Word comes that Alex Bosco over at SB Tactical is suing the guys behind the Shockwave pistol arm brace for patent infringement. Shockwave produces a rigid plastic “blade” that they claim improves accuracy when firing a pistol (in the non-ATF enraging “proper” manner), and does so with a single rigid vertical blade instead of the two floppy rubber-y affairs that SB Tactical’s brace uses. You might think that this distinction would be enough to make the design unique, but SB Tactical seems to think that Shockwave’s design is shockingly similar to their own patent. So much so, in fact, that they have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Shockwave to get them to stop selling the thing.
From Shockwave’s blog:
I launched the Blade in early March of this year (2015). Much to my surprise—and that of everybody I’ve told this story to—NST Global LLC (aka SB Tactical aka Alessandro Bosco aka Alex Bosco) filed a lawsuit against my company within just two months of the Blade hitting the market. His claim? That I am infringing on his cosmetic design patent, D706,896. Yes, the very same patent that my attorney wrote wasn’t even germane to discussions about the Blade. Looking at the pictures [above], the two products couldn’t look more dissimilar in my opinion.
There’s often a huge difference between “my lawyer told me that this was OK” and the result of a lawsuit. Viewed from the side the two devices are strikingly similar, and work in pretty much the same fashion. They both work by strapping the device to the outstretched arm of the shooter with an included hook-and-loop strap, but the execution seems to be a little different in the two camps. Whether that’s enough to warrant a successful infringement suit is now up to the court system.
Shockwave are a small company, and apparently don’t have the funds to effectively defend their case in court, so they are now asking for donations to fight the lawsuit on their website. SB Tactical was unable to comment due to the pending litigation.