so LFR's aren't made by a specific company, they can be made by different companies?
Yeah. It's a license people buy to be able to make them. Obviously not the specific FR. Hence why it's a 'Licensed Under Floyd Rose Patents' bridge.
so wouldn't saying "LFR's are cr@p" be a generalization? i would think some might be terrible, which is why people hate them, and then others are great?
When people talk of LFRs, they normally talk of cr@p FRs.
The good FRs are recognisable by name - And thus, you don't call them LFRs, such as the Edge trems, the ZR Trems, and the Vigier trems with the Ball Bearings which are superb.