A few years back I stumbled across RIS type handguards being sold on optics planet that were reportedly made by a company JE Machine. At the time I questioned if they were infringing on DD intellectual property and never bothered to look any further.

Some of the more recent threads I've read reminded me of those handguards and I figured I'd drop in to ask if there were any RIS's manufactured as licensed products, sort like the Knights RAS sets that were made by P&S....Can you advise?

Also, did the original RIS design eventually fall into public domain due to use in some sort of government contract that would have allowed other manufactures to make the product without fear of patent infringement or other intellectual property concerns?

Here are links to two different vendors who carried them and still have them listed on their websites:
https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/je-machine-ar-15-13-picatinny-rail-free-float-ddmk12-handguard-t6-aluminum-black/FC-811577031720.html
https://www.opticsplanet.com/j-e-machine-tech-je-handguard-free-float-ar15-13-picatinny-ddmk12-style-blk.html

That's airsoft quality stuff. Tons of other clones and replicas out there doing the same thing. If you want a RIS just get a genuine one from DD and call it a day.

JE Machine tech sells knock offs. They have even stamped "made in USA" on some of them. Avoid.

My source was glass door, and I ordered a couple accessories that were pretty damn suspect.

To the best of my knowledge, we do not license our IP to any other company to make this product or any others.  The only exception is 1 or 2 agreements with airsoft companies who market and sell similar products for the sole purpose of being used on airsoft rifles.

@Marler5811

Thanks for confirming what I suspected.

From what I remember reading in the past, it looked like Knights did work with P&S on the RAS system to meet whatever the production demands were and their obligations to ensure the contract could be filled. The RIS II is a nice system but I don't believe it's .gov contract sales ever reached close to the number of RAS kits that were purchased by .gov contract, so I imagine you all were able to fill orders with internal production.

Capco and B&T as well, IIRC.