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Canon bans Viltrox lens

Started 7 months ago | Discussions thread
sybersitizen Forum Pro • Posts: 24,305
Re: Canon bans Viltrox lens
1

NanoCam wrote:

I just read that Canon has forbidden Viltrox from producing a lens (85/1.8 and maybe others?)

I assume you read this:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/3875526045/viltrox-representative-reports-canon-told-them-to-stop-selling-all-rf-mount-products

I don't think it's possible for camera companies to 'ban' an entity from making lenses. Nothing restricts anyone from making products that are compatible with the physical mounts.

Camera companies can withhold proprietary communication protocol information from entities that don't pay a licensing fee, but that's something different. Sigma was notorious for failing to properly license the communication protocols for the A-mount system, but just reverse-engineered them instead (which led to a number of compatibility issues).

As far as I know, the question of the legality of Sigma's reverse-engineering was never tested. If Viltrox is now doing what Sigma did, Canon may be inviting a legal battle that the much smaller company can't afford to fight.

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