GLOBAL ARCHERY PRODUCTS, INC. RESPONDS TO JORDAN GWYTHER'S MISLEADING ADVERTISING RELATING TO LARP

Ashley, IN, February 15, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Global Archery Products, Inc. (“Global”) believes that Jordan Gwyther’s statements to the media, those made on his gofundme page, and in the YouTube video (collectively “Gwyther’s Statements”) are false and misleading.  Global is a small company located in Northern Indiana.  So, portraying the lawsuit as one in which a large corporation is going out of its way to pick on a small guy who was only engaging in his hobby, is simply inaccurate.  Mr. Gwyther fails to mention that he has represented to the Court that he grossed approximately $47,000 in sales from the actions which gave rise to the pending lawsuit.

Global contends that Mr. Gwyther was using Global’s registered “Archery Tag®” trademarks to market and promote his competing arrows.  In addition, Global contends that Mr. Gwyther was making false and misleading statements to consumers in connection with the sale of his arrows and was committing acts of tortious interference with Global’s business relationships.  Specifically, Global received communications from its customers that Mr. Gwyther was targeting Global’s customers seeking to induce them to do business with Mr. Gwyther in favor of the established business relationship with Global.  The patents-in-suit make up a very small amount of the issues that led up to Global filing the original lawsuit (only 2 of 9 counts).  As such, Global believes that characterizing or suggesting that the lawsuit is one in which Global is attempting to assert patent rights to any and all “Larp Arrows” is extremely misleading as this is not the case.  The term “Larp Arrows” used in Global’s complaint was a term of art used to describe the specific arrows involved in the lawsuit.  It was not a term used to describe arrows outside of the lawsuit and certainly was not used to include any and all arrows used by persons in the LARPing community.

Global actively supports the LARPing community including holding LARPing events.  It appears to Global that Gwyther’s Statements were specifically calculated to serve as a rallying call for the LARPing community to turn against Global.  Indeed, given some of the comments that have been posted to Global, including one in which the author states “I sincerely hope you get brutally murdered,” this strategy appears to be initially succeeding. Global, however, respectfully requests that the LARPing community carefully evaluate exactly what Mr. Gwyther’s banner stands for and gather all of the facts before answering the call.

Given the clear downplay of Mr. Gwyther’s personal actions unrelated to the patents which lead to the lawsuit and the financial benefits (both to fund his defense of the lawsuit and promote the sale of his arrows) that Mr. Gwyther is soliciting, one must ask what is the true intention behind the Gwyther Statements. Is it alerting the LARPing community about a megalomaniac corporation/ “Patent Troll” trying to crush an individual who is simply engaging in his “hobby”?  Or is it about playing on the LARPing community’s emotions so that Mr. Gwyther and his business can obtain a financial benefit at Global’s expense? Global believes it is the later.

Regardless of how you answer that question, rest assured that Global will continue to support the LARPing community.