[Leica] Design Thievery

["Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>]

You guys are funny.  Hey, this is a Leica list but understand everyone is a
thief is probably closer to the truth.  Zeiss took many basic lens designs
from others like British lens designers Cooke and Thornton.  Goerz was also
copying other designs, Zeiss copying Goerz, Leica using the triplet-type
designs of Zeiss with modification of course.  Then the Japanese such as
Konica became the first manufacturer of a Japanese lens albeit with German
glass, and Nikon who hired 8 German optical engineers in the 1920s to
develop German-like optics since they were the only Japanese optic company
that actually made their own glass since 1915.  And of course the list goes
on and on.  You can trace one the basis of one design to another.  What the
Japanese did was make photography affordable to millions all over the world.
Granted Leica makes damn sharp lenses, but they are not the most affordable.
And as one individual pointed out, sometimes a non-Leica camera like a Nikon
can pay the bills and eventually allow them to buy the Leica camera they
really want.

Peter K