BLADE Magazine

New Hampshire Representative Jenn Coffey sent this message to the BLADE offices yesterday:

I am happy to report that HB544 passed unanimously in the NH House today and bring us one step closer to knife preemption in New Hampshire!

HB330 also passed the New Hampshire house today on a roll call vote of 244 to 109 to create Constitution Carry!

Both bills, for which I am the prime sponsor, will now move over to the Senate!

Regards,

Representative Jenn Coffey
Merrimack District 6, NH
Vice-Chair Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee
Chairman Banking and Business Regulations Division
www.jenncoffey.com

BLADE asked Coffey to give us some background on the bills. This is what she wrote:

The NH House unanimously agreed that it makes little sense for towns to be allowed to make conflicting laws regulating knives. If one were to pass from jurisdiction to a jurisdiction with conflicting law you could easily find yourself in conflict with a town ordinance that is different than your destination or place of origin. Therefore HB544 should become law in New Hampshire, creating the same state preemption we now enjoy with firearms for knives.

Moran School of Bladesmithing
Texarkana College
Washington, Arkansas

Directions: Google Maps

For more Information Contact:
B.R. Hughes at (903) 838-0134 or Email BR

Registration:
$55 Registration fee can be paid in “Event Registration” in the ABS Store or contact Cindy Sheely, ABS Store Manager at (419) 832-0400 or Email Cindy

 Offered by the American Bladesmith Society, Inc.

Two knife shows about as far apart as you can get and still be in the good ol’ USA will grace this weekend’s cutlery calendar.

Dan Delavan’s first Hawaii Knife Show will be March 12 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, while the NKCA-sanctioned Dalton Knife Show will be March 11-13 at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in Dalton, Georgia.

Coordinated by Dan and Pam Delavan of Plaza Cutlery, the Hawaii show will include a number of leading custom knifemakers, including Ernest Emerson, Les George, Steve Johnson, Tom Mayo and Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion, among others. There will also be a meet and greet of the Usual Suspect Network. Admission is FREE to all show patrons! For more info visit www.plazacutlery.com.

Meanwhile, the Dalton show, sanctioned by the National Knife Collectors Association, will feature 160-plus tables of antique, custom, factory and other knives. All NKCA members are admitted FREE of charge! There will be free appraisals by J. Bruce Voyles Auctioneers, who will also be on hand taking consignments for its next online/catalog auction and Legends of Handmade Knives auction to be held later this year. For more information about the show, auctions and more visit www.spiritofsteel.com.

From Benchmade:

March 9, 2011, OREGON CITY, Ore.- A final judgment has been awarded to Benchmade Knife Company in a case brought by Benchmade and Mentor Group LLC against Jonathan Benson, an internet knife dealer, and his company, RoadsideImports LLC, a Colorado company.  The judgment, issued by federal judge Ancer Haggerty of the District of Oregon, finds Defendants Benson and RoadsideImports liable on all counts of the complaint, including patent infringement, trademark infringement, counterfeiting, false advertising, and libel, and enjoins Defendants Benson and RoadsideImports from such conduct in the future.

In issuing the final judgment, the Judge noted that Defendant Jonathan Benson repeatedly missed deadlines and failed to comply with the orders of the court.  Earlier this year, Judge Haggerty ordered Benson to pay Benchmade as a sanction for failing to comply with the court’s previous orders.

“We’re very pleased with this ruling from the court,” says Les de Asis, Founder and CEO of Benchmade Knife Company. “Over the past twenty years, we’ve spent a great deal of time and money building the Benchmade brand and we take great pride in building a quality, USA-made product. We’re happy to have this case behind us once and for all.”

Specifically, the Final Judgment and Order against Defendants Jonathan Benson and RoadsideImports, LLC found that:

a.   Mentor’s U.S. Patent Nos. 6,550,832 and 6,675,484 are valid and infringed by Defendants;

b.   Mentor’s U.S. Patent No. 5,822,866 is valid and infringed by Defendants;

c.   Defendants are ENJOINED from further infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,550,832, 6,675,484 and 5,822,866;

d.   Defendants have infringed Benchmade’s trademarks BENCHMADE® and BENCHMITE® under 15 U.S.C. § 1114 and under the common law;

e.   Use of “Benchmite” and “Benchlite” by Defendants is likely to cause confusion or mistake, or to deceive concerning the origin, sponsorship, affiliation, or association of Defendants or their products with Benchmade under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a);

f.    Use of “Benchmite” and “Benchlite” by Defendants is passing off under the common law;

g.   Defendants’ use of “Benchmite” in connection with the advertising and sale of a knife substantially identical to Benchmade’s BENCHMITE® knife constitutes use of a counterfeit mark pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1114;

h.   Defendants are ENJOINED from use of “Benchmite” or “Benchlite” or any other name or mark confusingly similar thereto when applied to Defendants’ goods or services;

i.    Defendants have falsely advertised themselves as an authorized BENCHMADE® dealer under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) and under the common law;

j.    Defendants are ENJOINED from representing themselves as authorized dealers of Benchmade knives or otherwise suggesting a relationship with Plaintiffs;

k.   Providing a knife made in China in a box bearing “USA Stainless Steel Knife” is a false designation of origin pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a);

l.    Defendants are ENJOINED from any activity that states, implies or suggests that products made outside of the U.S.A. are made in the U.S.A.;

m. Defendants shall ensure that all products sold by them are marked with a country of origin in accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1904;

n.   Defendants have defamed and libeled Benchmade by publishing false and defamatory material;

o.   Defendants’ false and defamatory statements about Benchmade were willful and malicious with specific intent to damage Benchmade; and

p.   Defendants are enjoined from publishing that “Benchmade stole Spyderco’s designs.”