10/01/2026
(PART 5/5)
The Paintball Patent Wars
In 2003, Smart Parts was granted a patent for paintball markers using an “electro-pneumatic valve to operate a bolt assembly”. Using this, Smart Parts initiated a series of lawsuits regarding markers that were built during the patent pending period. When the first case was won and set precedence, a major shock wave went through the industry as royalties and fines loomed for many companies. Several smaller manufacturers immediately ceased making electronic markers, or eventually closed their doors and cited the SP lawsuits as the primary reason. A huge backlash against Smart Parts grew amongst many players.
K2 Sports, the famous ski and snowboard company, stepped up and purchased Brass Eagle. Thus the Brass Eagle, Viewloader and JT brands were now under the umbrella of a major sporting goods distributor. PMI purchased R.P. Scherer, securing the largest dedicated paintball manufacturing facility in the world.
Tippmann releases the first Flatline Barrel. It is a curved barrel that puts backspin on the ball to increase its effective range and flatten the trajectory. Many players consider it a gimmick or not as effective as claimed; it does develop a cult following of loyal users. Compressed air tanks are becoming more and more accepted as the early misconceptions about HPA are proved wrong and its use becoming necessary for high end tournament guns.
In 2004, K2 Sports continues its paintball purchases with the acquisition of Worr Game Products (WGP). Summit Partners, a venture capitalist firm, acquires Tippmann Pneumatics, changing its name to Tippmann Sports.
While paintball magazines and websites focused on the tournament side of the game, a new movement was growing under the radar. The overwhelmingly vast majority of paintball players were still dressed in camouflage and running around in the woods. The industry, ever trying to get paintball on television, considered this to be a negative image and did everything it could to keep it out of the media. Regardless of their intentions, the fact was that not only did the largest paintball consumer base not want to play on airball fields, but a growing number wanted markers and equipment that more closely resembled real fi****ms. Called Milsim (Military Simulation), this paintball subculture grew steadily and was fostered by companies such as Special Ops Paintball. More and more woodsball articles and reviews begin showing up in traditional tournament paintball magazines.
Greg Hastings, a well-known professional paintball player and the founder of Redz Paintball, introduced the first successful paintball game for the Xbox game platform. Greg Hasting’s Tournament Paintball got the approving nods of paintball players and was well received in the gaming community, introducing paintball to a wide audience. A later release, Tournament Paintball Max’d, improved upon the game as well as made it available for the Sony PS2 system.
The year 2005 saw the release of the original Smart Parts Ion paintball gun. The Ion utilized a simplified spool valve system similar to the 2003 Smart Parts Shocker SFT, and crushed the lower to mid-end paintball marker market. The Ion was lightweight with an easy to achieve high rate of fire for only a quarter of the cost of a high end marker. Suddenly the gap of firepower on the field between low end and high end virtually disappeared, and paint sales soared. The Ion re-ignited an aftermarket parts boom that had not been seen since the Autococker’s golden age. Planet Eclipse releases the first Ego paintball gun, a stacked tube electro-pneumatic that begins to edge out the Bob Long Intimidator as the dominant high end marker in national tournaments.
The woodsball revolution continues to grow and the industry can no longer ignore it. Smart Parts releases the SP8, a milsim version of the successful Ion. K2 releases the JT Tac-5 and WGP Tactical Autococker. PMI unveils the PCS line of Tippmann-like markers and camo playing clothing. Tippmann launched the X7, a magnesium-bodied marker with a modular design to readily accept upgrades and look like several different models of real military weapons. One Tippmann experiment that failed was the Tippmann C3 propane-powered paintball marker, using combustion as its pressure source. The next year, Kingman rolls out the MR Series beginning with the Spyder MR1 and MR2. More items like goggles and harnesses become available in various camouflage patterns, and new models of shoulder stocks, remotes, red dot sights, and body/ barrel shrouds flood the market.
The shaky economy of the US began to have repercussions in the paintball industry. A private investment firm stepped up in late 2006 and bought both PMI and NPS, merging the two largest paintball distributors into one company now called Kee Action Sports. Dave Perlmutter and David Freeman both retire from the industry, while Gino Postorivo goes into other sports industries and waits for his non-compete to expire. K2 announces an unexpected sales drop, further signs of the weak economy’s effect on the industry. Other manufacturers begin to close or sell, citing poor sales or the Smart Parts lawsuits and royalties as the main causes.
All of that soon changed in mid-2007. Rather than pay any fines and royalties, WDP fought Smart Parts in court. After a costly court battle it was ruled that WDP, even though they filed their patents late, were part of the creation of the electro-pneumatic marker. As a result, the patent was now jointly shared between the two companies. Jarden Corporation, a company with a varied portfolio of companies, buys K2 Sports and thus also JT, WGP, Viewloader and Brass Eagle.
Between 2005 and 2009, several new paintball guns were released to compete with the Smart Parts Ion. Looking to appeal to the price range of a fully loaded and accessorized Ion, markers such as the Invert Mini and Proto Rail begin hitting the market. Up till now the Halo B paintball loader and the Viewloader VLocity were the only competitive options for the fastest paintball hopper. The Dye Rotor changed all of that. Dye unleashed the Rotor at the 2009 World Cup and it took the high end market by storm for its fast and durable design.
The NPPL and PSP both got paintball on TV, and both times it was not a success. Realizing that television was not the silver bullet to push paintball into the mainstream, the tournament scene began to contract and team sponsorship started to shrink. The NPPL, backed by WDP as its promoting company, ultimately had to declare bankruptcy in 2008. The PSP, absorbing the NXL into its format, continued to be the dominate tournament series. Woodsball continued to grow in addition to the scenario game scene. Big games and scenario games with 1000s of participants all on the field at once, such as Oklahoma D-Day, Skirmish Invasion Of Normandy, and Living Legends began garnering the paintball headlines. Several woodsball tournament leagues begin to form.
All the manufactures now realize that the woodsball and speedball players are equally important. Virtually all models of markers and equipment, if not milsim in design, are also offered in camouflage or variations of black, dark earth, and olive drab. A rising number of players want to play in the woods but not dress or look milsim, and are taking to wearing traditional speedball clothing and using tournament-style markers in subdued colors.
2009 also brought something the industry had not seen in 20 years… a caliber debate! G.I. Milsim (later renamed G.I. Sportz) began pushing a .50 caliber paintball concept, originally marketed as a superior product to .68 caliber. The player response was an immediate and overwhelming “NO!” Both GI (in cooperation with Smart Parts) and Kingman went deep into .50 caliber; it was initially a failure.
2010 and 2011 brought many changes to the industry. Kee Action Sports purchased all the paintball assets of JT, WGP, Viewloader and Brass Eagle from Jarden, making them the dominant distributor of paintball equipment. Smart Parts surprised many by filing for bankruptcy as well as Angel Paintball Sports, formerly known as WDP. The controversial Intellectual Property regarding electronic guns was then purchased by Kee. The Gardner Brothers were certainly not out of paintball as their high end gun company DLX Technologies, making the Luxe paintball gun, was still going strong. They came back later as GoG Paintball and began concentrating on the beginner and intermediate market. Gino Postorivo’s non-compete came to an end and he immediately rolled out Valken Paintball, a new manufacturer and distributor to compete with Kee.
As paintball continues under the strains of a recovering economy, the sport is focused on getting new players into the sport. The big surprise was the rise of .50 caliber paintball play among the rental crowd. Experienced players were very vocal in their disinterest to switch to .50 caliber, but the markers caught on with recreational family-oriented games and with paintball field use as rentals. Because .50 caliber paint impacts with less energy, they become popular for youth-oriented group games and parties. JT released a youth and family alternative using a name from the earliest days of the game. The JT SplatMaster combined pump action plastic markers with an easy to break, proprietary .50 caliber paintball. This system was widely marketed through family and kid media, quickly becoming a new family pastime. Cashing in on the pop culture trends of Halloween activity and zombies, many fields and state fair booths set up a “zombie paintball shoot”, where participants shoot markers at “zombies” attacking them.
In 2013, Kee Action Sports acquired Kingman, while Valken bought Sly Paintball, a popular maker of goggles. In 2014, GI Sports buys Tippmann Sports.
S/O to ANSgear Paintball for keeping this awesome story in their website.
