Patents expire after 20 years, after which the invention becomes public domain and anyone can manufacture products using it. The Leica M mount was invented almost 70 years ago, the patent is long-expired.
Chris is correct. In fact, there is probably nothing on any camera that hasn’t been patented at some time, form the camera loading latch to the shape of the advance lever, and everything in between.
Look at the early work arounds to avoid Leitz shutter patents.
I bought my first M mount camera in 1960, well over 50; yrs ago. The patent on M mount expired quite some time ago. As well as Nikon mount, Zeiss mount.This 20 years rule is just in general! In fact it is indeed max. 50years! Leica had some guys wich were able to longer the patent ! I guess they completed some technical parameters!
Cosina wasn't able to pay for m-mount and Leica was not willing to give licence!
So there was a need of M39 there it is not possible to patent!
Beliive me - but you are right with 20 years in normal case and from my point 50years is the absolute max.
with regards
...
The sanest mount is that for digital 4/3 cameras. How and why all manufacturers agreed to the same standard is a modern day miracle.
This 20 years rule is just in general! In fact it is indeed max. 50years! Leica had some guys wich were able to longer the patent ! I guess they completed some technical parameters!
Patents, unlike copyrights, have a lifespan here in the U.S. II know that the M mount is obviously Leica's proprietary lens mount, but did companies like Konica (with the M-mount Hexar RF), Zeiss (also M-mount with the ZM), or Voigtlander/Cosina (Bessa rangefinders) have to pay Leica to use that mount on their cameras? Or is it more like public domain, industry standard sort of thing?
Leica is the place to ask that question. There is a period of time here in the U.S. where the inventor is protected and that period can be extended. I would imagine that their patent here in the U.S. (if they patented it here or if Germany and the USA have an agreement where each other's patents are recognized) ran out a long time ago. Of course if Leica made changes to the mount, I would assume those were patented also. A patent lawyer would possibly know........Regards!I know that the M mount is obviously Leica's proprietary lens mount, but did companies like Konica (with the M-mount Hexar RF), Zeiss (also M-mount with the ZM), or Voigtlander/Cosina (Bessa rangefinders) have to pay Leica to use that mount on their cameras? Or is it more like public domain, industry standard sort of thing?
Copyrights are limited too.Patents, unlike copyrights, have a lifespan here in the U.S.
Copyrights are limited too.
Thus they are limited!In Australia and New Zealand copyright lasts for the life of the author and for 50 years afterward.
Which legal system yields patent protection longer than 20 years?
One cannot prolonge a patent by adding something to it.
By the way the actual life-time of a patent at average is much shorter. (Patent owner decides not to pay fees any longer as it became uneconomic as either the product was not succesful on the market or work-arounds emerged.)
M39, if I'm not wrong, originated from before end of WWII. And, AFAIK, all German patents from before were then in fact disfunct, in other words, there was no authority to enforce them. See the many Contax or Leica clones from (former) SU (which probably didn't care for any patents anyway) and Japanese clones (Nikon S for example).
Here in the U.S. some copyrights are renewable by the heirs of the person to whom the copyright was issued. I have copyrights of some movies in mind that are renewed by the company to whom the original copyright was issued.......Regards!Copyrights are limited too.
However the US got time limits as Europe. And these cannot be extended.
There is an other example of a company who brake the barier of 20years patent protection!Well, prolonging the duration of rights beyond a legal limit, by getting the law changed is beyond what I was referring to.
A interesting case you hint at, but in that whole article there is only one very vague sentence stating Disney was involved in that change of law in their favour, in contrast to its promising title...
Not at all.
The Lego Patent ended after those 20 years.
However after further 20 years Lego got the the idea of getting their brick registered as trademark. Which means by registering a pure technical thing banning competitors at least from visualizing their bricks. Of course this called for critique. And after further 14 years European Court decided that such registration was not valid.
So you have been mislead.
But this example shows that there are several ways to at least for some years give competitors a hard time.
And though this court decision is 9 years old just recently Lego made a claim against a tiny one-man business selling such bricks and using such brick as the firm's logo.
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