Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Coatings, Again
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 11:54:53 -0500

At 08:34 AM 1/31/98 -0800, Stephen Gandy wrote:
>an oft repeated story is that the German and Japanese patents were taken
>as war prizes by the Allies after WWII.
>
>if this (or some variation of it) is true, how could Zeiss NOT share
>patents with Leica IF Zeiss no longer controlled them?

Because the story isn't true.  Upon the declaration of War, the US and UK
seized patents controlled by enemy companies located IN those nations, but
couldn't reach, say, German patents not controlled by the American branch
of the German company.  Zeiss had been quite restrictive about this, while
Leitz had made a general assignment of patent rights to ELNY.  Thus, the US
Government could assign these rights to Kardon without a problem, but they
couldn't assign the rights to the Contax RF, as these rights were never
owned by Carl Zeiss USA.

I do not recall that Zeiss ever patented the original coating process in
the US:  it was "geheimgehalt", or 'close-hold' until July, '40, by which
time Wollensak and Kodak had patented their processes -- and the Kodak
process was independently developed but identical to Zeiss's.

In any event, the issue here is that of the German patent rights owned by
Zeiss and the German production line owned by Leitz -- it was an internal
German matter, and the Allies had no say in such.

Marc


msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
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