[MarkJerling]

Bloomberg begs to differ:

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=21752074

Yup, Pentax Medical. See https://www.pentaxmedical.com/pentax/
There's also Pentax Surveying (brand of TI Asahi Co., Ltd) see https://pentaxsurveying.eu.com/en/
But neither of these have anything to do with Pentax cameras.

[Mistral75]

(...) For much of Pentax's existence, it was a brand name, from first use in 1957 of the pre-existing Pentax brand name which was originally registered as a trademark by VEB Pentacon, the East German branch of Zeiss Ikon. (...)

Nope.

VEB Pentacon Dresden is the name taken in 1964 by VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden, set up in 1959.

A search within the database of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA - Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) DPMAregister | Marken - Einsteigerrecherche shows that the Pentax trademark was first filed by Asahi Optical on 22 September 1952 but was only registered on 11 August 1955 because the filing had to face the opposition of a third party, probably VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden (German Democratic Republic) that had used the Pentax name in 1954 for a prototype camera.

DPMAregister | Marken - Registerauskunft

The 1954 Pentax prototype camera from VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden:

[Mistral75]

Yup, Pentax Medical. See PENTAX Medical (Global)
There's also Pentax Surveying (brand of TI Asahi Co., Ltd) see PENTAX Surveying – Aiming at the future together
But neither of these have anything to do with Pentax cameras.

An Italian company named Pentax S.p.A. located near Verona (Veneto region) has trademarked Pentax and the following figurative mark



in class 7 ('machines, machine tools, power-operated tools; motors and engines, except for land vehicles; machine coupling and transmission components, except for land vehicles; agricultural implements, other than hand-operated hand tools; incubators for eggs; automatic vending machines') in Australia, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Europe, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Tunisia for 'hydraulic and centrifugal pumps, with the exclusion of those for boat engines and for diesel engines larger than 10 hp.'

There is also a German company named DIEWE - Diamantwerkzeuge GmbH, located near Augsburg (Bavaria), that has trademarked Pentax and a different figurative mark



in class 7 (and 8) but with a different scope: 'diamond tools and abrasive tools (parts of machines); machines to be used with abrasive tools; motors and engines (except for land vehicles).'

[clackers]

Pentax is a brand name, not a company.

Bizarre, Wheatfield. It's *always* been a brand name.

There's a centenary celebration happening this year, and the brand name has only also been the company name for five of those years!

[MarkJerling]

Nope.

VEB Pentacon Dresden is the name taken in 1964 by VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden, set up in 1959.

A search within the database of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA - Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) DPMAregister | Marken - Einsteigerrecherche shows that the Pentax trademark was first filed by Asahi Optical on 22 September 1952 but was only registered on 11 August 1955 because the filing had to face the opposition of a third party, probably VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden (German Democratic Republic) that had used the Pentax name in 1954 for a prototype camera.

DPMAregister | Marken - Registerauskunft

The 1954 Pentax prototype camera from VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden:

I stand corrected. You may wish to go correct Wikipedia which was one of the sources for the information I posted.

[Rondec]

Regardless.

Pentax, as a camera company, is now only a name that is owned by Ricoh. Olympus, as of now, is still a free standing, publicly traded company that still makes cameras and lenses along with endoscopes. Their cameras are very nice cameras, as are their lenses. At the same time, that arm of the business is being supported by the medical side of the business and has been for several years. In addition, they have had several scandals in which they were shown to be deceptive in accounting and also bribing medical facilities to use their equipment. All of this has hurt Olympus. And stockholders always want more profits, not less.

What Olympus "says" about their future is clear, but that is the same thing that all companies say until they make a change. Samsung was fully committed to the MILC market until they weren't. I don't even know if they ever made an official announcement about that. They just stopped making new cameras and sold existing stocks and that was that.

[Mistral75]

(...) Samsung was fully committed to the MILC market until they weren't. I don't even know if they ever made an official announcement about that. They just stopped making new cameras and sold existing stocks and that was that.

The only announcement they made was that of a reorganisation, their camera teams (development and marketing/sales) merging with their phone teams 'to improve efficiency'. That was all and they never announced nor even recognised that the NX line was discontinued.

[Mistral75]

The company founded in 1919, Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kaisha was renamed Asahi Optical Co. Ltd in 1938. (...)

Not exactly. (sorry for infringing on the 'non bis in idem' principle)

• 1919: 旭光学工業合資会社 = Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Goshi-gaisha
• 1938: 旭光学工業株式会社 = Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha

The name of the company didn't change in 1938. It remained 旭光学工業 (Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō), which means Optical Industry of the Rising Sun and is usually translated as Asahi Optical.

it's the legal structure of the company that changed in 1938, from a Goshi-gaisha to a Kabushiki-gaisha, i.e. from a Joint Stock Co. (limited partnership) to a Co., Ltd. (public company).

[Wheatfield]

In

Bizarre, Wheatfield. It's *always* been a brand name.

And up until Hoya bought the company the Pentax name was also the name of a company.
Pentax now exists as a rump brand name of Ricoh for cameras and Hoya for medical equipment.

There's a centenary celebration happening this year, and the brand name has only also been the company name for five of those years!

Will the President of Pentax Corp be at the party? How about the CEO, CFO, and Board if Directors?
What were their names again? The least you could finish educate me regarding the corporate structure of Pentax and tell me where the head office of Pentax Corp is.

What is bizarre is pretending that a company that was broken up and sold a decade ago is still a stand alone company.

---------- Post added 05-15-19 at 08:38 AM ----------


---------- Post added 05-15-19 at 08:38 AM ----------

The company founded in 1919, Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kaisha was renamed Asahi Optical Co. Ltd in 1938. The name "Pentax" was a brand name for much of the company's history. Only in 2002 the company was renamed Pentax Corporation. In August 2007 the company became a subsidiary of Hoya. Pentax merged with Hoya on 31 March 2008. In 2011, Hoya transferred its Pentax Imaging Systems business to a newly established subsidiary called Pentax Imaging Corporation. On 1 October, 2011, Ricoh purchased Pentax Imaging Corp. and renamed the new subsidiary Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd. On 1 August 2013 the company name was changed to Ricoh Imaging Company Ltd.

You are correct in that Pentax is a brand, not a company. But, that was actually the case for much of it's existence. Any company with the name 'Pentax' is actually a fairly recent thing.

Pentax has never gone out of business. The company has changed ownership and has been absorbed and split off over the years and renamed several times. For much of Pentax's existence, it was a brand name, from first use in 1957 of the pre-existing Pentax brand name which was originally registered as a trademark by VEB Pentacon, the East German branch of Zeiss Ikon. So, from 1957 to 2002 it was a brand name. From 2002, it was both a brand name and a company name until 2013, when it again became a brand name only.

Pentax was a brand name of a stand alone company. Eventually, Pentax became the name of that company.
In 2007 that company ceased to exist and its brand names were taken over by another company.

If Pentax is still a company, I will ask of you the same thing I asked of Clackers.
Who is the President of Pentax? Who is the CEO and CFO?
Who is on the Board if Directors of Pentax Corp? Where is the head office located?

If the answer to these questions all lead back to Ricoh.......

[BigMackCam]

I think we all recognise Pentax is a brand of Ricoh Imaging. But, so far as I can tell, each time the company and/or brand has changed hands, a great deal of intellectual property and patents have transferred with it. As a result, each new owner has continued to produce and further develop the products. It's not like Yashica, for example, where a Chinese firm has simply bought the brand name to place on products that have absolutely zero heritage with the original company. Pentax may be a Ricoh brand now, but the DNA of the original products is very much present in the current models. Regardless of ownership, Pentax is - to me - still Pentax

[Mistral75]

I think we all recognise Pentax is a brand of Ricoh Imaging. But, so far as I can tell, each time the company and/or brand has changed hands, a great deal of intellectual property and patents have transferred with it. As a result, each new owner has continued to produce and further develop the products. It's not like Yashica, for example, where a Chinese firm has simply bought the brand name to place on products that have absolutely zero heritage with the original company. Pentax may be a Ricoh brand now, but the DNA of the original products is very much present in the current models. Regardless of ownership, Pentax is - to me - still Pentax

...but, unfortunately, Pentax lenses aren't Takumars any more...

[Wheatfield]

I think we all recognise Pentax is a brand of Ricoh Imaging. But, so far as I can tell, each time the company and/or brand has changed hands, a great deal of intellectual property and patents have transferred with it. As a result, each new owner has continued to produce and further develop the products. It's not like Yashica, for example, where a Chinese firm has simply bought the brand name to place on products that have absolutely zero heritage with the original company. Pentax may be a Ricoh brand now, but the DNA of the original products is very much present in the current models. Regardless of ownership, Pentax is - to me - still Pentax

One could say the same thing about Cadillac. Thats a brand name used by General Motors Corp. At one time it too was a standalone company. Now it's just the name on the door of a division of GMC.

[lesmore49]

Nope.

VEB Pentacon Dresden is the name taken in 1964 by VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden, set up in 1959.

A search within the database of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA - Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt) DPMAregister | Marken - Einsteigerrecherche shows that the Pentax trademark was first filed by Asahi Optical on 22 September 1952 but was only registered on 11 August 1955 because the filing had to face the opposition of a third party, probably VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden (German Democratic Republic) that had used the Pentax name in 1954 for a prototype camera.

DPMAregister | Marken - Registerauskunft

The 1954 Pentax prototype camera from VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden:

Something new for me, didn't know that. One of things I like about the PF are the things I learn.

That VEB Zeiss Ikon Dresden (if I got that right ) camera looks very modern...for a 1954 prototype camera.

---------- Post added 05-15-19 at 12:54 PM ----------

I think we all recognise Pentax is a brand of Ricoh Imaging. But, so far as I can tell, each time the company and/or brand has changed hands, a great deal of intellectual property and patents have transferred with it. As a result, each new owner has continued to produce and further develop the products. It's not like Yashica, for example, where a Chinese firm has simply bought the brand name to place on products that have absolutely zero heritage with the original company. Pentax may be a Ricoh brand now, but the DNA of the original products is very much present in the current models. Regardless of ownership, Pentax is - to me - still Pentax

I agree. As a long term Pentaxian with a plethora of Pentax equipment from different eras/ different ownership of the company...or brand...IMHO you have nailed it.

[BigMackCam]

One could say the same thing about Cadillac. Thats a brand name used by General Motors Corp. At one time it too was a standalone company. Now it's just the name on the door of a division of GMC.

Car manufacturers are interesting examples...

Here in the UK, numerous independent brands were acquired by larger multi-nationals over many decades, sometimes changing hands several times. But many of the engines and other components developed under previous ownership continued production, or (more often) were developed further, to be used in cars designed under the new ownership. So, whilst the old companies were either no longer involved or ceased to exist (independently, at least), much of the technology developed by them lived on in newer models. Something of the identity of those brands was retained in both the mechanical and visual designs.

A recent example of this was Vauxhall (in the UK) and its sister brand Opel (in Europe), both of which were latterly part of GM, but acquired by French multi-national PSA Group in 2017 - not simply to use the brand names on entirely unrelated cars, but rather to take what had already been accomplished by GM, make the business more efficient and profitable, and develop the brands and products further from the starting point of the acquisition.

[monochrome]

Bizarre, Wheatfield. It's *always* been a brand name.

There's a centenary celebration happening this year, and the brand name has only also been the company name for five of those years!

If you read closely, the 100th is for AOC, not Pentax. AOC was renamed Pentax. Pentax is not a company. It was dissolved by Hoya. There, no corporate entity left.