In the media, we often hear about the German Leopard 2 tanks, but what is their peculiarity?
The Leopard 2 is a German battle tank that was developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in the 1970s. Helmut Walter was the chief designer of the tank, and other engineers from different companies also participated. The Leopard 2 tank was officially adopted by the German army in 1979.
The Leopard 2 is one of the most effective battle tanks in the world, demonstrating high reliability and combat effectiveness in numerous conflicts.
Jan 25 (Reuters) 2023 – Germany has agreed to send its Leopard 2 tank to Ukraine and allowed other countries that use the German-made tank to re-export them, responding to months of pleas from Kyiv for additional firepower to break through Russian defenses.
Kyiv insists on having the Leopard 2 tank, in particular because it has a number of advantages over alternatives such as the British Challenger 2 and the American M1 Abrams tanks.
Who owns the rights to the tank?
The Munich Regional Court is considering a case between the German arms companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall regarding the ownership of the copyright to the Leopard tank. KMW is trying to prevent Rheinmetall from claiming that the rights to all versions of the Leopard, including the 2A4, belong to KMW. And Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger has stated that their company has the rights to the tank because they have developed thousands of Leopard 2A4s based on their own intellectual property protected designs. KMW considers these statements to be false and misleading, given the proven facts. The hearing in this case is scheduled for May 2, 2023.
KMW is the general contractor
As is common with projects of this magnitude, numerous contractors are involved in the production of the Leopard 2 tank. Munich-based Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is the prime contractor for the project, but much of the production, including the guns, ammunition, fire control system and guidance system, is provided by Dheinmetall of Düsseldorf.
Despite Papperger’s interview on Rheinmetall’s website, the company itself also attributes the development of the Leopard 2 tank to Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. In its statement on the company’s website, Dheinmetall states: “The Leopard 2 from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) is the most powerful main battle tank in the world and, at the same time, the weapon system with the largest international deployment.”
The District Court in Munich said that KMW is seeking to protect its rights to prevent Rheinmetall from making unfounded statements that the plaintiff believes are false and violate KMW’s rights. Both companies declined to comment on the ongoing dispute.
At the same time, it is unclear what impact this litigation may have on cooperation between the two companies, which last week announced a joint order for the modernization of 143 Puma combat vehicles for the German army, estimated at 770 million euros ($845 million).
The main conclusion that we draw from the developments in the field of intellectual property is that protection and enforcement of rights should be done in advance, contracts should be drafted competently and provide for all possible risks, including regulation (if any) of co-authorship and determination of the scope of technical contracting and intellectual development. We advise all our clients to immediately focus their attention on drafting a package of documents on the protection of intellectual property rights in order to prevent any litigation or minimize financial costs in the future.
UPD. KMW filed a lawsuit after Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in an interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper in March that Rheinmetall owned the rights to the Leopard 2A4 tank model. However, according to the Munich District Court on May 2, the hearing was canceled because the companies reached a settlement agreement. According to Rheinmetall, both parties were interested in resolving the dispute as soon as possible. The company also said that neither Papperger nor Rheinmetall AG claimed that Rheinmetall AG had exclusive rights to the Leopard 2A4 main battle tank in its statements that became the subject of the lawsuit.
The trial was terminated by mutual consent of the parties.
claim / copyright / intellectual property / Leopard 2 / танк
