doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "New manufactured" Lefever project

DrBob ---- thanks for your interest and suggestion,I do appreciate your help. This project was my idea & offered my thoughts to the memebrship for their valued feedback --- seems as if it has been approved of.

As I started this project, I will assume the position of facilitator & have already gotten the ball rolling with Steve Earle measuring an action which he will program for CNC controll of mill and lath. This man does the finest work I have had the pleasure of handling. Glenn Fewless is the man for fitting bbl's as he is a fanatic for precision fitting of parts & polishing. Being an old engraver, I'm in hopes of a few of these engraving jobs coming my way. Stockmaking will require more than one stocker and I have two in mind. Before I announce their names, I will have to be sure they can handle the work load as both are very busy. Ken

Ken, I spoke with a dealer at a show this last weekend who said he knows the person who still holds the rights to the Lefever name. Is that an issue you have figured out?

I haven't considered it a real problem as any knowledgable gun person will know what it is. DrBob had an answer and I have been told by an attorney that even Lefever Pat. will be safe. Not to concerned about the name right now. Ken

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Stephen "ain't that Shakespeare something" Meyers

Whooo Boy, them's some fancy words And , I even understood a few of them every now and then. I think there's a message there but can't quite figure it out even when I doff my ol thinking cap. Can somebody help me out here ? Ken

FYI ---- Okay guys, we have decided the way to go is with a monoblock. Now, before some of you get excited, allow me to explain what will be done. The tibes will be lazer welded to the block and hand struck as will back of bbl's at breech. You won't see any gap anywhere ! The steel used for both bbl and block will be 4140 to insure the blue will match. Any responces ? Ken

Another pat on the back for taking on a great project. I am impressed at your desire to see this project through and you seem to have an almost alturistic motive.


As far as patents go, all of the "classic" american shotgun designs are public domain now. The maximum patent life would be 20 years from application for patent, even if it were still in production by the company.
Copyright now lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years for a person or 90 years from the initial copyright date for a company. You could run into copyright issues if you tried to use any of the old ad material from Lefever.
The rights to the name (trademark) would be a much less clear issue at this point as no one is actively marketing guns under this name. The basic rule is that not using the trademark causes the trademark to become open for use by another company.

Ken, I'm sure you knew all of that since you have talked to an attorney. You may want to check with him about whether the trademark would be open at this point. Its likely that you would not have to pay anyone for the use of the name unless someone is making guns or gun related items under the name (or possibly if someone still owns the Lefever company through a buyout).

Please don't substitute any of what I said actual legal advice.

Let me know if you need some help with the trademark issue.
I could track down the relevent law for you, so that you could have an idea of the answer before you talk to your attorney. I will graduate lawschool in December and am already a patent agent, so this kind of research interests me. Let me know if I can help.

A little known fact about the works of Shakespeare: The works of William Shakespeare were not, as originally thought, written by him. They were written by a previously unknown creator whose name, oddly enough, was also "William Shakespeare".

Ken, Baron23 is simply saying that the name isn't as important as the end result. A rose by any other name is still a rose. I would agree that a Lefever by any other name would still be a Lefever, but it wouldn't have the name recognition and cachet.

I was shooting my H the other day at the range, and a gentleman came up to me after a round of 5 stand (what a fun game! I did pretty well for my first time) and he asked "what's that double you're shooting there?). I said "It's a Lefever, 16b, H grade." He said, "Oooohhh."

Enough said

Marklart,
Remember the discussion about the Parker Repro's? Some will never acknowledge/accept guns that are produced by anyone other than the original maker. Others won't even acknowledge/accept 2nd/3rd gen Colts SAA's. With Ken not producing complete guns, the naysayer's will have have a hayday with "originality" and attempt to boost themselves up by pushing down this great project. Maybe it could be called a H.E. Lefever? or Hurst-Lefever?