Andre, As far as I know, things were more complicated tha stated by Mr. Gandy.
Both Asahi and Zeiss "invented" the name Pentax for their own purposes, in different times and unaware each other. Then, when Asahi Pentax cameras were put on sale internationally, Asahi folks discovered that Carl Zeiss already registered the Pentax trade name for some movie projectors on sale on certain markets (South Africa, East Germany and maybe Finland). So Asahi Pentax cameras sold in those markets were called either Asahiflex (like older models) or Asahi Pentar for a few years. In that same period Western and Eastern Zeiss companies were fighting for getting Carl Zeiss and other famous Zeiss-related brand names, but the Pentax trade mark was of very minor interest for them, since it was never used for renowned Zeiss equipment. At the end, Zeiss Jena lost the suit and all Zeiss brand names (such as Contax, Sonnar, Tessar, and so on). Later, when Pentax name was well established worldwide, I believe that Asahi probably bought from VEB Pentacon (or maybe from Zeiss Oberkochen?) the rights for using the Pentax name in those small markets too. I think it had to be a cheap agreement, since at that time everybody "knew" that Pentax was a Japanese camera company and not a Zeiss trade name. It is also possible that Asahi paid nothing, since Eastern VEB Pentacon was no longer capable to claim their old Zeiss trade marks on international markets. Just my guess here. Dario Bonazza www.aohc.it ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Langevin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 11:36 PM Subject: Pentax, a trademark bought from Zeiss??? > Stephen Gandy writes: > > <Even the "Pentax" name was originally a Zeiss Ikon VEB trademark > until bought by Asahi. It was originally derived from "PENTaprism" > and "contAX."> > > Was it really bought to Zeiss Ikon? > > Andre > -- >
