The German armaments companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall are fighting over the copyright of the “Leopard” tank. The case is to be resolved in court.
A dispute has broken out between the defense contractors Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall over the copyrights to the “Leopard” tank. As the Munich I district court announced, there will be a hearing on May 2nd.
KMW wants to prevent its competitor from claiming that Rheinmetall owns the rights to the Leopard up to and including version 2A4. In an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, Rheinmetall boss Armin Papperger claimed the rights for his company: “We built a thousand Leopard 2A4s based on our own intellectual property.” According to the court, KMW objects to these statements as “untrue, misleading factual allegations that violate their rights”.
KMW is general contractor
As is usual with projects of this magnitude, numerous companies are involved in the production of the “Leopard 2”. The general contractor for the project is Munich-based Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, but Rheinmetall from Düsseldorf has a large share of the production. This includes cannon, ammunition, fire control system and guidance system.
Despite the Papperger interview, Rheinmetall itself also credits the development of the Leopard 2 to KMW on its company website. “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 greatest international distribution,” it says there.
The basic model has been around since the 1960s
The basic model of the “Leopard” was built from 1965. This model series was replaced by the “Leopard 2” from 1979 onwards. The 2A7 and 2A7V are now the most modern models available. The further development “Panther KF51”, which Rheinmetall presented last June, is still in development.
While Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is now owned by the German-French holding company KNDS, Rheinmetall is a listed company. More than 70 percent of the shares are owned by smaller shareholders.