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ARMS vs Troy lawsuit. ARMS wins.

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copterdoctor

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ATLANTIC RESEARCH MARKETING SYSTEMS, INC.

Press Release

Date: Friday, July 17, 2009
Title: A.R.M.S. Inc. wins Trade Secret and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuit against Stephen P. Troy, Jr. and Troy Industries, Inc..
Sub-title: Jury in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts awards A.R.M.S., Inc. $1.8M in weapons accessory trial.


(West Bridgewater, MA) - A federal court jury awarded A.R.M.S. Inc., a designer of accessories and attachments for small arms weapons for 30 years, in excess of $1.8 million in damages in a lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty against Stephen P. Troy, Jr. and his company, Troy Industries, Inc., of Lee, MA. In the lawsuit, originally filed on August 23, 2007, A.R.M.S. alleged that its former employee of seven months, Stephen Troy, who had held a position of trust and confidence with the company, had stolen A.R.M.S.'s trade secrets for a proprietary handguard system for use on M-4/M-16/AR-15 rifles and incorporated those trade secrets in a competing modular, free-float railed handguard system that attached to the barrel nut and that was being offered and sold by Troy Industries, commencing after he was fired from A.R.M.S.. On June 26, 2009, after a two-week trial in the Massachusetts Federal District Court, a nine member federal jury returned a verdict against Stephen P. Troy and Troy Industries, finding them liable for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty. Richard Swan, the president of A.R.M.S.® Inc., said, "We are pleased that the jury upheld our trade secret rights and determined that our former employee and his company should not profit from the theft of our trade secrets." Amongst others, witnesses for A.R.M.S. included two representatives of the U.S. military. Other issues in the case remain pending before the Court.

A.R.M.S.'s trial counsel was Craig M. Scott and Christine K. Bush of Scott & Bush Ltd., a Providence, RI-based firm that specializes in complex business and intellectual property litigation.

Atlantic Research Marketing Systems (A.R.M.S.®) Inc.

Atlantic Research Marketing Systems (A.R.M.S.®) Inc., with more than 40 National Stock Numbers [NSN's] in service to the U.S., and foreign militaries worldwide, specializes in advancing the capabilities of small arms, crew served, and anti-armor weapons in function, reliability and accuracy. A.R.M.S.® also designs and manufactures a variety of weapon handguards and advanced sight system mounts for day and night vision equipment including thermal and laser. Expertise in all types of small arms weaponry, munitions, and accessories provides A.R.M.S.'s clients a source of fast and reliable problem solving services in engineering, research and development, and product reliability. The company, based in West Bridgewater, MA, develops and markets a large number of patented products through its worldwide network of dealers and distributors, including scope and laser mounts, handguards, folding sights, adaptors and other accessories. For more information, please visit www.armsmounts.com.

More information

The law firm of Scott & Bush Ltd. provides strategic counseling, litigation and trial services nationwide for clients with complex business and intellectual property needs. The firm's founders serve as lead trial counsel in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret cases involving various technologies and consumer products, as well as construction and other business disputes. For a full listing of the firm's attorneys, including professional activities, publications and honors, and other information, please visit its website at www.scottbushlaw.com.
 
Most of what A.R.M.S. makes is utter crap.

LaRue's got them beat every whcih way to Sunday.

BTW, don't mention how much Unclue Sugar buys from ARMS. Govt contracting goes to the lowest bidder.
 
I have a free-float rail on order from Troy... its on backorder at the moment, I'm hoping this isn't going to cause me grief....
 
Greg said:
Is Troy still suing Samson ?
Click to expand...

I'd like to get a peek at some of the court records from both cases, but it would certainly put that into some kind of jeopardy as if the designs were 'misrepresented' then that Samson case would be ARMS v Samson, which considering that ARMS tends to litigate quickly may be a reality. Been a few years since I did patent/tm stuff though so I may be way off base here.
 
Wow that's interesting...It is a bit like BMW/Chevy. Will be interesting to see if there's an appeal. A.R.M.S builds cheesy crapola in my opinion. The two products I bought of theirs failed miserably. The A.R.M.S 18 scope mount caused frequent jams on my SOCOM-16, so I went ahead and decided to buy a throwlever for my Tripower. The second time my Tripower took a ride to the dirt, I was done - hello LaRue 150...Anyone who has seen ARMS, Troy, LaRue, DD, KAC and even MI and YHM products side by side can see that ARMS is grasping at straws when it comes to build consistency and quality. Maybe if the judgement stands, ARMS can invest the $1.8mil into developing products that don't suck....
 
It's also going to interesting to see if the plaintiff has pierced the corporate veil, or if this is purely a judgement against Troy, the company and not Troy, the person. If it's only against the company, they may spend down their assets on an appeal rather than shut the firm down to pay. The intellectual property specialists I am familiar with charge north of $500 an hour to handle trade secret, patent and IP cases so an appeal can get pricey rather quickly.
 
derek said:
Well when the company has a history of suing everybody people tend to get cranky. In this case they won, but apparently they have a lot of money to spend on law suits.
Click to expand...

I don't know the litigation history of ARMS, but if the case was decided in their favor is it possible that Troy is guilty of stealing their stuff?

I just wonder if ARMS has any relationship to the "Atlantic Research" that used to manufacture munitions in Hanover years ago. My mother worked there until it blew up [angry], toward the end of the war in Vietnam. She was a QC inspector. She said the QC really sucked then, as they tried to push product out the door as the war was winding down.

She used to bring home really cool flare parachutes for me to play with. [grin]
 
theGringo, did that company make bombs?

If so, I remember it from 1966-1967 as I had to go there when I worked as a Co-Op at Brockton Edison back then.
 
LenS said:
theGringo, did that company make bombs?

If so, I remember it from 1966-1967 as I had to go there when I worked as a Co-Op at Brockton Edison back then.
Click to expand...

I think they did. I remember my mother talking about land mines and stuff, and how they were pushing through shoddy work because the war was winding down. She said there'd be an accident there one day.

And then, one morning, there was a big explosion and a guy was killed. My mother siad that his scalp was found on the roof, or something. I was just a kid, then, so some details are filtered through the eyes of a child.

After that, I think she went to work in a shoe factory in Brockton.
 
In RED.

Urj said:
Anyone know what products Troy allegedly infringed upon?
Click to expand...

copterdoctor said:
ATLANTIC RESEARCH MARKETING SYSTEMS, INC.

Press Release

Date: Friday, July 17, 2009
Title: A.R.M.S. Inc. wins Trade Secret and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuit against Stephen P. Troy, Jr. and Troy Industries, Inc..
Sub-title: Jury in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts awards A.R.M.S., Inc. $1.8M in weapons accessory trial.


(West Bridgewater, MA) - A federal court jury awarded A.R.M.S. Inc., a designer of accessories and attachments for small arms weapons for 30 years, in excess of $1.8 million in damages in a lawsuit alleging theft of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty against Stephen P. Troy, Jr. and his company, Troy Industries, Inc., of Lee, MA. In the lawsuit, originally filed on August 23, 2007, A.R.M.S. alleged that its former employee of seven months, Stephen Troy, who had held a position of trust and confidence with the company, had stolen A.R.M.S.'s trade secrets for a proprietary handguard system for use on M-4/M-16/AR-15 rifles and incorporated those trade secrets in a competing modular, free-float railed handguard system that attached to the barrel nut and that was being offered and sold by Troy Industries, commencing after he was fired from A.R.M.S.. On June 26, 2009, after a two-week trial in the Massachusetts Federal District Court, a nine member federal jury returned a verdict against Stephen P. Troy and Troy Industries, finding them liable for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty. Richard Swan, the president of A.R.M.S.® Inc., said, "We are pleased that the jury upheld our trade secret rights and determined that our former employee and his company should not profit from the theft of our trade secrets." Amongst others, witnesses for A.R.M.S. included two representatives of the U.S. military. Other issues in the case remain pending before the Court.
Click to expand...
 
The thing with ARMS is that they've been in the game longer than most. If they didn't want to lose their market share to the dozens of companies making similar products, they should have made them better and not charged insane prices for them. They had their chance.
 
Sounds like Troy is the D-bag in this situation. I've had to sign non-compete contracts several times in the past, and I would fully expect to get sued if I violated it.
 
derek said:
No ARMS sues everyone. All AR parts are close to the same. ALL OF THEM.
Click to expand...

In this instance, Stephen Troy was an employee of ARMS, left ARMS and started Troy, and then released a competing product. I'm assuming he had either signed a non-compete, or it was patent infringement.

Hardly sounds like a case of random suing.
 
z0mbi said:
In this instance, Stephen Troy was an employee of ARMS, left ARMS and started Troy, and then released a competing product. I'm assuming he had either signed a non-compete, or it was patent infringement.

Hardly sounds like a case of random suing.
Click to expand...

They might have a better claim, but that doesn't mean he violated any agreements. Of course, he could have, but that's for a jury to decide.
 
Then Troy didn't pay close enough attention to his paperwork or relied on bad advice on getting around his non-compete. They have to be pretty limited to be effective, so he either ignore the restrictions, got a bad lawyer or really did just take ARMS' info. One would hope he didn't (edit to add:) do the latter.
 
Last edited:
Then Troy didn't pay close enough attention to his paperwork or relied on bad advice on getting around his non-compete.
Click to expand...
"Violation of non-compete" and "misappropriation of trade secrets" are separate issues.
 

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