The suspected beef between Nikon and Viltrox is showing no signs of cooling down, with more talk of a rumored court case filed by the ‘Big N’. Chinese social media has been particularly busy, with Japan-based online news outlet Asobinet sharing supposed documentation of four patents regarding lens mounts, of which the source identified as “modified structures based on the Nikon Z mount”. It also revealed that there was just one month between the patent’s application and it being published.
Earlier reports suggested that Viltrox’s recent Z-mount teleconverter could be the cause of such a dispute. Whatever the reason, Nikon did respond to DPReview, but avoided directly addressing the matter. It highlighted the fact that it has long worked with “officially licensed partner companies,” which could potentially be telling, as I cannot find confirmation that Viltrox is or isn’t an officially licensed partner.
