Troy Industries Law Suit

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June 21, 2007, Boston, Massachusetts.

Today, a Suffolk County Superior Court jury awarded Troy Industries, Inc., of West Springfield, Massachusetts, a $505,000 verdict against Samson Manufacturing Corporation and Scott Samson, individually. The jury found that Samson violated the Confidentiality Agreement it had with Troy and that Samson wrongfully used Troy’s trade secrets and confidential business information. The jury also found that Samson engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices in violation of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 93A. The jury’s finding that Samson engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices entitles Troy to an award of its attorney fees and costs.



The trade secrets at issue were for Troy’s ideas, inventions, designs and drawings of the Modular Rail Fore-end, for which Troy was recently issued US Patent No. 7,216,451. Also at issue were Troy’s designs and drawings for the Forward Handgrip and its Scope Mount. These products are Troy’s designs for accessorizing the M16 rifle and carbine used by our military in training and in combat abroad, including the Middle East.



Troy is a designer of military weapons and weapons accessories. Stephen P. Troy, President of Troy Industries said, “This vindicates me. The decision of the jury clearly shows these were my ideas, my designs and my inventions from the very beginning.” Damian R. LaPlaca, of Donovan Hatem LLP, Troy’s lead trial counsel, added, “This means that when you steal somebody’s trade secrets and ideas and try to pass them off as your own, you’ll have to pay.” Troy was also represented at trial by attorneys Sarah K. Willey, Troy’s General Counsel, and Christian G. Samito, and law clerk Emily Coes, each of Donovan Hatem, and was further assisted by patent counsel, Ann Lamport Hammitte, of Lowrie, Lando & Anastasi LLP.



The jury also found against Samson on its claim that Troy breached a purchase order for the machining of the Modular Rail Fore-end, and awarded Samson no damages.
 
Take THAT you #######s!

Does this mean that Samson can no longer manufacture their silly ripoff rails? It outrages me every time I see one on someone's rifle.
 
PaveHammer said:
Take THAT you a**holes!

Does this mean that Samson can no longer manufacture their silly ripoff rails? It outrages me every time I see one on someone's rifle.

I thought you were a "LaRue Man"???:D
 
Samsom can not longer manufacturer, and guess what -- Troy is NOT going to let anyone who was a Samson dealer or distributor become a Troy seller...
 
Deckard said:
Maybe local dealers had no idea. They just sell stuff.

This is true, in this case. I liked the Samson product, and Scott Samson is a genuinely good guy and talented machinist. Certainly noone had much to say either way until the court decided.

A jury has decided, so I guess the outcome is what it is. But there may be more to the initial problems between companies than simply SS is a thieving #######, I'm just guessing.
 
Kevin - I have a telephone conference with Steve next week and will find out exactly what he expects from me, if he gives me the direction not to sell to to anyone that distributed Samson, then I will follow the party line on this. Having been privy to many of the inner goings on with this law suite, this action has been a long time coming & well deserved.
 
Punishing dealers for selling a certain product is very lame... especially considering most dealers probably aren't even aware of any wrong-doing, not to mention that they were selling these products prior to the judgement coming in.

If they choose to leave the current Samson dealers in the dust instead of just using their already established market base to sell more product, I'll buy something other than Troy. Just my humble opinion.
 
I have no problem with the Samson products. Sure they may have been copied form Troy, but cost and availabilty are what is important to most of us up here in Canada. I have used many different rails in the past, not just on my range guns, but on work guns in tough situations. Samson held up just as well as the others; KAC, Larue, YHM, etc. In the end, I am going back to a Samson because it is lighter than most and of course the cost low to me. If I am supporting someone whole stole someone else's idea, so be it. Does it really matter in the end to the end-user? Remember, the majority of the AR systems out there are copies of the Armalite/Stoner design and I won't even get into the whole Chinese reverse-engineering that most of us love/support on this site.
Anyway, just because I buy a ripped off copy of something, doesn't make me a horrible person. I appologise if my Samson railed AR made you sick.:puke:
YMMV,
Hoddie.
 
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I got one coming on a 14.5" ... they look nice.. I already paid for it so whatever.

Punishing dealers is really lame ... guess it'll be a Larue or DD in the future !
 
This is a bummer... 'cause I doubt Troy will be able to catch up with the demand in the USA if Samson goes out of bizness. That's gonna have a huge impact on price and availability for us.

Ok, it's a shame Samson copied Troy, but I'm with hoddie on this issue. Troy, Samson, LaRue, Magpul, ... they're good products. I like them all and they're all on my AR... sorry folks.

2007_0406_144849AA.jpg
 
I have a MI rail which is the same design as the Troy/Samson which I am really liking on my 14.5 carbine. I expect to see alot more Midwest rails on ARs now with Samson going "down"
 
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Who says Samson is going under?

From what I read on ARF, not that its the truth on there either but ARMS owns the patent on the barrel clamp design that Troy, Samson and MI all use.
 
In the end lets remember if anyone of us started a business and had your life savings invested, your reaction would be very much the same, that being said and done the consumer makes the final choice with their dollars that they spend, I believe that TROY Industries makes a great product and is viable for many end users, but as we all already know everybody has preferences, I own or have owned rails systems by every manufacturer, some I like better then others and some not so much, as for the concerns that TROY cannot keep up with production - let me alleviate that fear by saying since moving into a much larger facility that will not be an issue, and like every other company that manufacturers products used by LE/MIL - you will all ways have shortages to contend with, I will listen to what the manufacturer wants me do & that is not different then when SUREFIRE tells their US dealers & distributors they cannot sell out of country - most of them don't like it but they do not want to lose a viable line. My goal is to continue supporting the Canadian market in both commercial and LE/MIL sales, and being a sole source distributor means setting retail pricing/dealer/LE-MIL, this is not as easy as it sounds sometimes. Members of this board are free to make choices that suites them and as may of you already know I have no issues selling other rails if that is what the consumer wants or needs.
 
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