Re: If Eric Says So

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

I was wondering that if the term "APO" was not, perhaps,  a tradewark for
their apochromatic lenses, and like Bayer's trademarked name for
acetylsalicylic acid, Aspirin, it became a generic appelation? My impression
was that apochromatic referred to a greater degree of color correction in a
lens, and was an optical term, and that APO was just a shortened form of
this.

- -----Original Message-----
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Sunday, 09 November, 1997 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: If Eric Says So


At 10:35 AM 11/8/97 -0500, you wrote:

>I do not know who has the trademark on 'APO' but I won't argue with either
>Leica or Zeiss if they tell me it's theirs: they can hire more expensive
>lawyers than can I!

But lawyers aren't paid to get to the truth, just to beat the opposition
into submission! :-)

As for apo, maybe they didn't coin the phrase, but Zeiss made the first APO
lenses for photography, so I'm told. Er, was that for microscopes? Maybe
not photography, now that I think of it. I had an old girlfriend who did
some study in the field of microscope optics. Maybe that's where I heard it.

It's no big deal. The deal, here is that if Leica owns the term for
purposes of trademark, then Minolta, Zeiss and a boatload of other lens
manufacturers are breaking the law, or have licensed the term from them. I
have my doubts. I'll bet it's the use of the term in context with other
terms, like Telyt, or whatever.
==========

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

He, who will not reason, is a bigot;
he, who cannot, is a fool;
and he, who dares not, is a slave.

William Drumond, Scottish writer  (1585-1649)