Michigan-based optics manufacturer Trijicon, Inc., has accused Holosun Technologies, Inc., of violating one of the patents that protects the Trijicon Ruggedized Miniature Reflex (RMR) sight as well as the Specialized Reflex Optic (SRO).
Trijicon filed a complaint last week with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) along with a mirror suit in a California U.S. district court. The company contends that a number of Holosun’s products violate Trijicon’s ‘541 patent, and that Holosun knowingly continued to market and sell these products even after being notified of its violation.
“Despite knowledge and actual notice of the ‘541 Patent, Holosun has continued to offer for sale and sell the Accused Products to customers in the United States without the consent or authority of Trijicon,” the suit states.
The publicly available versions of the complaint and lawsuit do not include the specifics of Trijicon’s argument, but they do list the Holosun products believed to violate the patent: HS407K, HS407C-V2, HE407C-GR V2, HS407CO V2, HS507K, HS507C V2, HE507C-GR V2, HE508T-RD V2 and HE508T-GR V2.
Holosun is based in Los Angeles County, California, but many of their products are manufactured in China. Trijicon’s USITC complaint asks the commission to conduct an investigation under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibits methods of unfair trade or unfair competition in importation.
If the USITC decides in Trijicon’s favor, it can order the United States Customs Service to halt the importation of Holosun’s products. While a standard district suit like the one filed in California can take two to five years to litigate, a commission investigation usually takes 15-18 months, according to Bloomberg News. In addition, the USITC may require a lower standard of proof than a district court, according to a John Marshall Law Review article.
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Bloomberg reports that the district case likely will not begin until the USITC complaint is resolved.
Trijicon claims to have notified Holosun of its alleged violation in letters sent on January 15, February 12, and February 21. Holosun, apparently, did not stop importing and selling the products that Trijicon believes violate its patent.
Trijicon has held its ‘541 patent since 2013, which is a continuation of a patent filed in 2009. In its suit, the company claims that Holosun knew about the patent “since at least the date of its issuance.”
The USITC case is In the Matter of Certain Red Dot Sights and Components Thereof, 337-3477, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington). The district court case is Trijicon Inc. vs. Holosun Technologies Inc., 20-6742, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles). We’ve embedded a copy of the district suit below.
A Holosun representative declined to comment when reached by GunsAmerica. Both companies declined to comment to Bloomberg News.
I just looked up the result of this, and trijicon dropped the suit in September. Anyone have any info why? Perhaps they couldn’t prove the case by a preponderance of the evidence (since it’s civil court)
wow, what a rant.
No (as Rush would say) chi-con optics for me.
Made in America only for me.
Patents are based upon the words of the patent, NOT the drawings. Although drawings may show conflicts, if the construction and operation are not fully defined in verbal detail (thus protected) Trijicon has problems. Trijicon may have also tried to use the alternate patent filing method of being overly broad in its description which can be easier to protect from a variety of directions but also a mistake if someone can “write around” their verbiage.
As an American company, I want to see Trijicon succeed. But, they need to also be ‘smart’ and price their products low enough that competitors simply have no interest in entering that market. Low cost entities will often enter with low price products to build a brand, and solidify manufacturing experience, then voluntarily shut down the company when challenged. I cannot tell the direction here (yet) but with the anti-China feelings today (right or wrong) I would NOT be buying a Holosun product for a long term investment.
If i had to guess, I’d say the patent has to do with the mount or mounting plate style with the lugs. For a long time if something was rmr cut it would only fit rmr’s. Now certain holosun models use the rmr footprint. They probably want it to stay exclusive so people are forced to buy theirs if they want to buy the common rmr cut slides and mounts.
I’m no patent lawyer, but I’m not seeing a close physical resemblance that any other mini red dot also has. Will Trijicon be suing jp, shield, Docter, Sig etc or just the most rugged and successful competitor?
Trijicon is my favorite optics maker, but they have fallen behind Holosun in durability and value. Trijicon needs to spend money on making even better rmr’s and defend THOSE patents instead of making scumbag lawyers rich protecting old tech.
Sounds like Trijicon is feeling the end result of pricing itself out of the market.
Holosun may have a CA import company, but it is still a Chinese Communist controlled entity. Since Red China recently flooded the world with their Wuhan faux bat chop suey upper respiratory killer virus I refuse to knowingly purchase any chinesium crap.
Trijicon must be threatened by the fact some company is gaining ground on the RMR make a competitive RMR/407k version as of current I’m still waiting and the only option that looks worthwhile is the Swampfox “something “.
Great, MORE crap news on the gun tip! If course I hate the trijicon optics as I hear they’re built better than the holosun optics, but then I’ve always never seen a broken holosun! Trijicon MIGHT be a stronger optics and I have serious doubts about that since both are solidly built and if you slam an optic hard enough to break it in a my way then I’d assume itd probably break either one. Fact is there is no real difference between any of this price range red\green dots and all are the same basic size and all out out a dot! that’s like saying a Honda car is the same as a chevy! There both cars and they both run and do the same thing, except one may have a Wi-Fi set up and the other may not even have a tape deck…. But are they cars?! Yes! So a cars a car and an optic is an opric! If course there are going to be similarities since they both are optics right?! Only thing I can say is they took their mounting spots from Trijicon, but that’s I’m sure for logical reasons since prior to holosun starting to be so popular everyone had and mostly still does have RMR mounting points and sure they wanted to sell their optics and not someone a complete new $200 to a grand to buy a slide that has the mounting set up they needed. Fact is holosuns optics are so much better with the shake awake mode(nobody is ever going to let you turn on your optic before they try and end you!), Multiple reticle options, green reticle I’m not sure trijicom offers, solar back up which to me is way beyond priceless, and more of course. Don’t know what trijixons complaint is other than MAYBE the shape of it and even then trijicons have that stupid concave which has to take away from the field of view the shooter can see. Worst part for me is I can’t afford a hills in now as I have a slide ready for it and by the time I get the money sure with my luck they’ll be yanked off the shelves and a way more expensive version will come out much later or I’ll have to buy the junk trijicon which I won’t since its double the price awith less than half the options and again nobody is going to let you turn on your optic before they commence to try and end you so I’ll just have a super expensive slide that is made for an optic sight and all I installed and will always look kind of stupid and I’ll have to decide if I what do keep the 1\3 do witness sights I paid for and installed purposely for the optic and buy a new set to again reinstall. Sucks to be me and others in my position! Good luck to all in my shoes!!!!!
wow, what a rant.
No (as Rush would say) chi-con optics for me.
Made in America only for me.