James Hill for The New York Times
Visitors hold an AK-47 rifle at the Russian Arms Expo this month in Nizhny Tagil.
Sergei Kivrin for The New York Times
Mikhail T. Kalashnikov said imitations are flooding the world market.
The New York Times
The Kalashnikov rifle is made in a factory in Izhevsk, Russia.
Kalashnikov is just pissed he never got any royalties.
Instead they have originated in weapons plants controlled by Eastern European states, each of which was a partner of Moscow's in Soviet days.
Congressman have asked why American forces did not save money by reissuing to friendly forces the thousands of Kalashnikov rifles confiscated in both wars.
(Last spring, journalists from The New York Times watched United States marines collect tens of thousands of mint-condition Kalashnikovs in a cache in a hospital in Tikrit. The weapons were still in their original packing crates.)
Re - the caption, “Visitors hold an AK-47 rifle …” Shouldn’t it read “AK 74”?
If the Russians are pirating Hollyweird productions I think thats great. The Commies they love so much taking money from their pockets.
BTW: I love those RPGs. Seems like every Mujahidin gang has several of these babies. I want one. Think of the fun I could have at the local rifle range.
Copyright/patent laws are bad when they reduce profits for free traders. They are good when they increase profits. So what about Kalashnikov rifle infringements, are they good or bad?
If I remember correctly, the MIG-29 was largely copied from US by the Russians, and was copied from the F-15. In fact (and I'm thinking HARD) if I remember well, we caught them on several occasions stealing the technology back in the 80's. Does anybody else remember this?
I AM curious though....there's a company here in the US called Vulcan Arms Inc. (http://www.vulcanarms.com). They produce (amongh others) an AK-47 clone. I wonder what their word on this would be? :-)
What about every other firearms that's been copied on this planet?....the FN-FAL, numerous H&K models, the M-98 Mauser, Colt 1911 clones.
I do wonder though why the new Iraqi defense forces are equipping with AKs. Balistically, the 7.62x39mm cartridge is roughly equivalent to our .223 Rem (5.56 NATO). I suppose it's because of availability, but can't be certain.
The writer of this article is correct about AKs. I've had friends in the past who owned them, and they still functioned when they were dirtier, and hotter than anything else at the range. We've got a couple of Yugo M59/66 SKS rifles, and they "seem" to have this same reliability, although are notably more accurate. We've got some A-2 AR-15s as well, and they make me wonder why our military uses THAT rifle. Ah well...I'll always think it was a MISTAKE to replace the 7.62 NATO with that .223 Rem cartridge. ...sigh...
This country's losses in software and entertainment royalties are not limited to Russian copies and this is not a major problem facing us any more than the outsourcing of work that has been prevailing in our failing economy. Evidently the world must adjust to these events. Our own consumer greed, meaning individual consumers, governments and corporations the world over, has shown that the source of a product is of no concern. Price is all that matters.
Being a small business operator(motorcycle accessories, parts and service), it is my wish that at least the individual consumers in this country would be conscientious enough to support local industry and retail. I'm studying hard to adapt to the inevitable.
Already posted here (under different title):
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/3576476/detail.html#
The notion that there are current, unexpired patents on the traditional Kalshnikov design is utterly laughable. If this were something other than an assault-weapon ban propaganda piece, the reporter would have asked a couple simple questions of those bemoaning the "infringment":
"What are the patent numbers, and in what nations?"
Then, armed with this information (if it was even alleged) the reporter would have flipped open the Rolodex for his friendly patent expert, had him glance at the patents (in exchange for being a quoted "expert"), and learn that the patents are EXPIRED and have been for a generation.
They might have followed up with the complaining Russkies and asked: "what the heck are you complaining about?!" They might have argued some malarkey about "trade dress," in that the public is confused into thinking that they are buying Russian government rifles, because they look the same, never mind that identical-looking rifles have been made in most every nation on earth for generations without objection.
There IS a US patent on an invention by Victor Kalashnikov, but it is for a detailed and arcane development in a rifle magazine.
This is quite funny since NO ONE anywhere around the world, including the US, has produced an AK-47 in over 30 years. Probably longer. Even the gun in the picture you posted is not an AK-47. It is an AKM.
Bang
Go ahead and add Ukraine to the pirate list.
MS-Office (2000), plus lots of other goodies for Gr 11 ($2).
Pardon me if this has been discussed already, but does anyone else suspect that someone in the U.S. (State Department, Sen. Feinstein, Sara Brady, etc.) put the Ruskies up to this to prevent domestically produced AK's from flooding the market after the "Assault Weapons" Ban expires next month?
Funny, he invents a weapon with the sole purpose of destroying capitalism and enslaving the world....and he bitches about intelectual property rights.
BTW, isn't the AK-47 a cheap knock off of the STG-44?