A lawsuit has been filed by in Delaware District Court Martinson, LLC vs. North American Rescue Holdings LLC and North American Rescue, LLC. alleging patent infringement. Case number 1:2018cv01358* was filed in Delaware District Court on August 31, 2018, with a jury requested by Martinson LLC (the plaintiff).

The lawsuit alleges that North American Rescue’s AGENT Ballistic Vest is a “stitch for stitch” copy of the Martinson ELSA (Emergency Life Saving Armor). Martinson holds two patents for the ELSA, to wit,

“As a result of Martinson’s efforts to protect its intellectual property in the ELSA product, Martinson is the owner of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,737,100 (“the ’100 Patent” [issued August 22, 2017]) and 9,861,145 (“the ’145 Patent” [issued January 9, 2018]), each entitled “Concealable Body Armor and Combination Bag/Vest.”

SSD had initially written about the ELSA during SHOT Show 2014.

The lawsuit reads thusly:

“Upon information and belief, NAR markets and sells a combination bag/vest called the AGENT Ballistic Vest in the United States.

Upon information and belief, the AGENT Ballistic Vest is a stitch-for-stitch copy of both the ’100 Patent and the ’145 Patent.”

The Martinson ELSA can be found online, but the “AGENT RTF Kit, formerly known as ELSA RTF Kit” now returns a 404 response on the NAR website despite being their immediately after the suit was filed.

NAR site on August 31, 2018.

NAR site on 20 October, 2018.

Items matching that description can be seen on retailer sites, however (see Bound Tree and Off Grid Warehouse).

The line of NAR vests as they are currently named and presented can be found here.

The most recent annotation in PACER reads,

SO ORDERED, re 8 STIPULATION TO EXTEND TIME in which defendants North American Rescue, LLC and North American Rescue Holdings, LLC have to answer the Complaint to November 8, 2018 filed by Martinson Industries, LLC, Set/Reset Answer Deadlines: North American Rescue Holdings, LLC answer due 11/8/2018; North American Rescue, LLC answer due 11/8/2018. Signed by Judge Colm F. Connolly on 10/4/2018. (fms) (Entered: 10/04/2018)

SSD reached out to NAR for comment but they politely declined, citing pending litigation. However, considering the same product was found on several sites, it is possible that a third-party vendor is the root cause of the issue.

*1:18-cv-01358-CFC Martinson Industries, LLC v. North American Rescue, LLC et al Colm F. Connolly, presiding

Breach Bang Clear contributed to this report.

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