Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 12:08 PM 5/11/98 -0700, Don B wrote: >If someone in the Japanese camera industry supposedly stole designs from >Zeiss then how come Zeiss is having the Contax line of cameras >manufactured there and so many of the wonderful Zeiss T* lenses? Seems >to me that they don't hold a grudge against Japan so why should anyone >else. Water under the bridge comes to mind, along with a lot of nonsense >about who stole what from whom. Because the thefts occurred in 1947 and 1948 and 1949, when Zeiss, which had to relocate from East Germany to West Germany, was all but bankrupt. Please do not confuse the era, as so many others have done. THEN was then, now is now, and a theft is a theft. Nikon and Canon stole Zeiss lens designs and Zeiss Ikon and Leitz camera designs during these years and were refused, by the Allies, the right to protect their patent rights. By the time they were able to do so, the patents had, for the most part expired and, in any event, the damage had been done. Nikon and Canon, in short, founded their reputation for "excellence", for the most part, on stolen designs. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!