Doc, I admire and respect your opinion---I get the feeling that you're speaking from a position of having "earned the right"--having said that, you're alittle off on your understanding of the etymology of the "scout" and certainly of the timeline.
Cooper addressed the issue directly:
"
When we set up the criteria for the Scout at the factory in Austria, we agreed upon just two calibers, 308 and 7-08, the latter for use in those situations where the 308 is forbidden or restricted as a "military cartridge." But immediately the factory people pushed through a rifle in 223, simply to take advantage of the immense stores of this ammunition available throughout the world. The fact remains, however, that no rifle in caliber 223 should be called a Scout."
....this wasn't written 30+ years ago prior to the acsension of the M-4, this was written by Cooper in January of 2005. So, call the M-4 "a Scout" if you wish--call it a "Dreadnought" or "The Hammer of Thor" however realize that it's bastardizing the term as it was intended by the one originating the concept and the terminology.
Reflecting on this---arguing over the splitting of vernacular hairs is probably not time well spent---especially with ones of kindred spirit.
Well, bastardized or not, the term "scout rifle" has come to mean a lot more than Jeff Cooper originally intended it to mean, and it was partly his fault.
I underlined the Colonel's words in your above quote to point out something that has been implied but perhaps needs to be made explicit in this discussion: that while the Scout Rifle
term or concept was never copyrighted or patented in a generic sense, the Steyr Scout Rifle was a trademarked rifle which I presume Col. Cooper had some stake in the production of, and presumably some share in the profits as well. As such I think latter-day accolytes may in fact be right in stating that he "owns" the term, at least in some limited sense.
But I also think there's been a bit of blurring of the line between an intellectual
concept and intellectual
property here. Intellectual property is something that the originator can point to as being his/her unique and original idea or system of thought, and is in fact so unique as to be eligible for copyright. I do have some acquaintance with the process of obtaining copyright and trademarking for my intellectual property, enough to know that it's a tricky business at the best of times, and requires occasional application of money in the form of lawyers' fees to defend. If Cooper had applied for and been granted a copyright or trade name for the term "Scout Rifle" at any time, then we could say he actually "owns" the term "Scout Rifle". But since he did not apply for such legal protection (and as such we can't say with any certainty that the term would have been granted copyright or trade name protection) then no one can truly say that Cooper "owns" the term or concept.
In an academic sense, Cooper can be (and IMHO should be) given all credit for originating the term, but as any academic who has come up with a term or concept that has fallen into general use will tell you, that credit holds no real water. People will use the concept or term as they will, and it will necessarily evolve as more people apply their own connotations to the term over time. Some people will hold to a more rigid standard, recalling the context of the term/concept's origins, and others will hold a more loose standard that reflects its general usage in the scientific or technical discipline it inhabits in the present day.
Thus it is with the Scout Rifle. Cognescenti immediately hearken back to Col. Cooper's original definition, whereas others use it in a more mutable manner to reflect the evolution of firearms and ammunition and the tactical arts.
So it really doesn't matter if Jeff Cooper defended his definition in 2005. He didn't need to, we all know who coined the term! And he really didn't have any right to be offended that people picked up his term and ran with it, since he didn't copyright or trademark the term. Is this splitting hairs? I don't know, but it sure seems to get a lot of people exercised tapping away at their keyboards!
And finally, I submit, he really was off-base to block introduction of a 5.56 NATO or 7.62x39mm version of the Scout Rifle while endorsing the 7mm-08. We can argue that one all week long (and probably will!) though.
