On April 29 through May 1, 2011, the National Rifle Association (NRA) held its 140th Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The official attendance of 71,139 is the second largest NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits on record for the longest running shooting and hunting show in the world. With a record braking 559 exhibitors, the exhibit hall was packed with NRA members the entire weekend, many of whom traveled from all over the country to attend the event. Additionally, most seminars and workshops were standing room only.

In addition to the industry display booths, and in conjunction with the show in their own exhibit area, are displays of rare, historic and interesting collector firearms sponsored by NRA affiliated clubs. This year, there were 26 gun collector affiliates that participated with displays in this 51st year of awards competition. These gun collector groups take great pride in their displays in not only presenting weapons of rarity and historical note, but in the professional looking displays as well. While the NRA primarily focuses on shooting and hunting, they are well aware of the value of collecting and displaying significant weapons to the public to educate them on the history and the roll collecting plays within the gun culture. The competition between the affiliated clubs and their displays is intense.

In recognition of this, the NRA awards medals and certificates in a number of different categories. These include:

• Best Arms Awards – Each year a maximum of ten sterling silver numbered medallions are awarded to those collector arms judged best on display (and not necessarily will ten be awarded). Firearms are judged on their individual quality, condition, originality, collector importance and historical value.
• Certificates of Recognition – In 1981, the NRA Gun Collectors Committee authorized an award for unique displays of items related to firearms. Up to ten certificates are normally awarded in any one calendar year. An item which has received a Certificate of Recognition is not eligible for this award in subsequent years.
• Best Educational Display Awards – In 1962, the Gun Collectors Committee authorized the Best Educational Group Awards to recognize outstanding displays that creatively and effectively present a well-organized theme. The committee has divided the Best Educational Display Awards into four categories: Antique Arms (pre-1898), Classic Arms (1898, 50 years prior to the show), Contemporary Arms (50 years prior to the show to current) and Combined Arms (collections that represent a mixture of more than one category.) Emphasis is placed on recognition of those exhibits that best inform the NRA members and general public of the historical, technical and cultural aspects of firearms and related items.
• The National Firearms Museum’s Spirit of Collecting Award.
• The Best Miniature Arms Awards – Each year, since 1987, sterling silver numbered medallions have been awarded to those miniature arms judged best on display. In 1998, the Collectors Committee decided to heighten competition for this award by presenting only three medals each year.
• The NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy – This sterling silver bowl is a perpetual trophy awarded for the display judged best of each year’s Annual Meeting and Exhibits. The winning organization’s name is engraved on the trophy and the organization receives a miniature of the trophy to retain. This is the top honor and the award all strive for.

World renowned Thompson submachine gun collector and author Tracie Hill is the force behind bringing the validity and legitimacy of collecting and displaying historic machine guns to the forefront of the NRA community. For so many years, machine guns were taboo at the NRA show and considered “evil” within the NRA hierarchy and by many even within the general NRA membership. His efforts have truly enlightened all that collecting historic classic machine guns is just as legitimate as collecting any other historical firearm and he has done it in a most profound and professional way.

He broke the ice within the NRA and the NRA Collectors Committee with exhibits of the iconic Thompson submachine gun winning awards from the judges, and the public, and winning the coveted NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy and a number of Best Arms awards beginning in 1998. Under the sponsorships of several NRA affiliated organizations over the years that include the Thompson Collectors Association, the Dallas Arms Collectors and The American Thompson Association, he has been responsible for winning the coveted NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy six times.

With the success of having displayed, and winning multiple awards, for Thompson exhibits, it was decided to become ambassadors of the Class III world and bring to display some of the other wonderful and historic collections that exist. The first foray into other machine gun exhibits was in 2006 when the Thompson Collectors Association and the Dallas Arms Collectors sponsored a Maxim machine gun exhibit at the NRA show in Milwaukee that won the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and a sterling silver Best Arm medallion for a Colt Model of 1904 Maxim. (See Small Arms Review, Vol. 9, No. 12, September 2006.)

In 2011 in Pittsburgh, under the sponsorship of The American Thompson Association, they presented an exhibit entitled The Machine Gun Designs of John Browning. The 30×10 feet exhibit featured a Colt Automatic Gun Model 1914 on a Marine Light Landing Carriage, a New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 water-cooled machine gun on a Model of 1917 tripod mounted on an M1 machine gun cart, a Winchester Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) Model of 1918, a Colt Browning M2 .50 caliber water-cooled mounted on an M3 anti-aircraft mount, a Buffalo Arms .30 caliber ANM2, an Inland Arms M1919A6, a GM/Frigidaire .50 caliber M2 HB on a M3 tripod and a twice-size cut-a-way of a .30 caliber Browning. Accompanying the display of the firearms were lighted display cases that contained tools, manuals, accoutrements, medals, awards and ephemera relating to the guns with explanatory signage for everything present. Additionally, a professionally printed 8-page handout describing all the weapons on display was freely distributed to all show attendees that expressed an interest. The response by those attending the show was overwhelmingly positive with many thanking us for bringing such a collection and making it available for close-up viewing.

These displays are not slapped together at the last minute. A full year of planning is required to establish what and how the display will be presented: what guns, accessories, accoutrements, historical information, signage, handouts, glass cases, lighting, overall theme, etc., all has to be thought through and decided upon well before the start of the show. This collection of Browning machine guns came from the Robert Segel collection with additional pieces from David Albert and Phil Askew. Helping set up the display and staffing it during the show answering questions and highlighting the historical aspects were David Albert, Richard Vensel, Jackie Vensel, Tom Davis, Phil Askew, Bill Yenglin, Robert Segel, Jennifer Segel, Tom Rasch, Tracie Hill and Thomas Hill. The human element and the truly enthusiastic volunteers set a high standard for that very much helped guarantee a successful presentation to the public.

The exhibit of The Machine Gun Designs of John Browning won the top honor of the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and a sterling silver medallion for one of the Best Arms at the show for the New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 water-cooled machine gun, serial number 6, on a Model of 1917 tripod. The medallion is numbered and registered to the gun and stays forever with the gun should it ever be sold.

It should be noted that as sponsor of the exhibit, this is the third time The American Thompson Association has won the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy. But even more importantly, with the displays of Thompsons, Maxims and Browning machine guns over the last 13 years, machine gun collecting has been recognized and accepted within the main stream gun collecting fraternity as the historic, relevant and legitimate endeavor that it is with the stigma of being “evil” finally disappearing.

Miniature 1/3 Scale MG 34

Another machine gun also won an award at the 140th NRA Meetings and Exhibits in Pittsburgh. The Miniature Arms Society, a recognized NRA collector affiliated organization, had a display showing many fine examples of the art and craft of miniature arms makers. These are not toys but a testament to the skill of making actual working miniatures that fully represent their full-size brethren except in a diminutive size. The judges award just three sterling silver medallions each year to those miniatures that represent the height of the art. Robert Segel, a Miniature Arms Society member, submitted a fully functional 1/3 scale German MG 34 light machine gun on fully functional Lafette, one of only six made by MiniArt in Moscow, Russia in 2006, and won one of the Best Miniature Arms sterling silver medallions. The medallions are numbered and registered to that gun and if the gun is ever sold, the medallion must go with it.

Miniature Arms Society (MAS) president Wayne Driskill (left) and MAS member Robert Segel display the 1/3 scale MG 34 that was submitted for judging.

The fully functional MG 34 in 1/3 scale, one of only six made by MiniArt in Moscow, Russia in 2006 on fully functional Lafette is displayed with the numbered and registered NRA sterling silver medallion for Best Miniature Firearm. It is one of three awarded to miniature arms.

Tracie Hill, Robert Segel, Jennifer Segel and The American Thompson Association president Tom Davis accept the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and silver bowl during the NRA Gun Collectors Committee awards presentation ceremonies. (Lloyd Hill)

Back at the display after the awards presentations, (left to right) Tracie Hill, Phil Askew, Tom Davis, Jennifer Segel, Robert Segel and David Albert proudly display the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy, silver bowl, and silver Best Arm medallion.

Robert Segel accepts a numbered and registered sterling silver medallion for one of the ten BEST ARMS on display during the awards ceremony for the New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 Browning water-cooled machine gun.

The Show

The 19th annual All Thompson Show and Shoot, in association with The American Thompson Association (TATA), held their event on August 13-14, 2010. 110 members and friends of TATA registered for the event traveling from such diverse places as Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah and Kentucky to attend the event in Granville, Ohio to display, talk and shoot Thompsons.

On Friday the 13th, the show began at the Thompson Collectors Conference Center, hosted by world renowned collector and author Tracie Hill and his family, with 55 tables of Thompsons and related equipment on display. With the doors opening at 10 a.m., Friday is devoted to a show and tell display of the registrant’s guns and accessories reverently exhibited on display tables throughout the conference center. All makes and models of Thompsons were present as were a wide assortment of accessories, spare parts, stick and drum magazines, web gear, manuals and historical documents – many of which were for sale. The array of Thompsons and the devotion to the subject is phenomenal.

At 1 p.m., approximately 60 attendees filed into the library to attend a PowerPoint presentation by David Albert on reproduction Thompson items. Becoming a real concern with collectors, the unmarked reproduction of Thompson gear and accessories was discussed beginning with the various motives involved: sometimes for profit, sometimes to reproduce an exceptionally rare item for representation in a collection or for use with re-enactors and sometimes to specifically fool the purchaser. Reproduction of items is not a bad thing as long as it is marked in such a way that purchasers know that it is a reproduction. Of great concern is unmarked items that are sold as original to collectors and if used in the field by re-enactors or shooters, over a period of time, the new item gets wear and tear and a patina that makes it look like an original item. The PowerPoint presentation showed many examples of original gear with proper markings and reproduction gear with counterfeit markings. This applies to all manner of web gear, accessories and manuals.

To their credit, the Board of Directors of The American Thompson Association has adopted a new bylaw for their association regarding Reproduction Marking Standards. The American Thompson Association is a group of collectors dedicated to preserving the history, collecting, and promoting the safe operation of legal Thompson submachine guns. The club has a responsibility to future collectors and recognizes that many artifacts and accessories associated with the Thompson are being reproduced, or have been reproduced in the past. As a result, TATA assumes a stewardship role for future collectors, who, upon encountering reproduction items now and in the future, may not be able to reasonably determine their originality. This can have the effect of reducing collector value of original specimens, as well as present unintended (or intended) ethical issues among the Thompson collector community.

The American Thompson Association adopted a standard consisting of marking any new Thompson submachine gun reproduction items with a name or other distinguishable identifying mark that indicates the manufacturing entity, and at least the year of manufacture. The marking should be easily visible, and made in a manner that the item can be readily identifiable as a reproduction, such as die stamping in metal, firmly stamped wood markings, readily accessible publisher marks inside the front page of a paper item, permanently painted markings on canvas material, or other reasonable and permanent marking methods. (An example for stock markings is to mark such items under the buttplate, and on top of the grip, as these are already standard methods, and will not detract cosmetically from their presentation on a Thompson.)

TATA members must comply with the standard, and any reproduction item made by a member after notification of the adoption of the new standard in the club newsletter should be marked according to the TATA reproduction marking standard.

A list consisting of 3 categories of Thompson reproduction items will be maintained:

* New reproduction Thompson items that conform to TATA marking standard, to include known manufacturer information.

* Existing reproduction items that conform to TATA marking standard, to include known manufacturer information.

* Reproduction Thompson items that do not conform to TATA marking standard, to include known manufacturer information.

At a later time to be determined, once greater experience has been gained with managing a marking standard, TATA will present their standard to the NRA as a potential best practice. The standard may also be introduced to other NRA affiliated collector organizations who might want to adopt a similar standard.

The Shoot

Saturday the 14th was devoted to shooting Thompsons at a beautiful nearby range in Newark. There were two structured events and then free range shooting time after that. Thompsons used in the competitions must be in original factory configuration.

The morning event had 43 shooters registered and began at 7:30 a.m. Five shooters at a time would shoot with each shooter having a range officer supervising his or her actions.

• Stage 1. From a distance of 50 yards, shooters will load one magazine with 20 rounds and have a time limit of 25 seconds to fire 20 rounds on one target using semiautomatic fire only.
• Stage 2. From a distance of 25 yards, shooters will load one magazine with 20 rounds and have a time limit of 25 seconds to fire 20 rounds on three targets using automatic burst fire.
• Stage 3. From a distance of 25 yards, shooters will load one magazine with 20 rounds and have a time limit of 20 seconds to fire 20 rounds on three targets using automatic burst fire.
• Stage 4. From a distance of 10 yards (30 feet), shooters will load one magazine with 20 rounds and have a time limit of 15 seconds to fire 20 rounds on three targets using automatic burst fire.
• Stage 5. From a distance of 7 yards (21 feet), shooters will load one magazine with 20 rounds and have a time limit of 4 seconds to fire 20 rounds on three targets using automatic burst fire.

Total rounds fired is 100 rounds. Less time is allotted to the shooter the closer they got to the target requiring speed as well as accuracy. Each target had to be engaged separately and sweeping the three targets in one long burst was not allowed.

Targets used were the standard OPOTA combat silhouette type. Hits inside and cutting the outer silhouette line counted as hits. The shooter with the most hits was the winner. Hits in the INZ (Instant Neutralization Zone – a T shaped area covering the brain and spinal column down to the middle of the chest) were recorded for use in the event of a tie.

Immediately following the first competition, the second competition took place consisting of metal “pepper-popper” knock-down targets. 32 shooters registered for this event. Two shooters would compete against each other in a two-out-of three engagement. A shooter had to knock down his six metal targets before the other shooter knocked down his six targets. The last, center targets, were set at a slight angle so that one would fall over the other in a closely contested event. After all the initial pairing of shooters took place, the winner of each heat then competed against the winner of another heat. This elimination process continued until there were only two shooters left to determine first and second place.

Free range shooting time was available on the main range during the metal target events located on a side range.

All shooting ended at 3 p.m. and everyone went back to their hotel to shower and freshen up for the buffet banquet dinner that was held back at the Thompson Collectors Conference Center at 5:30.

A delicious buffet dinner of tenderloin, chicken breasts and all the sides and trimmings were served along with a dessert selection that would please any taste. Normally held outside, due to inclement weather, the dinner was moved indoors. The winners of the day’s contests were announced after dinner. The morning shoot winners were: 1st place to Charlie LeCount with a perfect score of 100 (with 7 hits in the INZ) and 2nd place went to Tom James with a 95 (with 8 shots in the INZ). The winner of the metal target knock-down pepper-popper event was Dan Block with Tony Veronesi coming in second in a very closely contested and exciting event.

The camaraderie and gathering of like-minded people in a casual setting such as this two-day event is a testament to the diversity of interests that people are more than willing to share. The 20th annual All Thompson Show & Shoot will be held in August, 2011. Check the The American Thompson Association website for the dates and details.

The American Thompson Association
P.O. Box 8710
Newark, OH 43508-8710
Website: www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/tata

The Early Marks

The trademarks registered by the Auto-Ordnance Corporation are an interesting lot. These marks offer an early insight into the future product development of a small hand- picked team brought together by General John T. Thompson, a team that appeared destined for greatness. With almost unlimited financing by New York financier Thomas Fortune Ryan, success seemed virtually guaranteed.

Of course, success can be fickle… and a long time in coming. Looking back at Auto-Ordnance now, it is easy to praise the development of their one great product, the Thompson submachine gun. However, the early years of the Thompson gun would not be defined as successful – unless you were a member of the Irish Republican Army or a Chicago gangster. But success did come. Through the great efforts of the United States Marine Corps in China and Nicaragua during the late 1920s, the American military finally, albeit very slowly, recognized the potential of this new type of weapon. The Thompson gun, marked with the famous Auto-Ordnance trademarks, became well known and respected in World War II by all Allied forces.

There is a good reason why no previous studies have been done on the trademarks registered by the Auto-Ordnance Corporation (AOC); the marks are difficult to locate. There is no electronic master indexing of early trademarks for any company at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. If your interest lies with early trademarks, especially those that have expired, be prepared to look through a lot of old books. It is a very manual search process, something not routinely performed in this age of push button automation. To that end, be advised the trademarks shown in this story are only the marks uncovered by this author and may not be all the marks registered by AOC.

The first trademark registered, AUT-ORD-CO- was registered on December 23, 1919. This mark was used in many early AOC advertisements and was displayed prominently on the company letterhead for many years. It was also marked on the top of the receiver on the first Colt manufactured Thompsons. The mark was renewed by AOC on December 23, 1939.

The next trademark registered by AOC was for the AUTORIFLE. This was actually the initial development project undertaken by the engineers at AOC; the submachine gun came later. The only known use of this mark was on the stock of a .30 caliber test Autorifle manufactured for AOC by Colt for the 1921 military trials. Unfortunately, this rifle may not have survived as its whereabouts is presently unknown. This mark was registered on January 20, 1920 and renewed on January 20, 1940.

Three more marks were registered for AOC on March 15, 1921. The first was AUTOGUN; the second was AUTOPISTOL. These marks were renewed on March 15, 1941. No AOC literature or firearms have been observed bearing these marks.

General Thompson coined the term SUBMACHINE GUN in American vocabulary with the introduction of a gun bearing his last name. The subsequent registration of this mark on March 15, 1921 came as no surprise. This mark was also renewed by AOC on March 15, 1941.

The mark MACHINE-PISTOL was registered on September 20, 1921. The registration statement was signed by M. H. Thompson, Vice President, Auto-Ordnance Corporation. M. H. Thompson is Marcellus Thompson, the son of General John Thompson. This mark was renewed by AOC on September 20, 1941.

The Thompson Mark

The next mark registered by AOC is the now very familiar Thompson name inside the bullet logo. It was registered on December 27, 1921. AOC had now moved to the well known 302 Broadway, New York address. AOC claimed this mark was for use on “shotguns, pistols, rifles, machine-guns, submachine-guns, field-guns, siege-guns, seacoast-guns, naval guns, magazines for any of said guns, and bayonets…” The registration statement explained, “The word “Thompson” forming an element of the trade mark is a facsimile of the surname of General John Taliaferro Thompson as written by him.” This mark replaced the AUT-ORD-CO- mark stamped on the top of the receiver of Colt manufactured Thompson guns and was renewed by AOC on December 27, 1941.

The Tommy Mark

A change of ownership at the AOC occurred on July 21, 1939. Wall Street securities underwriter John Russell Maguire was able to underwrite a new stock offering that removed the debt ridden AOC from the estate of Thomas Fortune Ryan and gave Maguire control of the company. Feeling another world war was on the horizon, Maguire immediately took steps to put the Thompson gun back in production. AOC officials renewed the registration of all the early AOC trademarks and later registered a new mark – TOMMY. This mark is one half of the now famous designation, TOMMY GUN, and has become a generic expression for nearly all types of submachine guns. Interestingly, AOC registered only one of the two words, TOMMY, on June 2, 1942. This registration was never renewed and lapsed on June 2, 1962.

Careful reading of the Registration document for the mark TOMMY revealed AOC owned another trademark, No. 382793. Review of this mark revealed it is also the word TOMMY, registered on November 12, 1940 by Charles H. Morrill, Jr., the owner of B-B Air Machine Gun, Co. in Santa Monica, California. This company produced “Gallery Air Machine Guns Which Discharge Pellets.” Mr. Morrill had beat AOC to the trademark office for the word TOMMY in the firearms field. The circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the mark TOMMY from Mr. Morrill by AOC are unknown. The original filing date by AOC for the word TOMMY was October 4, 1941. Apparently, the registration ran into some trouble at the Trademark Office and AOC was forced to acquire Mr. Morrill’s rights to this mark before their registration would be accepted and registered over one year later. The registration for No. 382782 was never renewed and lapsed on November 12, 1960.

Maguire knew AOC would not survive after the war if its only product was a very expensive submachine gun designed over 25 years previously. As the war progressed, he took steps to diversify the product line of AOC. One of the first new ventures was in the field of electronics and was the final trademark found to be registered by AOC. This mark was actually used for two Trademark applications, both filed in the later part of 1943.

Shortly after the last AOC trademark was published at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation changed its name to Maguire Industries, Incorporated. The Thompson gun became part of the Auto-Ordnance Division of Maguire Industries, one of many products offered by Russell Maguire. The Law

Trademark registration was for a period of 20 years when all of these marks were initially registered by AOC. Renewal of the trademark every 20 years could keep the mark protected indefinitely. Currently, trademark registrations issued on or after November 16, 1989 only have a ten-year term, renewable every ten years. Trademarks can be bought and sold and then transferred to a new owner in a process known as an Assignment.

After the War…

It is well established that George Numrich, owner of the Numrich Arms Company, purchased all the Thompson assets on October 23, 1951 from former AOC executive Frederic A. Willis. One question often asked is did George Numrich also purchase or acquire the rights to the AOC trademarks. All the marks represented above were still under trademark protection at the time of the sale to George Numrich. Regrettably, this question cannot be completely answered at this time. If an Assignment did occur, it would have had to have happened prior to 1955. There are no Assignment records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office prior to 1955 for inactive or dead trademarks. All of the trademarks represented above expired 20 years from the registration date or last renewal date and the files related to these records have been purged. The only record preserved is the initial registration statement and latest renewal information, if any. If George Numrich did own any of the early trademarks, he allowed them all too quietly expire in the late 1950s early 1960s.

One piece of evidence does exist that suggests AOC may have assigned the rights to at least one trademark, the word THOMPSON. The Kilgore Manufacturing Company of Westerville, Ohio, used the trademark THOMPSON in an advertising sales brochure. Kilgore was the first buyer of the Thompson assets, and later sold these assets to Frederic A. Willis.

The “New” Auto-Ordnance Corporation

Fast forward to 1974 and the formation of a new Auto-Ordnance Corporation in West Hurley, New York by Ira Trast, the President of Numrich Arms, and George Numrich. Thompson enthusiasts know this is the “second” Auto-Ordnance Corporation (AOC) in the history of the Thompson gun – both formed in the State of New York. Records from the New York Secretary State office show this new AOC was created on July 14, 1974. Production of the new ATF approved Thompson Model of 1927A1 semiautomatic rifle began in 1975 with 932 rifles being produced. Manufacture of the full-auto Model of 1928 Thompson submachine gun also began in 1975 with 199 submachine guns being produced. All of these initial rifles and sub-guns produced in 1975, and the years to follow, were marked with the famous Thompson signature in a bullet logo trademark. Unbeknownst to most everyone at the time, this mark was not protected.

The new AOC in West Hurley, New York did not apply for trademark protection of the well known Thompson trademark until 1984, ten years after the new AOC was created.

Mr. Trast, the former President of the Auto-Ordnance Corporation in West Hurley, New York, was contacted for this story. Mr. Trast said the decision to create a “new” Auto-Ordnance Corporation in West Hurley, New York, was an easy decision. He and Mr. Numrich believed a market for a semiautomatic Thompson gun existed. They believed machine guns had become a real “no-no” in the USA, but a semiautomatic version or copy of a popular submachine gun like the Thompson would be a good seller. He recalled it took a lot of time to obtain approval from the Treasury Department’s Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to manufacture a semiautomatic only Thompson gun.

Mr. Trast does not know if Mr. Numrich owned the original Thompson trademarks. But he has no reason to believe Mr. Numrich did not own the “Thompson” trademark as he certainly owned everything else – and had owned it for a long time. He said George Numrich had tons of Thompson parts and paperwork, all types of tooling, piles of drawings, crates and crates and crates of parts – “you can’t imagine the amount of (Thompson) items we had at Numrich Arms.” However, he does not remember the old or original Thompson trademarks ever being a point of discussion or issue when forming the new AOC.

Mr. Trast recalled the biggest problem they faced in the early years of the new AOC involved getting the semiautomatic gun into production. This was a completely new and very different gun from the full auto Thompson. Production of the full auto Thompson began after the semi-auto gun was underway. Mr. Trast described production of the full auto as “an easy project.” George Numrich had all the drawings and tooling for the full auto guns along with tons of original parts.

When informed about the 10 year difference in the start of the new Auto-Ordnance Corporation (AOC) and the initial registration of the trademark “Thompson,” Mr. Trast sounded surprised and said “maybe we discovered” we did not own the Thompson trademark and went ahead and registered it. Mr. Trast quickly added that he does not remember anything about this lapse of time in the registration of the name “Thompson.” His memory is not as good as it has been in the past and he wished he had been asked about this 20 years ago as he probably would have remembered a lot more. He said that it is very possible George Numrich may have handled this issue as, “George did take care of a lot of the legal matters” related to the new AOC.

While president of AOC, Mr. Trast recalled hearing comments about how the new AOC was not the original AOC. He purposely stayed away from that debate – “left it alone.” He also remembers some people refusing to do business with the new AOC because it was not the original AOC. Mr. Trast said he and the other employees of AOC were too involved in operating a successful business to worry about such things. He does believe there is a “continuing history” or connection to the original AOC started by General Thompson in 1916, the Thompson as purchased by Mr. Numrich in 1951 and the new AOC he and Mr. Numrich formed in 1974.

Mr. Trast stopped working full time for AOC in 1993 and retired in 1996. His association with George Numrich started in 1966 when he went to work for Numrich Arms Corporation as the Comptroller. He later became the Vice-President and President of Numrich Arms before becoming the president of AOC in West Hurley, New York. He is an accountant by trade.

At the Trademark Office

Documents located at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office show AOC did not submit an application for the registration of the mark “Thompson” until July 25, 1984.

U.S. Trademark Examiner Ernest H. Land initially “refused” the application for Trademark for the mark “Thompson” in December 1984 because the word Thompson is a common surname in the United States. Examiner Land gave the applicants 6 months to reply or this application would be deemed abandoned. He went on to state that “in view of your long use of this mark… a proper claim of distinctiveness” could be made if “the mark has become distinctive as applied to the goods (or services) as a result of your substantially exclusive and continuous use in commerce (specifying the type of commerce) for the five years next preceding the filing date of this application. Such a claim must be supported by an affidavit or by a declaration.

“On January 22, 1985, a short affidavit signed by Ira Trast as President of AOC was filed with the Trademark office. Mr. Trast stated he “believes that its trademark THOMPSON has become distinctive as applied to its goods as a result of its substantially exclusive and continuous use in interstate commerce for the five years next preceding the filing date of this application and for many years prior thereto.”

On May 28, 1985, the mark THOMPSON was accepted for publication in the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This allowed any interested party a venue to oppose registration.

On February 19, 1991, Mr. Trast, through his attorneys, filed a Declaration with the Commissioner of the Patent and Trademark office declaring everything filed with this office was true and correct under the penalty of perjury and that the mark has been in continuous use in interstate commerce for five consecutive years from September 17, 1985 until present. The declaration further stated that “there had been no final decision adverse to registrant’s claim of ownership of said mark and its rights to register the same or maintain it on the register.”

The registration of the mark was allowed to stand and this small oversight by Mr. Numrich and Mr. Trast in 1974 was remedied. The trademark THOMPSON is currently registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Saeilo Enterprises, Inc. This is the parent company of Kahr Arms, the current owner of the Thompson gun.