Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/16

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Explanation high production cost
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 09:01:38 -0400

At 12:44 AM 4/16/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I am not sure of the details of how these patents ended up in Japanese
>hands, but what you are calling "theft", others may call "war reparations"

With all respect to the group, I am relatively certain of the details.

Both Japan and Germany lost the war.  The Japanese camera industry began
using German patents (primarily Leitz camera patents and Zeiss lens
patents) without the permission of the German companies involved.  When the
Germans protested and sought the protection of the Allies, the Allies
responded that they were attempting to foster a conversion of the Japanese
industrial network from guns to butter, and they would rather the Japanese
built commercial cameras than military rangefinders and gunsights.  

Zeiss and Leitz did threaten litigation in '54, once the Allied controls
were lifted, but by that point the damage had been done.  And, of course,
the Japanese moved beyond the Zeiss patents once they recognized how
expensive their lenses were to duplicate;  both Nikon and Canon developed
optics less expensive to manufacture by the middle 1950's and had ceased
directly copying Zeiss designs.

War reparations?  No.  Thefts?  Yes.

Marc


msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!