All of us who are interested in military fighters know that both Israeli and South African aeronautical industries cloned the classic Mirage III, into Kfirs and Cheetas, sharing a lot of knowhow in the process.
Marcel Dassault was asked by a friend (himself an ex-aircraft designer) what he thought about the much talked about Israeli clones? The elderly gentleman answered smilingly, Rien, what should I think about it? Even if the outline and general aerodynamics are identical, nothing in their planes are the same as in our fighters: Other manufacturers, reverse-engineered many of the systems,as well as they were able to do it, sometimes using very different powerplants, even. And we lost no money, as we were forbidden to export more planes, so?! As long as there is no Dassault logo on them, nor any Dassault-designed system in them I don't have anything to say! A little flattered, maybe, that's all! That many lawyers in the USA are nuts we all know, where-ever we live, as we all are constantly being immersed in American TV soaps, like LA Law, and films, like Rat Race, but, to me, Lockheed's strong arm tactics are just silly! Forcing Don and Joe to scrap their profile model line, just because the company thinks they own the outline, or something?! It is sad that the land of the free is so in the hands of lawyers, that do everything to force the rest of the world to pay. Even to use naturally existing plants and herbs, you have sometimes to pay, as they have been patented in the US! What happens is that US uses strong arm tactics to "free" all of us, forcing us to abide US laws, even though we live in other continents! A lot of legislation here in Sweden has changed during the last decade to conform with US laws, and more is coming! I wonder when US laws will change to conform with Swedish :-)? Remember what happened in Bopal? The place was soon after the catastrophe crammed with US lawyers, who took at least half the money the poor victims were supposed to get! Consequently, many victims never received a cent. And now I'm sure Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are crammed with these litigating experts, all trying to sue various bodies for not making their restaurants, hotels, boats, cars, countries, and what-nots, Tsunami-proof! Over 500 Swedes died there, so maybe a few Swedish lawyers are there, too? Now back to building my next flying contraption project :-)! Tord RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
