Many of the Warsaw Pact states and China were permitted to build copies of the Kalasnikov. AIR, only China had to actually sign a licensing agreement. The others were building the guns ostensibly for the use of their armed forces and police forces under the treaty that created the Warsaw Pact. Why should the Russians be astonished that those nations never stopped building these guns?
What's worse (if I'm not mistaken here), under international copyright law, the practice is perfectly legal, since the copyrights were in effect waived when these nations were allowed to produce the weapons...
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Kalashnikov Rifles. US accused of aiding product piracy.
"The bazaar in this industrial city shows why Western companies regard Russia as a land of piracy.
Bootlegged copies of new American movie.... Washington contends Russian intellectual-property pirates cost the United States more than $1 billion a year.
Now Russia is striking back....The complaint is not about software or music. It makes no mention of movies or video games. It is about the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the most prolific firearm ever made.
"We see a great number of products which are named after Kalashnikov, my name,'' said Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the weapon's original designer. "They are buying Kalashnikovs from other countries,'' he added.
....the United States has been purchasing or arranging the transfer of thousands of knockoffs of Kalashnikovs commonly referred to as AK-47's, to outfit new military and security forces in Kabul and Baghdad.
These rifles have not been made in Russia, where the arms industry holds patents...."
Long article continues at site.
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Poor old Mikhail Kalashnikov. Like John Garand who invented the US M-1 rifle, never received any royalties from their gun invention. Garand received a decent salary as a government civil service employee, Kalashnikov salary of a soldier. I understand Kalashnikov (now 84 yo) receives $50 a month retirement from his government and a collection of medals.
Also, that he finally gave in to capitalism to earn a few bucks by giving his name to other products like a Kalashnikov umbrella.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=209462003
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