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New Magpul Suit Over Counterfeiting

Magpul MBUS Pro sights
Real Magpul MBUS Pro sights
Magpul MBUS Pro sights
Real Magpul MBUS Pro sights

Magpul filed suit last week alleging the trafficking of counterfeit products.  According to the allegations in the complaint filed on August 8 in the US District Court, Northern District of Florida, a subject named Matthew Gottlieb, a business named Rudy’s RA1 Accessories and an unknown number of John Does sold counterfeit Magpul MBUS Pro sights.

It should be noted that the real MBUS Pro sights were announced earlier in 2013, but have not yet been released for sale.

Magpul alleges Gottlieb sold the counterfeit sights for sale on multiple websites including:

  • eBay,
  • Gunbroker,
  • tallahasseegunforum.com,
  • floridaconcealandcarry.com,
  • glocktalk.com, and
  • hipointfirearmforums.com

Magpul also alleges that Gottlieb used or is associated with the following names, screen names, user accounts and e-mail addresses:

magpul lawsuit
Image courtesy of Google.com.

According to the complaint, the address used by the defendant(s) is 3530 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, FL.  The location is an extended stay hotel and not likely the actual address of the defendant(s).

Magpul Lawsuit – Complaint Filed 8/8/13 by Richard Johnson

Trafficking of counterfeit products is a serious problem for both consumers and manufacturers.  Unwary consumers that buy a knock-off product can wind up with a product that doesn’t work well, if at all, and no way to get their money back.  Take a look at my article on identifying counterfeit shooting products at TheFirearmBlog.com.

magpul counterfeit complaint
The RA1 Sales website

Manufacturers lose out on potential sales, which hampers them from recouping the development cost of the existing product, investing in the development of new products, and in extreme cases just keeping the lights on.  Money lost to counterfeiting is money the company can use to hire more people and provide them with better wages and benefits.

Update: Magpul Files Another Lawsuit over Counterfeit MBUS Pro Sights

Magpul Industries filed another complaint in a recent line of lawsuits against people and companies that they allege have infringed on their patents and/or trademarks, or who have sold counterfeit Magpul products.

The most recent lawsuit, filed on August 14, alleges that Michael Mayo of Lodi, Ohio and Mayo, Inc of Elyria, Ohio advertised and sold counterfeit MBUS Pro sights on eBay.  These new sights were announced by Magpul in April, but have not yet been made available for sale.

Magpul v. Mayo Complaint: Lawsuit regarding alleged trademark violations.

This case is similar to the lawsuit filed by Magpul on August 8 in the US District Court, Northern District of Florida, against a subject named Matthew Gottlieb and a business named Rudy’s RA1.

In the most recent complaint, Magpul stated Mayo used eBay user name “naples05.”  A check on eBay for that user shows no current auctions or sales.  However, a check of that user’s history does show several listings including one for “Troy Industries Clone Front & Rear Folding Battle Sight” and another for “Crimson Trace Clone CMR-201Rail Master.”  Both listings use photos depicting the respective companies’ names.

Troy clone ebay
This is an eBay listing advertising a Troy Industries “clone” sight set.
troy photo ebay
This is one of the photos from the same eBay listing that clearly shows the Troy Industries name on the “clone” sights.

Troy Industries had not responded at the time of this article to confirm if these were genuine or counterfeit sights.

By Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson is an American author, editor and entrepreneur. He's done a lot of silly things in his life, but quitting police work to follow his passion of writing about guns was one of the smartest things he ever did. He founded this site and continues to manage its operation.

4 replies on “New Magpul Suit Over Counterfeiting”

This is good to hear. I hate thieves with a passion, and I’m dismayed that this is not the only “American” being sued by Magpul. This rogue should get plenty of Federal time, but there are several “American” companies that may have done the same thing with Magpul’s famous P-mag. Hopefully, enough Americans will stop buying the stolen designs.

However, until the U.S. government decides to crack down on the huge influx of Chinese knock-offs, many of these products will continue to flood the market. Ebay, Amazon, Criag’s List, Ebair, and others have plenty of the Chinese stuff. The Chinese have perfected reverse engineering of products. They obtain something American, tear it apart to reverse engineer it, and then make clones that are sold on American markets for as low as 25% the cost.

I know too many people that have taken advantage of those “deals”, and I admit it is hard not too. When you can buy an Aimpoint or EOTech Chinese knock-off for about $100, it’s hard to throw down another $3-400 for American stuff. But I hate thieves too much to enjoy the cheaper costs and the hurt American economy that results from that. Our products are expensive because our labor costs are expensive. We cannot compete with slave shops in China (or anywhere) until the U.S. government cuts them off. I’d say the people could do so too but we love the cheap stuff too much to stop buying it.

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