That's terrible. Its similar (but a bit different) to the debacle with a French company "Softair" and other Airsoft recreational guns in the US. They bought up all the rights to produce likenesses of guns from the manufacturers, and tried to sue the American distributors of other products than theirs in order to cut out the competition. Long and short, they lost. Thank goodness. It was a huge issue with the Airsoft community.
Thanks for the info. Looking at going to the salvage yard this weekend, so more info when I get it.