Originally Posted by
Bob Salomon - HP Marketing
Not much to tell. Sinar had a fixed assymetrical axis point and Linhof had a continuously variable assymetrical axis point. The court ruled that since one point on the continuously variable axis was the same as Sinar's fixed point the patent was infringed. Linhof did not contest the decision (made in a German court) and immediately discontinued the L and any L specific accessories (rail sections, auxilliary standard, etc.) and introduced the center axis, telescoping monorail TL camera. It was yaw free but did not have the variable axis movement.
Once the Sinar patent expired Linhof discontinued the TL and replaced it with the current GTL series which re-introduced the continuously variable assymetric axis movement and combined it with center tilts, telescoping rail and the AMS DOF computer on the rear standard. Of course the GTL and GT are all yaw free as that was never an issue with the law suit as the world's first yaw free camera was the prototype of the original Linhof Kardan.
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