Quite a stir was caused over the weekend when Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB-1471 which will require semiautomatic handguns to have microstamping starting in 2010.

However there is a really interesting line in the bill that reads, "provided that the Department of Justice certifies that the technology used to create the imprint is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions." Right now one company (ID Dynamics) claims the patents (7111423 and 6886284 amongst others) to microstamping spent shells in firearms and subsequently reading them. Those patents are valid until about 2023 and I'm quite sure that Mr. Lizotte and Mr. Ohar claim that their patents occupy the entire field of firearm microstamping. Further, there are probably quite a few other patents in the lithography field that this core technology may infringe. Since the legislature required that the technology not be encumbered by patent I doubt that California DOJ can complete an OAL rulemaking that conforms with the legislation and patent law before the expiration of ID Dynamic's patents around 2023.

Well that's nice in theory, but I have a feeling that if the DOJ wants to get it done, they'll get it done, even if they have to do some legal corner-cutting.

Nice to know that you assume the CA DOJ will just break the law. We've had experience keeping them honest before.