Originally posted by AfterPentax But that does not say who developed/designed the lens. It only says that Ricoh holds the patent. Suppose that Ricoh asked a third party to develop a certain lens and that in the agreement it is stated that Ricoh owns the design and has the right to patent the design but that third party may use it to develop a lens under its own brand and is not allowed to market that lens in a K-mount? It is not uncommon to have such contracts. It is frequently used in the IT-world. So why not in developing lenses.It is just a thought and I may be far off the mark, but it is a possibility. It saves Ricoh a lot of R&D money. With advantages for both companies. Ricoh owning the design and the third party the only one that is allowed to use that design. Nice way to sell your lens to people that use camera's by Canon, Nikon or Sony and at the same time preventing those three to make fully or partially use of the design. As I wrote, I could be off the mark, but it is a means to survive in this hectic economy.
You could be off the mark? You're not even in the same venue.
When Ricoh / Pentax say it is a Star lens or a Limited for that matter, that means they researched, designed, patented, built and own that lens full stop. Always have, are now and will always class themselves as an optical design house. The cameras are made so we can use the lenses, not the other way round. It would be like calling Zeiss a Sony lens maker.