TDP's for the different models, as they rightly should be.
From what I understand (and please don't hold me to this), back in the 90's NWSC Crane passed out a bunch of copies of Colt's TDP for the M4 while trying to procure an accesory that needed to work with the M4. Naturally, Colt wasn't too happy about it, and after a great deal of legal and political hoopla Colt ended up with a deal that made them the sole source provider for the M4 for a set period of time, which expired sometime in 09. With that portion of the agreement expired, the military is now free to purchase M4's from other companies, but Colt still retains the rights to the TDP for another 20-something years, and any company that won a contract for M4's would have to pay Colt royalties on each carbine for the use of the TDP. The company who wins the contract also cannot produce civilain variants using the TDP, and after they complete the contract they must destroy all copies of they have of the TDP.
Last edited by Auto426; 02-25-13 at 05:16.
Thanks for the info, Grant.
We miss you, AC.
We miss you, ToddG.
And yet, people single HK out for their hate. Meanwhile, Colt is keeping guns out of your hands.
"The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage." - Thucydides, c. 410 BC
I think what some people who demonize Colt for safeguarding the M4 TDP so aggresively fail to realize is that the TDP for the M4 is like the secret recipe for Coca Cola. It's a trade secret, and when you go spreading it around to a bunch of different companies who all use it to make guns identical to yours you loose your competitive advantage in the market. You don't see Coke handing it's recipe to Pepsi or any other beverage company because it's what makes their product unique and valuable to the consumer. People buy a Colt over a Bushmaster for a reason, and Colt isn't going to let that advantage slip away from them anytime soon.
Bookmarks