GI SPORTZ sued APX in July (documents attached) - APX responds inside.





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APX responds:



Quote: Phobos Apollo Originally Posted by



GI’s lawsuit against APX is not about protecting a patent. GI doesn’t have a patent. Kee Action Sports had a patent for blending two colors into a single gelatine ribbon - but that patent expired in 2014. The previously patented technology is now in the public domain - and everyone is free to use it. APX chose to make some paintballs using a two colored blended gelatine ribbon for simple reasons. With our Fyre grade, we think it looks cool and gives our customers a choice that is a little different. For our Dark Ops, which is made for woodsball, not only does it look cool, but its “cammo” and we think it blends in with the woods to make it harder to see coming. It seems our customers agree - our swirl paintball ball is very popular.



What is GI claiming? That’s not entirely clear. It seems GI is claiming that GI is the only one in the world that can make a paintball using a gel ribbon with two blended colors. As we understand it, according to GI, any paintball that has a two color blended ribbon somehow “infringes” on GI’s “Marballizer.” APX disagrees.



Specifically, GI claims that APX has “infringed” GI’s registered trademark for Marballizer paintballs by making paintballs that look like GI’s registered trademark. GI’s registered trademark looks like this:







Here is an example of APX’s Dark Ops “swirl” paintball that GI claims “infringes” on GI’s registered trademark:







You might think the same thing we do. Infringe on your trademark? Really? Our paintballs don’t look anything like your trademark.



What else is GI claiming? GI is claiming that APX is “passing off” APX “swirl” products as GI’s Marballizer. Specifically, GI claims that APX is seeking “to trade upon and/or diminish the widespread goodwill, reputation and selling power established by [GI], and to pass [APX’s] products off as those of GI.”



Nothing could be further from the truth. We aren’t about to agree that “Marballizer” has a reputation that anyone would want, but we sure are not “trading upon” GI’s goodwill or reputation. APX markets and sells its “swirl” paintballs as “Fyre” and “Dark Ops.” All of APX’s advertising shows APX as the manufacturer, and APX’s boxes proudly display “Made in the USA.” GI sells its Marballizer in a box that says “Marballizer.” It’s well known that GI does no manufacturing in the U.S. The box labels on the Marballizer we recently purchased say that it was made in Asia. GI claims that people buy our swirl ball because they think it’s a Marballizer. We don’t know anybody that has purchased an APX “swirl” paintball thinking it was a Marballizer or that it was made by GI. Every single one of our customers knows that we made it.



GI is the largest paintball company in the world (by far). GI has 20-30 machines making paintballs in Canada, and who knows how many more in Asia. GI’s sales in 2015 were $140 million (they said so). APX has 3 machines in California (where it employs 27 hard working Americans). APX is far too small to have much, if any, impact on GI’s paintball sales.



So what is GI afraid of? Competition. APX doesn’t make markers, masks, etc. The only product APX makes is paintballs, so we have to make the best paintballs on the market (or at least try to). APX has only been making paintballs for four years, and strives to improve with every batch. And APX is succeeding. Fields, stores, and players are recognizing that APX makes quality paintballs. And frankly, its neither cheap nor easy to make a quality paintball. APX has a foothold on one of the largest segments of the U.S. market. APX paintballs are sold at most major fields in California. APX is a paintball supplier to almost all of the regional leagues/events on the West Coast - and we go toe to toe with GI at those events, and we do more than hold our own. APX has become a sought after brand in these venues. And we are expanding - fields throughout the U.S. are starting to carry APX because we provide a quality ball that the player wants.



And that’s why GI sued us. GI wants us gone and to be the only paintball supplier in North America. In this case, GI wants to spend us to death on attorney fees (why do you think they sued us in Texas?) and to put us out of business. We could stop making swirl paintballs and maybe GI would drop the lawsuit (but maybe not). But we are going to put up a fight because we believe we are in the right and that our customers deserve the right to have a choice. Thanks for reading. Hope this cleared up a few things. We at APX want to set the record straight about GI’s lawsuit against us.GI’s lawsuit against APX is not about protecting a patent. GI doesn’t have a patent. Kee Action Sports had a patent for blending two colors into a single gelatine ribbon - but that patent expired in 2014. The previously patented technology is now in the public domain - and everyone is free to use it. APX chose to make some paintballs using a two colored blended gelatine ribbon for simple reasons. With our Fyre grade, we think it looks cool and gives our customers a choice that is a little different. For our Dark Ops, which is made for woodsball, not only does it look cool, but its “cammo” and we think it blends in with the woods to make it harder to see coming. It seems our customers agree - our swirl paintball ball is very popular.What is GI claiming? That’s not entirely clear. It seems GI is claiming that GI is the only one in the world that can make a paintball using a gel ribbon with two blended colors. As we understand it, according to GI, any paintball that has a two color blended ribbon somehow “infringes” on GI’s “Marballizer.” APX disagrees.Specifically, GI claims that APX has “infringed” GI’s registered trademark for Marballizer paintballs by making paintballs that look like GI’s registered trademark. GI’s registered trademark looks like this:Here is an example of APX’s Dark Ops “swirl” paintball that GI claims “infringes” on GI’s registered trademark:You might think the same thing we do. Infringe on your trademark? Really? Our paintballs don’t look anything like your trademark.What else is GI claiming? GI is claiming that APX is “passing off” APX “swirl” products as GI’s Marballizer. Specifically, GI claims that APX is seeking “to trade upon and/or diminish the widespread goodwill, reputation and selling power established by [GI], and to pass [APX’s] products off as those of GI.”Nothing could be further from the truth. We aren’t about to agree that “Marballizer” has a reputation that anyone would want, but we sure are not “trading upon” GI’s goodwill or reputation. APX markets and sells its “swirl” paintballs as “Fyre” and “Dark Ops.” All of APX’s advertising shows APX as the manufacturer, and APX’s boxes proudly display “Made in the USA.” GI sells its Marballizer in a box that says “Marballizer.” It’s well known that GI does no manufacturing in the U.S. The box labels on the Marballizer we recently purchased say that it was made in Asia. GI claims that people buy our swirl ball because they think it’s a Marballizer. We don’t know anybody that has purchased an APX “swirl” paintball thinking it was a Marballizer or that it was made by GI. Every single one of our customers knows that we made it.GI is the largest paintball company in the world (by far). GI has 20-30 machines making paintballs in Canada, and who knows how many more in Asia. GI’s sales in 2015 were $140 million (they said so). APX has 3 machines in California (where it employs 27 hard working Americans). APX is far too small to have much, if any, impact on GI’s paintball sales.So what is GI afraid of? Competition. APX doesn’t make markers, masks, etc. The only product APX makes is paintballs, so we have to make the best paintballs on the market (or at least try to). APX has only been making paintballs for four years, and strives to improve with every batch. And APX is succeeding. Fields, stores, and players are recognizing that APX makes quality paintballs. And frankly, its neither cheap nor easy to make a quality paintball. APX has a foothold on one of the largest segments of the U.S. market. APX paintballs are sold at most major fields in California. APX is a paintball supplier to almost all of the regional leagues/events on the West Coast - and we go toe to toe with GI at those events, and we do more than hold our own. APX has become a sought after brand in these venues. And we are expanding - fields throughout the U.S. are starting to carry APX because we provide a quality ball that the player wants.And that’s why GI sued us. GI wants us gone and to be the only paintball supplier in North America. In this case, GI wants to spend us to death on attorney fees (why do you think they sued us in Texas?) and to put us out of business. We could stop making swirl paintballs and maybe GI would drop the lawsuit (but maybe not). But we are going to put up a fight because we believe we are in the right and that our customers deserve the right to have a choice. Thanks for reading. Hope this cleared up a few things. And how convenient they disabled customer rating JUST prior to this suit.APX responds: __________________

The paintball player formerly known as Duck n Cover



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