The Lanchester and MP 28

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snowhunter

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Has there ever been any offical reactions, statements, demans for royalties etc, from Germany when the british in 1940, copied the german submachine gun, MP 28, into the "british" Lanchester and Sten submachinegun variations ?

I read somewhere that the US Government had to pay Mauser Werke, $ 2 millions in copyrights damages, when the US Government, after being at the recieving end of the Mauser 1893-96 in 7 X 57 Mauser caliber in Cuba, during the Spanish-American was, reproduced and issued the Mauser clone, "Springfield" rifle as an replacement for the Krag rifle, without the benefit of an official licensing agrement from Mauser. The americans also at the same time, reproduced the 7 X 57 Mauser into the 30-06 cartridge for use in the "Springfield" rifle.

Did the british, as the americans did or where legally forced to pay Mauser, ever pay the german designers for reproducing the MP 28 into Lanchester and Sten submachine guns ?
 
No. The US did pay Mauser, prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the US and Germany in 1917. That stopped the royalties.
The MP28 was copied as the Lanchester in 1940. A state of war existed. Exactly what patents existed on the MP28 that were copied in the Lanchester?
 
According all known historical records, the Lanchester submachine gun was a complete copy of the german MP 28 submachine gun, all the way down to the cartridge it used. Externaly the Lanchester used, upon Royal Navy's request, some brass around the magazine attachment, as well as, for economic reasons, the Lee-Enfield stock.

Landchester who gave name to the british copy of the MP 28, was an british engineer, who was resposible for the cloning and copying of the MP 28. The Sten gun design is also based upon the german MP 28.

It could therefore be interesting to find out, if the british, like the americans, payed the germans royalties for german designed guns, which they, in anger, used again the germans ?
 
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The Lanchester was a direct copy of the MP28.
The Lanchester did not use the Lee Enfield stock. The butt is shaped like a Lee Enfield's, as is the P-14's and the M1917's, but that has nothing to do with any economic concerns, or sharing of components.
But what was there about the MP28 that was patented or subject to any exclusivity of use or design? The Schmeisser designed MP28 was a slightly modified version of the Bergmann designed MP18 and MP18/1.
The Sten trigger mechanism was patented, with original elements The Lanchester's trigger mechanism did not directly copy the MP28's trigger mechanism. The Mk. I Lanchester trigger mechanism was inferior to the MP28's, and was modified in the Mk. I*, to eliminate the unreliability that it exhibited.
 
It appears to be clear to us firearms historians and collectors, that there are no international respect for any firearms patent or designs. "National emergency" rules when an enemy firearms design is needed for defence or aggression. I have also seen pictures of a WW2 japanese copy of the Garand.
The tribal areas of Pakistan are notorious for copying any firearm. Kalasnikov complained that he did not get any royalties from his gun designs, produced outside Russia, etc etc.

Are german firearms and designs the most copied in the world ?
 
snowhunter said:
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The Sten gun design is also based upon the german MP 28.

It could therefore be interesting to find out, if the british, like the americans, payed the germans royalties for german designed guns, which they, in anger, used again the germans ?
Click to expand...

Ummmn, the only part of the MP28 which exists in the Sten is the magazine.

A sten bolt has a fixed firing pin, and the trigger mech is totally unique.
 
I never had the change to study the Sten, but judging from the magazine location and the caliber of the Sten, which are the same as the MP 28, I gathered that they were some other semilarities.
 
From this short discussion, I can conclude that the british, during WW2, only paid the germans back in 9 Luger hot lead, in lieu of moneytary copyright royalties, for outright copying MP 28 into the Lanchester submachine gun ?
 
Thank you Juster for informing me about the german history and origins of the Jerrycan. Appears to me now, that the german, among others, invented "smart" tools of war, that were copied and used against themself with great effect. (Without recieving the moneytary patent royalties)

Make me think of the german navy "scutling and sinking" of the "Graf Spee" off the coast of Uruguay, in shallow water, which, among others, enabled the british and american navies to salvage it's very advanced radar systems, vertually intact.

And of course, the captured technological bonanza of german engineering during WW2 are still with us today, like the space travel, aircraft designs and the co-axcial jet engines, various "assult rifle" designs and ammo, the use of metal rods to repair broken bones, radar absorbing paint etc etc.
 
Do some research on the Patent thefts that the US and other coutnries did in Germany at the end of world war 2.
 
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