5.7x28mm, Only Models by F. N. Herstal?

[David]

true, but it's under LICENSE from FN Herstal

Not that it matters to the topic at hand, and I hate to split hairs, but there is no license, of any kind, between the makers of the AR57 and FNH. There are no shared parts, or even similarities of design, that would result in a patent issue, so a license wouldn't even make sense. Where did you hear that? I'm genuinely curious, and am not trying to be a jerk.

Thanks!

[JJ]

true, but it's under LICENSE from FN Herstal

Not that it matters to the topic at hand, and I hate to split hairs, but there is no license, of any kind, between the makers of the AR57 and FNH. There are no shared parts, or even similarities of design, that would result in a patent issue, so a license wouldn't even make sense. Where did you hear that? I'm genuinely curious, and am not trying to be a jerk.

Thanks!

I believe the license only applies to the ammo itself. Notice no-one loads are made by the major makers that are not labeled FN

[David]

That certainly makes sense; if FN holds a patent on the cartridge, any ammunition manufacturers wanting to make it would have to get a license from FN (or be FN's vendor to manufacture on their behalf), which is why Fiocchi 5.7x28 has always been branded as FN. Perhaps that is where the confusion comes from. I believe the patent on the ammo is expired now, though, which would explain why EA Ammunition is making it under their own brand.

A patent on the ammo wouldn't apply to firearms manufacturers wanting to chamber their guns for that cartridge though. It's like saying that Glock has to pay SIG-Sauer for a license to make the Glock 31 in .357SIG, even though the Glock is a completely different pistol than the SIG. If that were the way it worked, every gun maker would make all its guns in a proprietary cartridge, and there wouldn't be any semblance of standardization.

It's the same with the magazine. FN had a patent for it, but that doesn't mean that a manufacturer needed a license to design a firearm that uses it. They just couldn't produce their own magazines. In any event, the patent on the magazine has been expired for several years, which is why there are all these half-price copies now.

The only patent covering the P90 itself (as opposed to ammo or magazine) was for the blowback system, but that wouldn't have anything to do with the AR57 because the two systems really couldn't be more different, and there wouldn't be any infringement of the patent.

[gyrfalcon]

A patent on the ammo wouldn't apply to firearms manufacturers wanting to chamber their guns for that cartridge though. It's like saying that Glock has to pay SIG-Sauer for a license to make the Glock 31 in .357SIG, even though the Glock is a completely different pistol than the SIG...

Speaking of .357sig, does it annoy anyone else that Glock labels its gun .357 and not .357sig?