Radian Weapons Settles U.S. Lawsuit Against Stag Arms LLC

[Updated at end of Article]

It started with a Black Friday sale. Stag Arms of New Britain, Connecticut offered up a charging handle suspiciously similar to the AXTS/Radian RAPTOR (MSRP from $64.95 to $199.95) for a mere $14.99. That probably should have started the alarm bells in your head, because while Black Friday is known for great deals, rarely would you be able to buy an item at such a pittance.

In late December of 2018, AXTS sued Stag Arms for patent infringement (you can read the full suit here).

But recently, the case has been settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

Redmond, OR– AXTS, INC (dba Radian Weapons) has entered into an agreement to settle an existing lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Stag Arms LLC relating to product configuration trade dress, as well at infringement of Radian’s U.S. patents – D694,354, D705,304, and D738,452.

Stag Arms admits its infringement of Radian’s trade dress and patents in the sale of a charging handle designated the “Stag Ambi Charging Handle.” As part of the settlement, Stag Arms has paid Radian an amount the parties agreed to keep confidential. Stag Arms has agreed not to sell either the Stag Ambi Charging Handle or any other product that infringes Radian’s trade dress or patents, and has provided Radian with the names of its suppliers of the infringing charging handles.

Radian Weapons CEO Josh Underwood – “We are happy to have settled this matter with Stag Arms LLC. There is a flood of Chinese knockoffs of the Raptor charging handle being illegally imported into the U.S. market. The manufacturer(s) of these items and the U.S. re-sellers who are looking to capitalize off our innovation and manufacturing expertise are placed on notice that we will continue to enforce our patents and vigorously protect our intellectual property.”

As of the time of this writing, no longer can you purchase a “Stag Ambi Charging Handle” from their site.

[UPDATE]
Yesterday Stag Arms released a statement that federal judge dismissed the intellectual property lawsuit.

Here's the wording:

New Britain, CT 1 March 2019 Today, Stag Arms, LLC commenced litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut asserting claims that the charging handles Tactical Superiority, Inc. supplied to Stag knowingly were mispresented as American-made. Stag also asserts that Tactical promised its charging handles did not infringe on intellectual property of Radian Weapons' charging handles or any others but Radian sued Stag for selling the charging handles alleging they did infringe.

On February 25th, Judge Janet C. Hall of the Connecticut District Court entered an order dismissing that infringement lawsuit filed by AXTS, INC (d/b/a Radian Weapons) against Stag with prejudice, thereby precluding further litigation, and without award of fees or costs to any party. Radian's misdirected lawsuit was merely the result of Tactical's wrongdoing and Stag resolved it solely to avoid the expense and distraction. Stag did not admit the validity or enforceability of Radian's intellectual property.

Subsequently, Radian has represented to the public that Stag paid Radian to resolve its lawsuit for a “confidential” amount. In the interest of complete transparency, Stag invites Radian to disclose the actual settlement amount to avoid any confusion concerning the merits of its lawsuit against Stag.

Stag has always been, and will always be, unwavering in its commitment to deliver 100% American-made firearms and related merchandise to its customers.

You can visit Stag Arms here and Radian here.