Avon Technologies PLC: M50 Military Mask & Aftermarket

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What was the source of this challenge? Was it a bad acquisition from 3M?

In hindsight, it's obviously 20/20, but it was so close to passing. In the armor business, you need 80 front carrier plates, 80 armor plates, and they shoot a bullet at each one. If one out of 80 has the bullet poke through on the other side, it's a failure, and you lose the whole thing. I don't know how it all ended. I don't really know the end game of the armor situation. We just knew that Avon was tired of investing money to try to make it work. We tried two or three times to make it happen.

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What was the source of this challenge? Was it a bad acquisition from 3M?

I don't know the financial decision behind it. You might think, "Let's just sell it," but writing it off or winding it down was more economically feasible for some reason. I never got really involved with the armor. My hunch is that 3M packaged the armor in the deal just to unload it. They might have known, but that's just speculation on my part.

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Who owns the IP on that?

That's a complex question. The ownership has changed over the years. Avon can use some designs for other products, which is why masks like the C50 and M50 look similar. The C50 is commercial, while the M50 is military, with subtle differences that make it an ITAR-controlled product. These differences could involve valve functions or filter capabilities, and the government tightly controls these specs.

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