Did Leica ever sue?

Timmyjoe

Timmyjoe

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There seems to have been so many knock-offs of the Leica Barnack cameras. Everyone from Nikon to Canon to the Russians seemed to have made copies, some of them looking pretty much like the Leica's.

Did Leica every sue any of these manufacturers for blatantly copying their designs?
 
As far as I know, it was open season on German patents post war. This is also why there were a lot of Zeiss lens copies, and why there are no M copies, with it being post-war.
 
And the same question can be asked about all the Rolleiflex knock offs IMO. Minolta, Yashica etc all made cameras that from a distance can't really be distinguished from the Rollei TLRs.
 
After WW1 and WW2 all German patents were voided as war compensation, if that weren't the case let's just say Armstrong would never had set foot on the moon or Laika seen the earth orbit. The Mig and Sabre jetfighters would also never have existed.
 
Leica didn't sue, but Zeiss certainly complained that Nikon was too similar to Zeiss' own Ikon and the unsuspecting consumer may end up buying cheap Japanese goods rather than the proper German one. For that reason, for years Nikon cameras in Germany were labelled as "Nikkor".

With the pre-war patents invalidated, Leica had to come up with a new lens mount which they COULD PATENT - the "M" mount. The rest is history.
 
I think I read somewhere that the Soviets built the first FEDs, in the 1930s, under licence from Leica; I will no doubt be corrected if applicable. On the other hand someone might be able to point to a documentary record - either way; the 'net is full of unqualified assertions ;) .
ADDITIONAL : according to Wikipedia (they point to a reference), Leitz had no patents registered in the USSR.
 
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They probably did not sue Olympus but there was a problem with their Olympus M1 - later changed to OM 1.
 
Robert Lai said:
For that reason, for years Nikon cameras in Germany were labelled as "Nikkor".
Click to expand...

... and official "Nikkor F" imports may have reached Germany with several years delay - I have not yet encountered any meter prism prior to Ft with a Nikkor inscription.
 
Patents and Trademarks are not the same thing Zeiss Ikon is a Trademark. Trademarks were not voided.

Also Zeiss Ikon was the result of WW1 Germany had to consolidate it's photographic industry (peace treaty the french and others wanted to kill the German optical industry) and the only way the German could do it was to create a super optical company, not unlike BAC/BAE in the UK, by forcing a merger of the better known optical companies into one Zeiss Ikon was born.

Leitz and a few other were Lucky that they weren't part of that forced merger.
 
Hi,

In the 30's I don't think FED and so on sold their cameras in Germany, they were for the USSR only. So Leitz couldn't sue in Germany and I don't think that the USSR recognised the idea of a patent. So it wasn't illegal there. Unlike some countries copying and mass producing 'Barker' pens and Scotch whisky... (The funniest was a 'Wobley' revolver.)

What was 'forced' on Germany was quite mild compared to what Germany forced on France and Belgium in 1914 and most of Europe from 1939 and then the USSR in 1941.

Regards, David
 
The term forced merger was a statement of fact and is actually a technical term.

The peace treaty of Versailles is considered one of the main reasons for Hitler's rise and WW2. So what was forced on Germany did have a major impact on the world and not in a good way.
The whole situation in the middle east is also the result of WW1 and the peace treaties with the Ottoman Empire.

I believe the SA African way truth and reconciliation commision was a good idea,it isn't perfect but it was a step in the right direction and if WW1 would have been handled the same way WW2 would never have happened.

Back to the thread

The Soviet Union just like Muslim States (there is no copyright law in many muslim states) did not fully accept the concept of copyright or maybe it was payback for Lenin :)
 
DominikDUK said:
The term forced merger was a statement of fact and is actually a technical term.

The peace treaty of Versailles is considered one of the main reasons for Hitler's rise and WW2. So what was forced on Germany did have a major impact on the world and not in a good way.
Click to expand...


Versailles doubtlessly messed with the German psyche, indirectly helping the Nazi climb to power, and caused considerable poverty in the post war era. But the camera industry actually was one of the few booming segments in 1920's Germany, against the general trend and impact of Versailles, and its crisis (that led to a series of state assisted mergers that ended in Zeiss Ikon) was a consequence of the global economic crisis and the reduced consumption it caused world-wide, and not a consequence of WWI, Versailles or indeed any development inside Germany.
 
Kiev 88 "Hasselbladski" was copied in 1950's, so interesting why Soviets didn't copy Leica M. maybe earlier Barnack copies were considered sufficient, and had started to evolve on their own.
 
There is one famous communist led production Leica M copy
380659172_ca3a3017db.jpg


http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Red_Flag_20
 
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