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Russia Claims IP Rights In Manufacture of AK-47
Daniel Dvorkin writes "In the latest example of over-the-top intellectual property demands, Russia wants licensing fees for the production of AK-47s. According to first deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov, the unlicensed production of Kalashnikovs (which have been around in very nearly their current form for 60 years) in ex-Soviet Bloc countries is 'intellectual piracy.' A giant but declining power starts demanding royalties on commonly used methods and materials that are widely understood, well known, and by any reasonable standard have long been in the public domain — does this sound familiar?" Wikipedia notes that the Izhevsk Machine Tool Factory in Russia obtained a patent on the manufacture of the AK-47 in 1999.
They got a patent. Doesn't matter who they bribed to get it. Its the law. Pay up.
This is what we get for playing IP games and "owning" ideas.
Sounds to me like it's the company with the patent that's asking for royalties, not Russia itself.
Yes, I am a smart ass; it's better than the alternative.
Take a good look at the countries that commonly use AK-47s. You're not likely to find a whole of big fans of intellectual property rights there.
Nahhh, invading is sooo old school-- they'll just point some ballistic weapons your way and cut off your gas supply..
From what I understand, Mikhail Kalashnikov based parts of the AK-47 design on various other weapons. The trigger group and bolt resemble those of the M1 Garand, and the pistol grip and gas assembly resemble those of the German StG44 (widely considered to be the first true assault rifle). [Source: AK47, Duncan Long, Paladin Press 1988] How much original content must a design have before it can be patentable?
During the Cold War, at least a dozen Warsaw Pact and non-aligned countries produced copies and variants of the AK47, with the Soviet Union's tacit, if not overt, blessing. Even now, new AKs are being built by blacksmiths in Pakistan and US gunsmiths (the latter do this to comply with ATF regulations that prohibit import of receivers and assembled rifles).
Now that the Cold War is over, Russia wants to get paid? I'd think that with all their oil and gas income, licensing fees would be a pittence by comparison.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
...The Russians make a mockery of the G-8 and its principles. This demand for licensing fees on supposed patents of a 60-year-old technology is the latest in a string of non-Western activities...
That doesn't sound non-Western to me. I wish it did, but wishes don't make truth.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
America are getting scarier and scarier recently. Invading sovereign nations, new missile installations, secret CIA prisons, human rights violations of 'enemy combatants', an administration that disregards world opinion. More than a little worrying, especially the pace it seems to be going at.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
What crap. Same old Russia-baiting BS. The US has gone out of its way to damage relations with Russia. Look at how Yeltsin's concentration of powers and suppression of political opponents was vigorously supported by the US -- just as long as he was dismantling Russia, the US didn't care. But as soon as someone isn't playing ball with Uncle Sam, then the diatribes start. Sorry, but there's no credibility in that.
Look at how Yeltsin's concentration of powers and suppression of political opponents was vigorously supported by the US -- just as long as he was dismantling Russia, the US didn't care.
Mod parent up as insightful. Buddy of mine had a grad school prof who was a Russian expert that was called in by Clinton. Told Bubba that he should support Democracy and not Yeltsin.
Ol' Bubba loved dealing with a drunk Yeltsin too much to do the noble thing and...we have reaped what he sowed.
I watched it happen and thought it was a bad idea to support Yeltsin, but Clinton felt he was getting a patsy, thinking short term and not about the future or the damage his actions might have on others.
The opposite of progress is congress
Folks like you are what scares me. Comparing the nightmarish kleptocracy/dictatorship in the USA to the nightmarish kleptocracy/dictatorship Russia has become is quite realistic. If you prefer the Russian model, vote for Giuliani: he's openly advocated more "preventative war" in the Middle East and elsewhere. Yep-- denounce individualism, appeal to fear, give no-bid contracts to your cronies -- vote GOP!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Among adult males in Ancient Athens. The finest pure democracy ever, and it still ordered Socrates to take hemlock.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
My apologies, and thank you for the correction. I actually looked, and I am not only 100% wrong but you are 100% right.
In my defense, I was remembering a conversation eight years past with a neighbor fifty years my senior. And hosing it. That or Sully hosed it in the first place, I'm not sure.
.sig: Now legally binding!
Um - even Halliburton's CEO said that the job was too big for his company.
That's what subcontractors are for.
The argument that Halliburton was the only company big enough for the job is so completely bogus, it's laughable. That's the ignorant Sunday afternoon talkshow talking point.
The Pentagon could have farmed it out to a number of smaller contractors, with anyone else being a primary, and the rest a sub, or they could have split it up to a smaller number of contracts with multiple primaries. This no-bid contract was pure war-profiteering. Nothing more. The proof is in the result. The amount of fraud and waste in this deal is the worst in history. And that was determined under a regime of very unusually relaxed bookkeeping rules that Congressional Republicans pushed strongly for.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.