The gun maker is suing because of alleged infringement on its popular M-4.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – Gun maker Colt Defense is suing competitors Bushmaster and Heckler & Koch for trademark infringement, claiming the companies are trading on Colt’s good name by marketing knockoffs of its popular M-4 military rifle.

Colt’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, claims the companies have engaged in trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices and seeks unspecified damages.

Colt’s M-4 automatic rifle is its best-selling weapon, sold only to military and law-enforcement agencies.

The lawsuit claims that Bushmaster’s semiautomatic XM-15 E2S rifle – a very similar model to the high-powered Bushmaster rifle used in the October 2002 D.C. sniper shootings – is being improperly advertised as an “M-4 type rifle.”

The lawsuit alleges that “Bushmaster has deliberately copied the look’ of Colt’s M4 carbine and has unlawfully used Colt’s federally registered M4 trademark” in its marketing and advertising.

Colt vice president Carlton Chen said Hartford, Conn.-based Colt has expressed similar concerns with Bushmaster related to Colt’s M-16 rifle, but never filed a lawsuit on this issue until this week.

“It’s basically a form of identity theft,” Chen said.

Colt’s lawsuit levies similar allegations against Heckler & Koch – a German company whose U.S. subsidiary is based in Sterling – over its HKM4 rifle.

Allen Faraday, vice president for Windham, Maine-based Bushmaster, said, “We feel very confident that our marketing fairly and accurately reflects the products we produce here in the U.S., and that we have every right to sell them in open competition with companies like Colt Firearms.”

The 77-employee firm makes semiautomatic rifles for civilians, as well as automatic weapons for the military and foreign government agencies.

Steve Galloway, a spokesman for Heckler & Koch, said the company has not seen the lawsuit and would not comment.

AP-ES-04-22-04 1750EDT