WIDE OPEN ENTERPRISES LLC

Wide Open Enterprises LLC is a private limited liability company that also operates under the name Wide Open Triggers. According to legal filings from 2021, the company is organized under the laws of New Mexico with a place of business in Ocala, Florida. Court documents suggest the company was formed around mid-2021 for the specific purpose of selling its flagship product. Further details on its founding, employee count, and revenue are not publicly available.

The company's sole product line is the "Wide Open Trigger" (WOT), a "hard-reset trigger" designed for AR-15 style firearms. This type of trigger uses a mechanism that forces the trigger to reset after each shot, which can enable a faster rate of fire compared to standard semi-automatic triggers. The company has marketed the WOT as a "plug-and-play" drop-in replacement part for the AR-15 platform, built with reinforced steel for durability.

Wide Open Enterprises' patent litigation posture is that of an operating company defending its product. According to the available case data, the company has been a defendant in two patent lawsuits and has not been a plaintiff. The cases were heard in the Ohio Northern District Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This 0-2 plaintiff-defendant record is consistent with a manufacturer being targeted for alleged infringement rather than an entity asserting patents.

The company's most notable legal challenge is the patent infringement lawsuit brought by competitor Rare Breed Triggers, LLC and patent holder ABC IP, LLC. The suit alleges that the WOT infringes on a patent covering Rare Breed's own forced reset trigger, the FRT-15. In a 2021 ruling, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against Wide Open Enterprises, finding that the WOT "was plainly copied from the FRT-15," which temporarily halted sales of the product. Beyond patent disputes, the company's product also exists in a complex regulatory environment, as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has issued opinions classifying some forced reset triggers as machineguns.