Russia requests royalties for Kalashnikov production

[dragos]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2...v_romania.shtml (in Romanian)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2021173.stm

[Dénes]

Then the Russians should pay royalties to the Germans for "inspiring" from the wartime MP-44/STG-44 design
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/STG%2044

Dénes

[Florin]

Very good point, Denes.
Or royalties for the "Fed" photo cameras, or for the "Pobeda" watches.
Or for the Rolls Royce motor they copied to equip the MiG-15.

I have from my grandfanther a Russian photo camera designed in 1940...1942, before the Russians inspired themselves after German "Leica" etc. This camera is quite primitive, and uses plates, and not the film as we know it.

According to the American laws, an idea can be patented for as much as 20 years. Maybe there are legal ways to extend it after that, but not for a half of century, for example.
I guess the European Union trademark and patents commision follows the same rules.

So why should somebody pay royalties for Kalashnikov, which was first made in 1947, as a simplified copy of a thing designed in 1943?

[Florin]

Technically, you can get a full rights patent by simplifying an existing product offered under a different patent. You have to prove that it is cheaper, or more technological, or easier to be used, or that it will last longer etc. Very nice in theory, but this is the loop hole for stealing ideas and cheating in technological competition. If you would look to the empty half of the glass, you would never dare to patent a product, because it will be copied anyway.

However, the other part of the problem still stands: a product designed in 1947, after one done in 1943, cannot still be subject for a patent today. Especially considering that since the early 60's, when Kalashnikov's were sold to the young Republic of Algeria during her border fight with the Kingdom of Maroc, tens of millions of Kalashnikov's flooded the planet for commercial purposes. So there are more than 40 years since they are marketed and sold.

[Florin]

A proof about what I wrote above regarding changing slightly a product, and then claiming it as a new one, is right in the link higlighted by Dragos:

Dar directorul tehnic din cadrul Regiei "ROMARM", Gheorghe Stoica, sustine ca în România nu se produc arme Kalasnikov.

Modelul AK-74, utilizat de militarii români, este un model construit pe baza unei documentatii românesti, astfel ca ROMARM nu trebuie sa le plateasca licenta rusilor.
8) :laugh:

I am sorry I have no time to translate it in English.

By the way... What happened with the manufacturing equipment of IAR, after being dismantled and sent as a gift from the Romanian people, to the Soviet nations? :blbl: :mad:

[Florin]

Again, typo errors due to "copy" and "paste"...
So for the right grammar, just read the original.