Can anyone give me an explanation on the relation between weapon creators, manufacturers and licensing?

So here's how it works as far as I understand:

Companies in Southeast Asia started making airsoft guns and mostly do not care about the real gun manufacture's real IP as the laws are different there. Whole sellers buy their guns in large lots, import them to various countries and sell them to companies who distribute them to stores that in turn sell them to you.

Some stores like Evike are large enough where they are a importer, distributor, and storefront. Now Evike has their own EMG (Evike manufacturing group) but I don't know if that's just a brand thing, their own production plant, or if they just contract out work.

Now in the past couple of years some businesses set them selves up to be basically IP trolls. Looking at you umarex :P

They some how / finally got the IP license from HK to sell HK style guns in the US. Now they don't make any of these guns, they just stamp umarex on the box before it gets sent into the US and they get some cash from it.

A classic example of this is the KWA mp7. It used to be just a KWA MP7 but now it's the ' umarex ' MP7.

tl;dr No real gun company makes airsoft guns and really doesn't care unless someone gives them money for importing toys.

/r/airsoft Thread